Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-24
Senator Owen, Chairman
Banking and Currency Com
mittee, Opens Discussion.
SPEECHES MAY CONTINUE
FOR COUPLE OF MONTHS
Daughters of President and Members
Of House Party Occupy Seats
in Gallery.

Debate on the currency bill at last got
under way in the Senate today. Senator
Owen of Oklahoma, chairman of the
banking and currency committee. opened
the discussion. speaking in support of the
administration bill.
When the debate will end is largely a
matter of conjecture, but senators ex-
pressed the opinion today that it woul6
be the last part of January or the first
of February before the last speech was
made.
Miss Margaret Wilson and Miss Eleanor
Wilson, daughters of the PRESIDENT and
party of the house guests at the White
House for the wedding of their sister
Miss Jessie Wilson. heard the opening OF
what promises to be one of the most
famous debates ever held in the Senate.
They entered the Senate gallery and &C.
cupied the seats reserved for the Presi-
dent and Vice President soon after the
Senate met at noon. But Senators Clark
of Wyoming, Williams of Mississippi, and
others entered into long wranSle as TO
how the report of the Senate banking and
currency committee should be printed. The
wrangle lasted for half an hour. and the
White House party left. They returned
shortly after Senator Owen had begun his
address.
No Protection Against Panics.
This probably is the most important
piece Of legislation which has been pre-
sented to the country since the civil war.
declared Senator Owen when he finally
obtained the floor to discuss the currency
bill. He said that the American system
of finance had many serious defects. the
principal of which was that there was no
adequate protection against panics- He
discussed briefly the panic of 1907, when
interest rates on money went as high as
125 per cent and there were tremendous
fluctuations in the prices of stock.
THE country demanded relief. and
the Vreeland-A -Aldrich act was passed
by Congress-" continued Senator owen
He said that this emergency currency
act had been of value as a means o1
protection should panics arise. 1T was
the forerunner, he said. of Il thorough
investigation by the national monetar.
commission Of the financial methods ol
manN foreig7l countries
Senator Open declared that the panic
of 1867 was manufactured by handful
of men controlling large interests, for
their own benefit.
Opposed to Central Bank.
He said that the democratic platform
had pronounced against the Aldrich bill
and a central bank. Senator Hitchcock
Of Nebraska, democrat who is one of the
opponents of the administration bill, in
terrupted to say that he had understood
that the democratic platform opposes
only the Aldrich bin for central bank.
and not all bills for a central bank.
Senator Owen defended the admins
tratfon plan for a system of regional
reserve banks. He pointed out that
many large public utility banks, such
as the federal reserve banks proposed
in the administration BILL are to be
found in a comparatively small terri
tory In Europe.
England has one of these banks,
said Senator Owen. Germany has an
other France has another, Belgium has
still another. Yet France could be
placed within the confines of the state
Of Texas. The German empire also could
be contained within the boundaries of
Texas. 1t is reasonable to suppose,
therefore, in the huge territory of the
United States the people should be
served by number of these regional
reserve banks, rather than to ask one
central bank to do the business for
ALL"