The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-27
GOOD RESULTS WILL
 7 COME FROM PANIC
Optimistic Views of Financier
 HIgginson of Boston
POINTS OUT HE BENEFITS
People Learn Lesson of Economy and Thrlft-Crops Are Large and
 Bring Prosperity.

New York. January 26.-(special. )-That the financial panic and the business de- pression that has followed 1t will have good effect in certain directions Is the con- cluson of Maj. Henry L. Higginson, the well-known Boston financier. His view of the situation Is set forth in an article appearing in the February number of Ap- pleton's Magazine He regards the depres- sion itself IS certain to be short lived and brings out a number of facts to support this belief.
 Several things are clear" says Major Higginson; ',our crops are good and are needed at high prices, for which they are now selling. These crops go, in large measure, to Europe, which pays us gold for them. The men and women who have kept their jobs will be more diligent and more careful in their work, and we shall find, as has already been proved, that four men can do as much work as did six last year. Presently the farmers and work people will begin to buy more clothes and shoes, and, as their money comes out and the counters of the shops
 
 plenish them, and the work will go on. This will take some time, but inasmuch as all classes have prospered to a won derful degree within the last two or three years, not only the corporations, but the farmers, the traders, and especially the work people, and inasmuch as they are all in comfortable condition, we shall find that the recovery will not be long de- layed.
 Tt would seem likely that the granger roads, so-called-that is, those west of Chicago and St. Louis-will have enough work in bringing the existing crops to market, and this applies to the railroads through the cotton states. At the same time the expenses of these roads will drop somewhat, as all the work unnecessary for the moment willbe put aside. There fore, the results on those roads ought not to differ much from the past year,
 we have right to expect fair crops for this year for the farming Is better done than it used to be, and therefore, the results are better; the farmers take more pains about tilling and manuring
 
 they diversity their crops, and. by the planting of trees, they are working against droughts-the great enemy of the farmer.
 Tn the east no doubt the factories will work on less time than during the past three or four years, but people will have moderate employment; and meantime the manufacturers will practice various econ omies, will shed the habit of waste, so destructive in this country. and the work men will follow suit. If man has not too much money in his pocket, he will drink and smoke less, and his wife will buy fewer clothes.
 Our national bank system is good, but it is becoming antiquated; 1t Is based on government bonds which we ought to be paying of more and more. As we grow larger and need more banking facilities, the supply of the government bonds falls off, thus curtailing the existing basis for the issue of bank currency Our govern ment should have nothing to do with the immediate proceedings of the banks ex- cept to inspect and eriticise the actions of theseA banks. In short, the Secretary of the Treasury should not be able to come in or go out of the money market. The system should be automatic and take care of itself. The government should not hoard money or throw it out at the will of anybody and everybody, but all the surplus of the government should be kept in the banks subject to the use of the whole population of the United States, and the government should receive re- turn for it's deposits. just as any manu- featuring corporation or private individual receives it. This money should not be protected any more than the money of any private individual In short, the gov- ernment should get out of business and stay out.
 "A great central bank for the issue of currency for an emergency and for the deposit of government funds would be 0 great help in steadying our affairs. Plenty of people believe that the interests of the banks are opposed to the interests of the farmer or work population. and there never was an idea more false; if the manufacturer does not flourish. the work man does not flourish. and the miner is out of job if the manager of the mine is losing money Canada has far better banking system than we, and the key note is combination through organization. If today our banks were so closely con- nected as in Canada, the terrible need of currency would not exist, for each bank would know that it could get this cur rency as required and, therefore, would not pile it up in it's own vaults"
 Thus while the panic itself was an un- necessary evil, and while its results en- tail temporary hardship on a great many persons, it is likely to result in good in the long run, as pointed out in the Ap- pleton article.