National Monetary Commission

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National Monetary Commission was a study group created by the Aldrich Vreeland Act of 1908. After the Panic of 1907 The Commission studied the banking laws of the U.S., states, Canada, Mexico, and many of the countries of Europe. The chairman of the Commission, Senator Nelson Aldrich, a Republican leader in the Senate, personally led a team of experts to major European capitals. They were stunned to discover how much more efficient the European financial system appeared to be and how much more important than the dollar were the pound, the franc and the mark in international trade.

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. The reports 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. The reports were published by the U.S. Government Printing Office between 1909 and 1912 with the final report containing proposed recommendations and draft legislation to establish a national reserve association in the United States.

The Commission's reports and recommendations became one of the principal basis in the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 which created 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
  • Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C., Inc., "The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 - A Legislative History", 2009 (http://www.llsdc.org/FRA-LH/)
  • 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.

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