THE
INDIANAPOLIS
MONETARY
CONFERENCE
REPORT OF DELEGATES
OF THE
BOARD OF TRADE
OF GRAND RAPIDS
MICHIGAN
^¿iéc <C^ 4*?^
.1'^ (o
Ml ^ O-tx,
THE INDIANAPOLIS
MONETARY CONFERENCE.
To the Grand Rapids Board of Trade;—
The monetary conference which was held
at Indianapolis on the first day of this month,
was a preliminary step in a work of so much
importance that we have thought it our duty
as delegates to make a full report to you, not
only of the work which was done, but of the
manner in which the movement was started,
the conditions which gave rise to it, the ob¬
jects which it is hoped will be accomplished,
and the way in which it is proposed to do
the work.
Nearly every day one hears the remark
that the legal tender notes should be retired
and that the government should go out of
the banking business. This is said by many
persons who know that great difficulties and
embarrassments grow out of our present sys-
671729 3
Í-7 3-6 "i a
2
tem, but who have not given the subject
sufficient study to be able to say how they
are caused by the government paper cur¬
rency. They know very well that every fall
for many years past' there has been a great
stringency in the money market, that when
the cotton crop of the south and the wheat
and corn crop of the west were harvested
the banks of those sections were without
funds to handle them, and that at the same
time the demands made by those sections of
the country on the commercial centers for
money " to move the crops," created such a
stringency that the government was obliged
j-ear after year to come to the relief of the
public by buying its own bonds not yet due,
or by paying interest on its debt before it
was due, or by some other makeshift expe¬
dient. When these times of stringency ar¬
rived the banks in the commercial centers
were obliged to call in their loans rapidly,
the borrowers on whom they called were
obliged to curtail their operations, and the
business enterprises of the country were
seriously crippled in their operations.
3
There are but few persons except those in
close touch with the commercial and manu¬
facturing- interests in the larg-e cities of the
country who know how paralyzing- the an¬
nual fall stringency in the money market
has been to those enterprises. Every year
has furnished a bitter experience. We are
so situated in Grand Rapids that we have
not felt the effects of the regularly recurring
stringency so severely as they have been felt
in the great cotton regions of the south, in
the wheat and corn regions of the west, and
in the reserve centers which have to supply
money necessary for the crop movement.
One of the delegates to the conference
which was held at Indianapolis, a man en¬
gaged in vast enterprises giving employ¬
ment to thousands of men, said that he was
so tired of being "brought up with a round
turn every fall " by the banks on which he
depended for funds to carry on his business,
that he had fully made up his mind that if
he could not get relief he would be obliged
to wind up his business, and that his opin¬
ion was the opinion of hundreds of others
4
with whom he was daily broug'ht in contact.
He said that he had no complaint to make
ag-ainst the banks ; they did everything" in
their power to assist him and only compelled
him to pay when other people back of them
were making" demands which they were
oblig"ed to meet.
Mr. Ing"alls, of Cincinnati, president of a
large railroad system, said at the conference
that from his acquaintance with the south
he was able to say that thousands of people
in that region who did not believe in the
free coinage of silver as a remedy for the
evils of our present condition, voted for can¬
didates favoring it in the late election, be¬
cause they despaired of any other remedy
being provided.
The men who called the Indianapolis con¬
ference did it in the belief that if other
civilized nations have had the intelligence
to devise banking systems in which such
conditions do not arise, the United States
have it, and who believe that steps should
be taken at once to effect such reforms
in our system of currency and banking" that
5
there will be available at all times of the
year and in all parts of the country sufficient
funds to carry on all leg-itimate business.
They want to see the business of the coun¬
try relieved from the annual stringency in
the money market which has done so much
injury, and they want to see those parts of
the country in which accumulated wealth is
scarce, so provided with loanable capital
that there will be no further desire on the
part of the people of those sections to resort
to an issue of irredeemable paper by the gov¬
ernment, or to the free coinage of silver.
The objects which they have in view can¬
not be accomplished unless the legal tender
notes are retired and our banking system is
reformed. The annual stringency is directly
and solely attributable to the fact that our
paper currency is issued by the government,
and the lack of available funds in those por¬
tions of the country in which there is as yet
little accumulated wealth, is directly attrib¬
utable to defects in our banking system.
Every system of government currency that
has ever been devised is open to the fatal
f)
objection that it is of a fixed volume, or, as
it is sometimes stated, that it lacks elastic¬
ity. The slig-htest thought qn the subject
will satisfy any person that the same amount
of money is not needed at all times in any
country. In this country a much greater
amount is needed in the fall and winter than
in the spring and summer. With us there is
generally a surplus of currenc}- in the spring
and summer which is sej^t to the commercial
centers where a low rate of interest is paid
for it. The banks which have it cannot
afford to keep it idle the banks to whom it
is sent loan it out at low rates of interest to
persons who use it largely in speculative
enterprises. In the fall it is called back to
meet the locaf demands of the sections from
which it was sent, the banks of the reserve
centers who are called upon to return it have
to call it in from their bqri'owers, and thus
the stringency is created. Property must be
sacrificed to meet the demand, aijd the ope¬
rations of the parties who have been using
it have to be largel}- curtailed. The advo¬
cates of a government currency tell us that
/
the remedy for this condition is to have the
g-overnment issue more. Every student of
the subject who has gone deeply enough in¬
to the question to understand what the effect
of the addition of a fixed amount to the cur¬
rency under such circumstances would be,
knows that it would simply increase and in¬
tensify the difficulties we have already to
deal with, and bring us in time to complete
collapse. Moreover, the propositions to re¬
form our present currency by the issue of
more, and of adding to its nominal amount
by debasing its quality, have been rejected
by the people of this country, the first when
it was made by the greenback party twenty
years ago, and the second, when it was made
by the advocates of the free coinage of silver
at the ratio of 16 to 1, in the recent election.
We have already said that the cause of the
periodic stringency in the money market is
that our currency, like every other govern¬
ment currency that has ever been devised, is
of a fixed volume. It lacks the property of
expanding at those seasons of the year when
there is a necessity for a large volume of
8
money, and of contracting at those periods
when there is no legitimate demand for so
much. We have just as much at those sea¬
sons of the year when little is needed as we
have when a great deal is required. In the
spring and summer when the currency should
be contracted, the banks find themselves
with an accumulation and are obliged, as a
mere matter of business, to force it into use.
When the time comes that there is a legiti¬
mate demand for it, it cannot be met with¬
out causing business distress. When the
periodic stringency arrives, the government
may or may not have the money with which
it can give relief to the public. The two
severest periods of stringency which we had
between 1873 and 1893 were in the falls of
1884 and 1890. The revenues of the govern¬
ment in those years largely exceeded its ex¬
penditures ; indeed, this was one of the cau¬
ses of the stringenc}-. The government was
drawing the money from circulation in ex¬
cessive revenues and had no legitimate way
of returning it to the channels of trade. In
both of these years we were brought to the
9
very brink of a panic, and the situation be¬
came so critical that the government went
into the market and bought its bonds at a
very high premium. In this way relief was
afforded.
In 1893 the stringency began earlier in the
season than usual. The government was
unable to come to the relief of the money
market as it had no surplus money with
which it could buy bonds, and the result was
panic. Mail}' who had no use for their
money drew it out of the banks and put it
in hiding. An extraordinary amount of
currency was much needed at this time, but
there was no legal way in which the banks
could supply it. General ruin would have
been the result had they not resorted to extra¬
legal means and provided on the security of
their own assets alone, a currency which
they could use for the settlement of balances
between themselves. This enabled them to
loan to their customers money which they
would otherwise have been compelled to keep
on hand for the payment of those balances,
or allow their reserve to fall below the legal
10
limit. This improvised currency was in va¬
rious forms. In some cities clearing- house
certificates were used, in others clearing¬
house due bills ; at many places the balances
at the clearing- house were paid in drafts
on reserve cities, and in many others notes
were issued in denominations ranging- from
$500 to fifty cents, which the banks of the
locality agreed to make good. The use of
this extemporized currenc}- enabled the banks
to loan money freely enough to stop the
panic. Had they not done so, the countrj-
would have suffered the greatest financial
disaster in its history. The amount of emer¬
gency currency thus issued is not known ;
but it is supposed to have amounted to about
$80,000,000. Its amount was sufficient, with
the quieting effect of the repeal of the Sher¬
man Act, to put an end to the panic. When
the necessity for it passed it was promptly-
redeemed. And although it was but a short
time after the panic was stopped that there
was a large accumulation of loanable funds
in the banks, it was impossible to reduce the
regular currency to the amount which the
11
business of the country then required. By
January 1, 1894, the banks had $80,000,000
more than their legal reserve, but there was
no demand for it ; and by February first this
amount had increased to $110,000,000. This
surplus lay idle in the banks for months. If
we had been carrying on business at that
time under a well regulated bank note sys¬
tem, the panic would not have occurred.
When the need for money arose the banks
would have issued sufficient currency to sup¬
ply the demands of business and there would
have been no stringency. When any portion
of this increased amount was not needed, it
would have been retired. It is a reproach
to us that the Canadian banking and cur¬
rency system is so much better than ours
that there was not only no panic there at
that time, but that country reaped a rich
harvest by ministering to our necessities.
If object lessons are of any value, the peo¬
ple of this country should have learned by
this time that a government currency is ut¬
terly unfitted to the varying requirements of
business, and that the government should
12
not undertake any part of the banking' busi¬
ness. The periodic stringency in the money
market -which we have had every year for
many years past, and especially the panic of
1893, should be so convincing that no fur¬
ther lessons should be necessary.
This country cannot be permanently pros¬
perous so long as it attempts to do business
with a fixed volume of currency, however
great that volume may be. A government
currency is necessarily a currency of fixed
volume. As long as we attempt to do busi¬
ness with a government currency we will
have a periodic stringency in the money
market, and frequent panics followed by pro¬
longed distress and widespread disaster. If
the experience of 1893 with the years of bus¬
iness depression which have followed it are
not to be repeated within a short time, the
government currency should be retired and
an elastic system of bank note currency
should take its place. The people of this
country should as resolutely face the ques¬
tion of retiring the government currency
and substituting a bank note currency for
13
it as they did the questions of defeating"
the project of an issue of irredeemable paper
aaid- of debasingf tlie currency by the free
coinag-e of silver.
To doubt that the American people can
devise an- elastic currency system, is to doubt
that we have sufficient intellig-ence to con-
dtrct a government. If other countries have
succeeded in cboitrg it, we can succeed. If
other couötries have ctirrenGy and banking
systems under which tbey escape these
periods of strimgency and panic, we can also.
The Indliaiiapolis conference was called at
the instance of a number of men of that city
who have determined that the work of solv¬
ing the problem for this country must begin
now, atid that it must not flag until the so¬
lution is made.
We have mentioned only one of the evils
of a system of government currency. There
are others, but we have thought it better to
confine our attention at this time to the
weakness which is causing* practical trouble
—to one about which there is no room for
argument.
14
There is another evil of our present con¬
dition which was clearly pointed out by
Mr. Ingalls in a brief speech which he
made at the conference. The south and
west have no large accumulation of loanable
capital ; they are not able, under our system
of banking, to obtain the money necessary
for carrying on and developing their legiti¬
mate business. They now have only such
facilities for borrowing as are afforded by
small local banks whose loanable funds are
practically limited to the surplus money
which has been accumulated in their own
localities. The amount is insufficient for
their needs, and the rates of interest are so
high, that they check legitimate enterprise.
Unless this condition is removed, we maj'
expect a continual agitation for relief in
some form, and experience shows us that it
will take the form of a demand for a de¬
based currency. Unless a genuine cure is
provided, we must fight over and over again
the contest we had with the greenback party
in 1876 and the following years, and with
the free coinage party of 1896.
15
The men who called the Indianapolis con¬
ference believe that in the reform which
will give us an elastic currency will be in¬
cluded such changes in our banking, system
as will give the south and the west all the
loanable capital that the legitimate business
of those sections require, at rates of interest
only very slightly higher than those which
prevail in Boston and New York—simply
enough to cover the cost of moving the
money from one section to the other, and to
compensate for the loss of it during the time
it is in transit.
It is admitted on all sides that the difficul¬
ties to be dealt with in reforming the cur¬
rency and banking system so as to accom¬
plish these results are very great. Refer¬
ence to a few of them will give a general
understanding of the nature of the work and
assist in the formation of opinion about the
manner in which it must be done. In the
first place, the currency which is to be pro¬
vided must be sound beyond question. Were
it not for the fact that in this country we
have come to rely upon the security of
16
government bonds to give soundness to the
national bank currency, it would not be
difficult to provide for a currency not thus
secured which would be generally conceded to
be perfectly sound. A great number of men
are still in business who had serious expe¬
riences with ' ' wildcat" currency, and they
are so fearful of repeating those experiences
that they overlook the fact that every coun¬
try that has made an intelligent effort to
deal with the subject of its currency has
found it practicable to provide an absolutely
sound currency, without such security, and
they insist that any bank currency we have
must be secured by government bonds.
There are many objections to a currency
secured in this way. We will mention only
two of them. In the first place, to have
such a currency it is necessary that the gov¬
ernment should maintain a perpetual inter¬
est bearing debt. This is a very serious
objection. In the next place, no one has
ever been able to point out how a system of
bank notes secured by government bonds
can be so arranged that the volume of cur-
17
rency will aot remain at a practically fixed
amount. If this objection cannot be re¬
moved there would be very little advantage
to the business community in abandoning
our present government currency for a sys¬
tem of bank notes secured by bonds of the
government.
Another serious difficulty to be dealt with
in any reform of the banking and currency
system is the danger of producing a great
contraction or expansion of the currency
while the present legal tender notes, national
bank notes, Bland silver certificates and
Sherman silver purchase notes are being
retired and the new cuiTency introduced.
There must be absolute security against this
danger in any plan which is proposed, or it
will fail of adoption.
The problem of providing a plan by which
the surplus savings of the older and wealth¬
ier sections of the country shall be gathered
up and loaned out in the newer or less weal¬
thy sections, will not be found easy of solu¬
tion. If there were no banks in the country
and the problem could be dealt with as an
IS
original one, it would be easy to solve it.
We could do as is done elsewhere—have
large banks with their headquarters and
some branches in the wealthy sections of the
country, and other branches in the other
sections. Such institutions have no diffi-
cult}' in effecting such a distribution of the
loanable funds of a country as to practically
equalize the rates of interest in all parts of
it. This plan gives to small towns in new
sections as strong banks as are found in the
large cities of the wealthy sections, and
gives the borrower in the former region prac¬
tically the same advantages as the borrower
in the latter. Banks with small capital
scattered all over the country, and depend¬
ing for their loanable funds upon the people
in their immediate neighborhood, are utterly
inadequate to the work of distributing the
loanable capital of the country, or providing
borrowers in the section in which they are
located with the facilities which the}' should
have. But the mere existence of our small
banks will make the provision of adequate
means of securing these objects exceedingly
19
difl&cult. Possibl}' some change can be made
in our present system to adapt it to this
work.
The men who started this movement know
that the objects they have in view cannot be
accomplished unless congress shall be made
to see that the men of business and affairs
throughout the country are very much in
earnest. They feared that if the call for
a national convention of delegates from
the commercial organizations of the whole
country was sent out by the city of Indi¬
anapolis alone, it would not have sufficient
weight to secure the general attendance
that would be necessary to make the work
of the convention successful. They there¬
fore issued a call to the cities of the cen¬
tral west to a preliminary conference to con¬
sider whether all these cities would unite
in a call for a national convention. Dele¬
gates were present from nearly all the cities
to which invitations were sent out. There
was no difference of opinion among the del¬
egates who attended the conference about
the propriety of uniting in a call for a na-
20
tional convention to be held in Indianapolis,
on the twelfth of January next. Delegates
from the larger cities represented business
communities which had suffered more from
the present condition of our banking and
currency system than those of the smaller
cities, and consequently they were more ear¬
nest and enthusiastic than the representa¬
tives of the latter. They reported that the
commercial bodies which they represented
were just as determined now that the bank¬
ing and currency system of the country
should be reformed so that it would be ade¬
quate to the requirements of business at all
times of the year and in all parts of the
country, as they were in 1876, that the cur¬
rency should not be debased by the issue of
irredeemable paper, or in 1896 by the free
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. No
one who attended the conference could have
any doubt that the work which has been
begun will be carried on until the objects
sought have been accomplished. We felt no
doubt that the city of Grand Rapids ought
to do its part, and we had no hesitation in
21
uniting- with the other cities which were
represented at the conference in the call for
the national convention.
Under the ratio of representation ag-reed
upon, this body will be entitled to send five
delegates to the convention. It is not sup¬
posed that the national convention will at¬
tempt to formulate a plan of reform of the
banking- and currency system, but it is sup¬
posed that, representing as it will all the
commercial organizations of the United
States, any request it may make will be se¬
riously considered by congress. By many it
is believed that the result of the convention
will be a request to congress to pass an act
authorizing the appointment of a non¬
partisan commission by the president to in¬
vestigate the subject thoroughly and propose
a plan of reform. By others it is thought it
would be better to ask congress to proceed
directly with the legislation. The work of
collecting and digesting information about
successful banking and currency systems of
other countries, and the opinions of distin¬
guished men of business and political econo-
22
mists, and incorporating- the result of such
investig-ations into a plan, will be one of
great magnitude. It is a debatable question
whether it would be better to commit it to a
commission, or ask congress to undertake
the work itself. The business of the con¬
vention will be to make sure that in some
way the work shall be done. And from what
we heard and learned at Indianapolis, we
have no doubt that this movement will be
carried forward until the objects in view are
accomplished. Grand Rapids should do its
share in this important work, and we ear¬
nestly recommend that you send five dele¬
gates to the national convention.
N. A. Fletcher.
Wm. H. Anderson.
Grand Rapids, Michigan, Dec. 8, 1896.
IIBUÎTE: THURSDAY, J
c. Ely. Mr._I.ccKwoo^Ho„oré, M.
Caton, Ko. 1910 Caluirf-t
Mr. J. B. Kitchen,
Remington.
awnue *\ntOTt Jáed Th¿"x,úncheon club ï ' .
. V ^Ttable decorations were llllei. •
tÄle??^carÄn^ and ferns. The m. r -
be?s present besides Mrs. Catch were:
Mr«. John M. Clark.
A refined vaudeville ''
attraction at the Hyde Park club M Ti.
dav evening, an excellent prograin bet
nrfseSId to a large contingent of the cl.
members. The participants In the perfoi
ance were:
Miss Nina Adelaide Mr. Ha^ SmhilUr-
rowTèFa remark.
Chairman Patterson desired tx> know
i-'Ahe.ther the coiiveution wanted to vote
upon the report hy sections or as a whole.
The convention, by one shout, slgnilled that
it wanted to consider the report as a whole.
The vote was called for and the report of
committee was adopted as a whole by
a larjçe vote.
Following- is the report of the committee,
which was adoptefl:
Gentlemen of the Monetary Convention:
Your committee makes the following-report:
This convention declares that It has be¬
come absolutely necessary that a consist¬
ent, stralffhtfor-^ard, and deliberately
planned monetary system shall be inaug-ur-
ated, the fundamental basis of which should
be:
Hall.
..:iSB Cainerme
Miss Marie E. Hall.
rs. Freeman. ^
The Kenwood Mandolin club and the Rm-
Síf^HalU Mr! CharYeiÁrwllUÍ
Mrs. Freeman,
bling Quartet also assisted.
* * ♦
Trs. FredericUllman. No. 282 Forty-eli;_^b
'"m a musicale, on Satuvilr ■
Utes, rne convention was divided, but the
majority won. Jt was composed of repre¬
sentatives of the great commercial bodies
of the country, while the minority was rej)-
yesented by two members of the Committee
on Banking and Currency of the National
House of Representatives, Me^-s^s. tValker
and Fowler. They lost, but they went down
into the ^'alley of defeat with banners flying.
After the reading of the resolutions J. H.
"VVaiker of Massachusetts, Chairman of the
Committee on Banking and Currency, was
recognized and hurled a bombshell into
Camp Peaceful. He said:
" The Congress of the United States,
tiipough the last Congress, deferred action
upon any reform of the finance and banking i
systern pi_this country to the present Gcrrr^ 1
grf.-¿s, the Prt-sidential election being so !
near that the whole question was put over '
to the present Congreas. At the tirsit session
of this Congress, for the same reason, it was
delayed until the present session of Con¬
gress. The Committee on Banking and
Currency of the Plouse and Finance of the
Senate have taken no special action, but up
n..nL ii h.ij on dF.Trr--
' before thKs Congress closed
some definite scheme formu-
lated to be presented to the proposed ex.ra
session of the Fifty-fifth Congress.
Ill;» A\li4i]e Ueforiii Iliiinnecl,
convention, some
scheme \sould have been provided. This '
convention was cafled. What have you
done? The extra session meets-you can
not inaugurate your oommission before rh^
the pre<ient Congresg, you cann-k
i. you will appoint thi^
^bn by that body until that sciieme
and then it goes over to the regular
session of Congress, and when the next Con¬
gress is elecited, if legislation has not before
been had, you will not get it. You will not.
in my judgment, get it for ten years. I
don't believe there is a member of Congress
here nor In Washington who believes by the
machinery you have devised here anvthing
can be accomplished until the Fifty-sixth,
Congress. I ask the people—if you wish tc
face the people again—if the flnancial con-^
dition has been revealed to them."
In closing, Mr. Walker said:
•* Now, I did propose to say something
about the methods of securing legislation
Jf there had been the slightest hope or en-
'^couragement from' this convention: but I
>\ant to say to you that you have damned
jhe whole reform—damrffed it here today In
Hie weakness of human nature, and there
is no salvation."
Iiigralls Suroaatlc to AValkor.
M. F. Ingalls of Cincinnati, in remarks that
evidently voiced the sentiments of eveiy
man on the convention floor except Congress¬
man Walker and Fowler, said: " If your
fiiend Walker wishes to give a lecture on
the best wa.y to help Congress, I will hire
a hall and give him an evening.
" in tlie sixty or ninety days there is no
question but what you can get this measure
through Congress at its special session, if
it has one.
" There are some men, you know, who,
tired of the glories of this world, sigh for the
pruphet's paradise to come. There are some
things they never like, hut there is one thing
wo may congratulate ourselves upon, and
that is a conventlop of three hundred and
odd bu.«ilness-men are going to resolve that
futuro standard of this country shall
: bf gold."
*• Mr. Chairman." interrupted Mr. Fowler,
^ " - -Uov.- ncTT .■. r luj lu ht
the unanimous sentiment in this house, as
' it was in the committee, against my sub¬
stitute, I withdraw that substitute."
A tremendous. bnriTiu
Fowler's remark.
Gold
First—That
^tnnilnrd Favored.
the present gold standard
should be maintained.
Second—That steps .should be taken
to insure the ultimate retirement
of all classes of United States
nctes, by a gradual and steady process
and so as to avoid Injurious contraction of
the currency or disturbance of the business
Interests of the country, and that until such
retirement provision be made for a separa-
^n--0f the revenue and note issue depart-
'■'liients of the Treasury.
Third—That a banking system be provided
■which should furnish credit facilities to
every portion of the country and an elastic
circulation, especially with a view of secur¬
ing such a distribution of the loanable capi¬
tal of the country as will tend to equalize
the rates of interest in all parts thereof.
For the purpose of effectively promoting
the above objects.
Resolved. That fifteen members of this con¬
vention be appointed by the Chairman to
act as an Executive committee while this
convention Is not in session with the full
powers of this convention. The Executive
ccmmittee shall have the power to increase
its membership in any number not exceed¬
ing forty-five, and five members thereof
shall at all times constitute a quorum of
said committee. The Executive committee
shall have special charge of the solicitation,
receipt, and disbursement of contributions
volunt*i*-My made for all purposes; shall
hav3. p»:.wer to call this convention together
again, when« and where it may seem best
to said committee to do so, and said
committee shall continue in office with pow¬
er to fill vacancies until discharged at a
future meeting of this convention.
To Procure CongrresH* Aid.
Executiv^comi^ttee to endeavor to procure
at the special session of Congreas, which it
is understood will be called in March next,
legislation calling for the appointment of a
monetary comrrdssion by the President to
consider the entire question, and to report
to Congress at the earliest day possible.
' failing to secure the al)Ove legislation.
re hereby authorized and empowered
a commission of eleven members.
. .-Wnling to the rules and plans set forth In
.he suggestions submitted to the convention
by Mr. Hanna of Indianapolis, as follows:
Art. 1. The commission shall consist of
eleven members, to be named by the Exec-
tive committee appointed by this convention.
The Executive committee shall have power
to fill vacancies in the commission as they
may occur.
Art. 2. The first meeting of the commis¬
sion shall be held at a time and place to be
designated by the Executive committee of
this convention in a call to be issued there¬
for; and at such meeting the commission
shall organize by the election of such officers
and the adoption of such rules and by-laws
for Its own government as may be agreed
by a majority of its members; anfi thereafter
it shall he governed by such rules and by¬
laws. subject to these articles.
Tlioroiigli Inv«»stls:atioíi Wanted.
Art. 'X All rule« and by-laws of the com¬
mission and all its proceedings shall he di-
ri^ted towards the accomplishment of the
objects of its creation, wWch is to make
a thorough investigation of the monetary
affairs ami needs of this country in
aji relations and as^xM-ts. and to
make appropriate suggestions as to
any evils found to exist, and the rem¬
edies therefor; and no limit is placed upon
the scope of such Inquiry or the manner of
conducting the same, excepting only that
the expf>nses thereof shall not exceed the
sums set apart for such purpose by the Ex¬
ecutive committee.
Art. 4. The Executive committee of this
convention shall use so much of the volun¬
tary contributions made to It as may be
available for that purpose to defray all nec¬
essary expenses of the commission and shall
notify the commission from time to time of
the amount so available, in order that it
may regulate its exoenditurea accordingly.
332.406
M7421Í