The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1907-11-29
4AvRE, FRIDAY, NOV. 20, 1907.
Official Paper Of the City Of Havre
CURRENT TOPICS OF THE Ma
TONS CAPITAL.
by
WILLIS J. ABBOT.

WILLIS J. ABBOT.
Washington, Nov. rs, 1907.-Ihe Wig
orous criticisms expressed, or Implied
made within two days oy justice OF
the supreme court Of the Unitec
States, Mr. Justice Brewer, and D!
former Senator Spooner upon the atti-
tude and the actions of President
Roosevelt are today the talk Of all
Washington.
Justice Brewer has based his crit
icism upon the eligibility Of the Pres
ident for a second term, and said that
if he were declared ineligible we
would not now have "the spectacle OF
President playing hide and seek in
politics" Senator Spooner followed
the next day with this assertion: 1T
was not the federal government which
came to the aid OF the country during
the cricis encountered, but few days
ago, It was the financial leaders who
took the burden on their shoulders
and they were led by the uncroWned
king Of them all, j. Pierpont Morgan.
Never in the history Of this country
has the standard Of business men
been higher or purer than today
Continuing Senator Spooner sheer
ed at the Roosevelt assertion that the
administration and the treasury had
saved the day in Wall street He ap-
plauded Secretary Cortelyou for pos
sessing the gift OF silence, which
have begun to think is very import
ant gif~ In a public official 1t gives
him time to think" This is regard
ed in Washington as distinct slur
upon our somewhat voluble, not to
say yociferous, President. With him,
as statesman of my acquaintance re-
marked today, there Is always time
to speak, the time to think comes af-
forwards. ''-' ~
~' FINANCIAL LEGISLATION.
III letter which sent out yester-
day 7 outlined Mr.. Bryan's plan for
the correction of the admitted evils
of the present currency system. /
have learned today that at least three
members Of congress are preparing
bills to be introduced in the first
week of the session to give it effect.
1t must be admitted that the chance
OF the enactment OF any OF these
bills Is a slender one. Some sort Of
currency Legislation will be pressed
vigorously upon congress as ;:oon' as
it meets. The banks would like to
push through what Is known as the
asset ocurrency law. The opposition
to this among the people is SO great
that there is no chance whatsoever Of
its passage, but it will have enough
support, both politically and flnan-
cially, to make of it a serious otsta-
Gle to the passage OF any other meas
ure. Possibly the serious state of the
banking credits in the United States
might force congress to act upon any
measure except that of asset currency,
that one never can be passed
The Presidents plan for correcting
the financial difficulty of the business
world by selling bonds and certificat-
es Of Indebtedness has been received
viii very faint praise by bankers and
public men, Confidently with its an
nouncement / saw paragraph writ
ten by mere flippant humorist who
probably did not think himself that
he knew anything Of the currency
question. He was commenting upon
the statement Of Harry Payne Whit
ney who said he had mortgaged his
Fifth avenue house for 100000, not
because he was hard up, but because
ne didn't want to draw that amount
OF money out Of the banks in which
he was depositor and thereby add
to the financial srtingency
Where did Mr.. Whitney &c; the
money that he borrowed?" said the
Photographer, did he meet some man
on the street who just took five hun
dred thousand dollars out of his own
pocket and hand it over?'
II the banks buy hundred million
dollars worth Of three per cent certi-
ficates, where is the money coming
from? 1t will only lessen their re-
serves and by so doing certainly not
increase the confidence of depositors.
AS MIR. Bryan said to me today: the
proper financial plan is not for the
government TO offer suggestions by
| a -.
h bank, but rather to adopt a measure
b which will lead the people to pu
g money back into the banks.