FEW AREAS OF ECONOMIC AcTIvrrY can claim as long and unanimous a record of agreement on the appropriateness of governmental intervention as the supply of money.l Very early in our history money was recognized by policy makers to be special, and individuals fearful of government influence in other areas of economic life readily acknowledged that government had a primary role in controlling monetary arrangements. Free market advocates who now argue for, among other things, unregulated entry and the elimination of all interest rate and portfolio restrictions do not opt for a completely unregulated money industry, but recognize that money has unique characteristics which require that it not be supplied freely as an ordinary good. The monetary role of government is agreed to include, at a minimum, the monopolistic supply of a currency, into which all privately supplied demand deposits should be convertible. In
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