Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-26
CREDIT MEN
ASK REFORMS
RECENT PANIC SHOWED NEED,
THEY SAY s\
DIR. DAY MAKES ADDRESS AT
BANQUET
Line Must Be Drawn Against Loose
Banking Systems, Is Lesson of
Stringenoy, Declares
Pastor

The monthly meeting of the Los Angeles
Credit Mems association was held in the
rooms of the Sunset club, Levy's cafe,
last night, and speech making and dis
cussion of business conditions followed a
banquet at which fifty covers were laid.
Herman Flatau, secretary of NJ. A. New
mark & Co., acted as toastmaster.
The principal speaker of the evening was
Rev. William Horace Day, pastor of the
First Congregational church.
Following the address of DR.. Day a gem
eral discussion of business conditions,
suggestions as to remedies for undue con-
C.tfons, and expressions of confidence in
the future took place.
DR.. Day, opening his address, said he
would take his text from the modern book
of chronicles-the daily press-and spoke
of former panics.
"The financial leaders in the present
disturbance" he said, told us the coun-
try was sound and the cloud on the hori-
zon was the annual problem of securing
money to move the great crops. AS I
have been studying the pages and follow
ing the prophecies of the press, 1 have
been exceedingly impressed. few weeks
ago the great copper corner broke. They
had boosted copper to 81, and It fell to
10; call money went to 125 and could not
be obtained at that price. There began
erbocker Trust company went to the wall.
Touched by Frost
"Credit men had been touched with the
frost and their ship of commerce had
been stuck in the ice; the confidence and
integrity in the banks had been impaired.
THAT brings us to the question of who
made it happen? One of the officials of
the Knickerbocker Trust company, who
ought to know, said there was only one
man responsible, and that was the man
who had been casting suspicion on the
credit Of the country, and he pointed to
the White House as the beginning of
these conditions. But the question is still
before the country-Who did it, the pres
ident or the plunger? I leave you to an
swer the question. Mr. Bryan, the presi-
dents longtime rival, admonishes us not
to find fault with the sheriff, but the
horse thief.
Let us turn to the second phase of this
condition. The fact is the basis of credit
is moral, and the basis of this question is
moral, We all realize that at the bottom
of present conditions the question is one
of morality rather than politics.
"Our newspapers are right as they
preach to us; confidence is not destroyed
by punishment of malpractice, but by
the malpractice itself.
'"rhe loss of confidence came not be-
cause we had less money; not because we
had less wheat not because we had less
cotton; not because we had less unfin-
ished products. But it came because the
people suddenly became aware that their
banks, especially in New York, were con-
trolled by a.group of spectators.
Morals Rotten
'And so, on every side, we realize this
problem will bring about hardship not
because America has not possessed the
but because some have had
rotten morals in our great commercial
machine.
"And now we come to the last point, the
of credit. We know it is
coming. That copper corner had no more
to do with industry than poker game in
a metropolitan club.
what are we going to do to rebuild it?
urge three things: First, intelligent con-
demnation. One of the most thrilling
things has been to see in New York how
absolutely possible it was for the great
mass of bank leaders to put the screws on
and squeeze the other fellows out.
1--WE have to do in our business world
what was done in San Francisco. They
placed sticks of dynamite under rotten
walls and tore them down. Another thing
to dove have to go into the business of
rational faith in men, A man
must live by faith; but there is a differ
ence between belief and faith, the latter
being strong enough to make mans
will operate.
'The other point I would refer to is a
serious one. We, as men, must ask our
selves the question these days: How can
we contribute to make conditions better?
The greatest contribution we can make
is our only personal contribution of char
acter. What are we giving? How much