BANKING REFORM IN THE UNITED STATES: An Address by Nelson W. Aldrich, Before the Academy of Political Science. October 15, 1913

[New York?]: (1913).. (1913).. Very good. - Octavo, softcover bound in printed cream wraps. The wraps are bumped with small stains at the staples & some very light foxing. The spine & extremities are darkened. The head of the spine is torn with a piece out & the tail is chipped. 67 pages. A few top page corners are bumped. Very good. <p>First edition.<p>Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island played a leading role in the creation of a United States central bank. Aldrich conducted a nationwide campaign for sweeping banking reforms "with a view to creating a flexible currency that would expand and contract in volume as the necessities of business might dictate....The campaign was brilliantly successful. In November 1911, the Convention of American Bankers, in session at New Orleans, indorsed the Aldrich Plan. A bill based upon it was drawn up by the Monetary Commission and submitted to Congress." Unluckily for Aldrich, in the 1912 election the Democrats took possession of the House. "The bill of the Monetary Commission was quietly set aside....Thereafter, he could do nothing but stand aside while the victorious party, laboring hard to make the country believe they were not continuing his work, brought the reform movement to a conclusion by establishing the system of the Federal Reserve. It was not altogether a conclusion he could approve..." [Quotations from DAB]. In this address to the Academy of Political Science, Aldrich expresses his reservations about the Democrats' bill.<p>Rare.