The several forms of our paper
money offer, in my judgment, a constant embarrassment to the
Government and a safe balance in the Treasury. Therefore I believe
it necessary to devise a system which, without diminishing the
circulating medium or offering a premium for its contraction, will
present a remedy for those arrangements which, temporary in their
nature, might well in the years of our prosperity have been
displaced by wiser provisions. With adequate revenue secured, but
not until then, we can enter upon such changes in our fiscal laws
as will, while insuring safety and volume to our money, no longer
impose upon the Government the necessity of maintaining so large a
gold reserve, with its attendant and inevitable temptations to
speculation. Most of our financial laws are the outgrowth of
experience and trial, and should not be amended without
investigation and demonstration of the wisdom of the proposed
changes. We must be both "sure we are right" and "make haste
slowly." If, therefore, Congress, in its wisdom, shall deem it
expedient to create a commission to take under early consideration
the revision of our coinage, banking and currency laws, and give
them that exhaustive, careful and dispassionate examination that
their importance demands, I shall cordially concur in such action.
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