![]() ![]() |
He eased the crisis by depositing large amounts of government funds in national banks and buying government bonds. To prevent further crises, Cortelyou advocated a more elastic currency and recommended the creation of a central banking system. In 1907, the Aldrich-Vreeland Act was passed, providing special currency to be issued in times of panic, and additionally establishing a Commission that helped prompt the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913. Cortelyou resigned at the end of Roosevelt's term. About the ArtistA popular Washington artist in the 1890's, Charles Harold L. MacDonald (1861–1923) painted portraits of Secretaries Dexter, Windom, Gresham, and Gage in addition to George Cortelyou for the Treasury Department. He is also represented in the collections of the Supreme Court and the U.S. Naval Academy. His portrait of Cortelyou is one of his finest, painted from life in 1907. A victim of an unfortunate fall on the ice shortly after painting Cortelyou's portrait, MacDonald lost his left arm and did very little painting after that. He died in 1923, destitute and alone, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C. Office of the Curator ![]()
|
|