National Monetary Commission

The 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 United States, and the leading 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's reports and recommendations became one of the principal bases in the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 which created the modern Federal Reserve system.