America's Money Machine

T HE
9.
The Setting of the Current
NATIONAL MONETARY COMMISSION had been composed
entirely of members of Congress-on the theory, apparently, that
they would be more influential thereby in promoting enactment of the
Commission's recommendations. As a result of the 1910 elections, twothirds
ofthe Commission lost their seats in Congress and were thereafter
disrespectfully called "lame ducks," while still others faded from the
scene after the 1912 election.
The general political currents ofthe time require our attention because
their conflicting tendencies are reflected in the monetary legislation
subsequently enacted. Beneath the particular issues that rose and found
attention lay deeper issues that emerge even more clearly today, more
insistently demanding resolution-of the state versus the individual, of
the locus of sovereignty, and of the range ofindividual liberty. Contrary
to today's colorations, the Republican Party was then probably more
authoritarian, in demanding more powers for the Federal Government,
than was the Democratic Party, traditionally the party of states' rightsthough
this coloration may not be evident in respect to individual issues
before the public.
Under Theodore Roosevelt, for instance, the campaign against industrial
monopolies had resulted in 44 antitrust suits; under Taft 90 proceedingswere
initiated against monopolies. Taft had also formally proposed
legislation requiring federal incorporation of companies engaged in interstate
commerce, and the establishment ofa Federal Corporation Commission
to supervise companies holding national charters, but these
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