Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-01-29
pRnu1Y,s REPLY TO poLLIyfR.


At Council Bluffs Senator Dolliver
enumerated the browning achievements
of Allison.s constructive craftsmanship
as six In number the fifth of which
was his connection with our banking
and currency legislation to which
Judge Prouty replied at Des Moines:
senator Dolliver points with pride
to the fact that Senator Allison Is the
Father of our present financial ana
banking system have not been quite
able to discover whether this was m
tended as one of Delivers finely Nelled
Jokes or whether he was serious. III
view OF recent occurrences, 1T Wouiu
seem to be a joke. The best t1nanciers
of this country declare that we nave
the banking that is found anywhere IN
the world But to put it mildly, there
is certainly something wrong with
system that can paralyze the business
of a prosperous country In day. ON
the 23rd day of October 1907. this
country was in the most prosperous
condition that it had ever Witnessed.
The wheels of industry Were every
glutted by it's enormity. Labor every
where was employed and taxed to IT'S
limit. We awoke on the morning OF
the gath to find our banks closed 10
business: the wheels of industry
stopped. and our country in the midst
of what Governor Shaw declares to be
the worst financial panic ever wit
messed in the United States. / believe
it is now generally conceded that this
panic was caused by defects in our
currency and banking legislation me
bankers Of this country had foreseeh
and foretold this condition, and had
again and again petitioned congress to
enact laws remedying the patent de-
fects The president of the United
States, in message after message, had
called congress- attention to some OF
the defects in our system. But stand
pat Indifference and standpat tactics
prevailed. and no action was taken un-
til the country was engulfed IN panic,
and the business of the country par
alyZed. After this had occurred, II
seems easy to secure action. Congress
is now directing its whole energy to
the correction of the glaring defects OF
this marvellous system. Why was "
not done long ago before this disaster
came? Had congress given heed to the
president, this financial panic could
not and would not have occurred.
in all candor, let me ask you
whether the time has not arrived In
the history Of our country when we
should elect men to office that have
sagacity and courage to enact laws
that will prevent rather than anchor
ate disaster To put it in the mildest
terms that I can command. the senior
senator of Iowa Is not such a man. He
is not the man. to mark out the path
He gently and quietly treads along the
we'll beaten paths of the past. He is
not the man to wake up the country
but has to be Weakened up by it.
Someone once said of Senator Alli-
son, that he could go thru a back al
ley filled with tin cans clad in cow
hide boots and not wake up cat
That may be all right for the cats.
but it is hard on the country. I think
the cats need waking up once in
awhile. The rats and the mice have
held high carnival long enough. | can
point to a man, had he been in con-
gress. that would have awakened the
cats long ago, and driven the rats and
the mice from the granary floor of
the nation. Had he been in the United
States senate, he would not have al
lowed them to sleep. He would have
been heard in a way that would have
aroused congress and the United
States to its approaching danger. He is
a. man Of that mold and type. He is
clear in his cnnnr"ti"rs. eloquent in
his apuo~'s So aus in his ac-
finns.