Tenth: The banks of each commercial zone should also elect a court of appeals, or a banker's council, composed of an equal number of business men and bankers, to settle all banking and business questions that would properly come before them.
Eleventh: The Board of Control in each commercial zone should be presided over by a deputy United States Comptroller, for the purpose of securing immediate and efficient action.
Twelfth: The banks of the United States should all contribute a percentage of their deposits to a Central Reserve, which should be composed of gold, and gold alone. The percentage of deposit should be 7 per cent at the outset, and be gradually increased to 10 per cent, which would amount, at the present time, to a central gold reserve of upwards of $1,250,000,000. This reserve would correspond to the reserve held today by the Clearing Houses for their banks.
Thirteenth: This central gold reserve should be held in trust by a body of men composed of one man from each commercial zone, for the benefit of all the commercial zones.
Fourteenth: Each Board of Control should have access to this central gold reserve, and should have power to sell gold to any bank within its zone and under its supervision, in case it desired it for the purpose of moving crops or for any other legitimate reason. The practical result would be, that the gold would be held, to a large extent, at the financial centres, and under the command of the Board of Control, precisely as the Clearing House committees today hold the reserves of the banks constituting their respective Clearing Houses.
Fifteenth: The use, distribution and control of the central gold reserve should be under the management of the representatives of all the commercial zones, who should be composed equally of business men and bankers.
Sixteenth: For the purpose of establishing responsibility and securing efficiency, the representatives of the zones should act through corporate powers granted by the National Government.
Seventeenth: The purpose of a national centralization of gold to so large an extent is two-fold:
(1) It brings all the banking power of the United States to the defense of the commercial interests in every part of the United States instantaneously.
(2) It will give to the representatives of the zones the power to control and direct the movement of gold to and from the United States, by fixing and enforcing a price for the use of gold, or a discount rate for gold transactions throughout the United States.
These reforms are based upon three distinct propositions: