National Monetary Commission
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National Monetary Commission
National Monetary Commission, a commission established by the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 30 May 1908 to "inquire into and report to Congress … what changes are necessary or desirable in the monetary system of the United States or in the laws relating to banking and currency."
The commission, composed of nine members of the Senate and nine members of the House of Representatives, with Senator Nelson Aldrich as chairman, was duly appointed and proceeded to carry out its designated task. It appointed experts to make studies of banking history and existing conditions in the United States and other countries, and in the summer of 1908 members of the commission visited England, France, and Germany to ascertain their banking arrangements, methods, and practices by personal observation and interviews.
On 8 January 1912 the commission submitted its report to Congress. The report contained a summary of the work done by the commission, and by experts and others employed by it, as well as a description and text of a proposed law to remedy a number of existing defects as enumerated in the report. The proposed law contained provisions for the establishment of a National Reserve Association with branches to act as a central bank for the United States (see Federal Reserve System). The monographs and articles, prepared for the commission by experts and published in conjunction with the report, numbered more than forty and constituted, at the time, one of the most comprehensive banking libraries available.
Bibliography
Broz, J. Lawrence. The International Origins of the Federal Reserve System. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997.
Degen, Robert A. The American Monetary System: A Concise Survey of Its Evolution since 1896. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1987.
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National Monetary Commission
National Monetary Commission was a study group created by the Aldrich Vreeland Act of 1908. After the Panic of 1907 American bankers turned to Europe for ideas on how to operate a central bank. Senator Nelson Aldrich, Republican leader of the Senate, personally led a team of experts to major European capitals. They were stunned to discover how much more efficient the Europeans were. Furthermore the pound, franc and mark were much more important in international trade than the dollar.
The Commission issued 30 reports (1909-1912) that provided a detailed and authoritative survey of banking systems of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They examine such topics as U.S. financial laws; U.S. state banking statutes; Canadian banking history; and the banking and currency systems of England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Mexico, Russia, and other nations. The volumes contain essays commissioned from leading specialists, plus innumerable tables, charts, graphs, and facsimiles of forms and documents. Some volumes contain transcripts of relevant speeches, interviews, and hearings. Mitchell [1911] provides a comprehensive review of the documents prepared by the commission. All of the reports were published by the U.S. Government Printing Office between 1909 and 1911.
The Commission's reports became the basis for the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 creating the modern Federal Reserve system.
References
- Mitchell, Wesley C. (1911). The Publications of the National Monetary Commission, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 25: 3, pp. 563 - 593.
- Stephenson, Nathaniel W. Nelson W. Aldrich: A Leader In American Politics. 1930
- Wells, Donald R. The Federal Reserve System: A History (2004)
- Wicker, Elmus . The Great Debate on Banking Reform: Nelson Aldrich And Origins of the Fed (2005).
- Wood, John H. A History of Central Banking in Great Britain and the United States (2005).
Digital versions of the Commission reports are available on FRASER, a website of historical resources from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.[1]
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Mentioned in
Arsène Paulin Pujo
(American statesman)
Aldrich-Vreeland Act
(American history)
Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich
(American statesman)
banking
(in business, finance)
Financial Panics
(American history)
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