The Washington times., 1912-09-13
EXPECT TREASURY
TO AID BANKS TO
ASSIST FARMERS
Part of Money Now Hoarded
Will Probably Be Avail
able for Crops.

That the Treasury in the near future
will distribute part of the money II
has boarded up for the purpose of help
ing the banks of the country to move
the crops is regarded in quarters close
! to the Treasury Department as almost
a certainty.
Secretary Macveagh has been dis
cussing the matter with the President
and It is said decision will be an
nounced in few days. Nothing offi-
cially is known as to what the decision
will be, but there are strong reasons
for believing 1t will be determined to
put out some money.
Such action will attract notice because
for four or Ave years this policy has
not been followed. 1t used to be COM
mon in the days when Leslie NJ. Shaw
was Secretary Of the Treasury. George
B. Cortelyou as Secretary did not in
cline favorably to the policy and Secre-
tary MacVeagh has not followed 1t.
But now it looks as If 1t would be done
and the subject possesses special
interest for two reasons. One is that
this is a Presidential year, and that the
opponents of the Administration will at
once charge that any such distribution
is political. The other is that this is a
year of amazingly large crops, and that
the banks will apparently need help.
Facing Hard Problem.
Treasury officials and financiers in
Washington, as well as politicians, are
watching the situation narrowly. Those
who understand the whole inwardness
of It feel that Secretary .MacVeagh has
"A hard DrOhlem on his hands
Not alone does he have to decide
whether to put the public funds out in
the midst of an exciting political cam
paign, but he has to decide, If he does
put the money out, how he is going to
distribute it. And IL he decides to send
II chiefly to few big financial centers,
he will be accused of catering to the
money power.
The condition of the Treasury, and
the fact that banks are beginning to
show signs of needing help to move the
crops, seem to make 1t almost i'm
possible for the Treasury to avoid
is the view Of the best informed finan-
cial men here. The Treasury has now
working balance of about s6O.0o0,O0O
more than it needs; This is actual
times that sum, or s24o,0OO,o 900. In other
words. there is practically withdrawn
from the channels of credit in this
country at this time $4,000, ,000more than
titled to it, and it is doing the Govern
ment no possible good.
Needed In Circulation.
AS a matter of fact. therefore, the
money ought to be out among the banks
and the public ought to be having the
benefit of the credit whether there is
any real need of the money, and the
credit for crop-moving purposes.
The banks cannot, be said to be
pinched. but 1t looks as If the big crops
would give them a hard load to carry.
The reserves Of the New Cork banks,
for instance. are beginning to show the
effects of the demands from the interior
for crop money Some of the Western
banks are feeling it.
The problem of where to put the
money Is especially hard at a time of
political excitement. Secretary Shaw
used to try to distribute 1t to the in
terror points where needed, as well as
to the centers. But the fact is the
2anks of the interior send money to
New York and other centers when they
do not need 1t, and pull it out when
they do, and the result is certain to be
If there is tight money in the crop ne.
r1od that the big centers like New York
Will be the heaviest drawn upon. And
II follows that the Treasury, If 1t puts
out money. will almost certainly have
TO give freely to the large centers,
which, as already indicated, would mean
the cry would rattle about the ears OF
the Administration at once that Wall
Street was being favored.
Secretary MacVeagh is likely to spend
at least several troubled and sleepless
nights over the solution of the PROPOSE
ton. But the fact stares him in the
face that the Treasury has so much
money 1t cannot in justice to the coun-
try 20 on holding it away from public
use.