The Washington herald., 1913-01-22
FINANCIAL WOES
ARE PREDICTED
Representative Carter Glass
Addresses United States
Chamber Of Commerce.
500 DELEGATES HERE
President and Mrs. Taft Will Receive
Visitors at the White House
This Afternoon.
500 DELEGATES HERE


| This Afternoon.
Dire forcbodIngs OF coming financial
disaster were voiced last night by Repre-
| sentative Carter Glass of Virginia.
chairman OF the House Committee on
Banking and Currency. in his speech on
| barking and currency reforms made be-
| fore the Chamber Of Commerce OF the
| United States at the New Willard. He
called attention to several disquieting
symptoms in present-day finances and de-
plored the existing banking laws.
Former Representative Charles n.
| Fowler OF New Jersey added his voice
| to the warning, and exhorted the MEM
| bers OF the chamber to watchfulness and
work for reformatory measures.
The evening session. at which these
two speeches were made, found the dele
gates, of which there are now nearly
! 900 in Washington, only just we'll started
on the convention. the completion of the
smaller details of organization having
engaged the convention until the night
meeting.
From now on the work will go on
| without interruption. There will be a
long session this morning, at which the
delegations will discuss recognition for
| the Republic Of China and a number of
other subjects. This afternoon there Will
| be no session. President Taft will ad-
dress the Board of Trade park commits
sion this afternoon in the Willard. ami
| the delegates to the National Chamber
are invited to attend. Later in the aft
ernoon the President and Mrs TAFT Will
the White House.
N...I
The opening OF the convention occurred
yesterday morning at 1850 o'clock. Sec
retary of Commerce and Labor NagA
delivered the welcoming address. He
| talked of the relation of the people to
| the nation and of several present issues.
Senator George z. Chamberlain OF Ore
gon and Representative Henry ID. Clay
| ton Of Alabama were on the speakers
| programme. and John IL. Fahey, chair
| man of the board of directors, responded
| to the address OF welcome.
The afternoon meeting was taken up
with the report OF the board OF direc-
tors. read by President Wheeler. OF Chi
cago. and with a long argument Incident
| to the adoption OF the bylaws.
The session was enlivened by the dis
courses OF Mr.. johnson. OF Cleveland.
| who addressed the chamber in connec-
! ton with the adoption of the bylaws.
| He wanted to change the bylaws so
as to organize the national body along
different lines than those settled on. He
said that under the present system the
members come together once a year to
| take up a number OF weighty problems
| over which Congress has deliberated for
years and after a few hours of consid-
| Grafton "it resolutes and goes home for
| another year" Mr. johnson declared
this made the organization ridiculous
In the eyes Of the world. and he advocated
plan he said would mean accomplish
ment instead of merely resolutions.
He suggested that the national body be
made up Of probably 500 men who would
| be willing to donate 800 each. and that
with this money experts be engaged to
work on the problems before the cham
ber and evolve a practical solution.
Currency Reform Urged.
At the start of his address at the even
ing session Representative Glass insisted
that the topic OF currency reform is ur-
gent and the time ripe for action.
He expressed the conviction that the
| chief points to be dealt with In any eff
| fective measure of relief are: Provision
for rediscounts or sale of commercial pa
per in a way and to an extent that will
! enable banks to get fluid resources when
ever their customers may require. The
issue Of a safe and elastic paper cur
rency, gradually displacing the bond
secured bank notes. Regulation of gov
ernment deposit of current funds with
| the banks of the country. More stringent
inspection of banks.
The Aldrich-Vreeland monetary plan.
Representative Glass said, came far from
remedying the difficulties of the times,
and he compared It to "a red hot poker
held out to a drowning man.
Former Representative Fowler was not
on the programme but. having been
identified with the currency and banking
question in the House for many years,
the talk was like the smell of powder
in the nose of a battle charger and he
begged permission to address the meet
ing. His talk was short and peppery.
More Trouble Expected.
He said that in the last fifty years
there had not been a single change in
the banking laws of the country and he
added that ii was no wonder In the face
of this that there had been trouble and
that it was to be expected that more
trouble was to come
Unless you have a whisker pulling and
hair tearing campaign over this trouble,
God help you"' he concluded.
Wilbur J. Carr. director OF the Con-
sular Service, was to have read a paper,
but he was prevented by illness, and
Evan E. Young. foreign trade adviser
Of the Consular Department. read the
paper in his stead. Among other things
it advocated higher salaries and tho
purchase of suitable residences for rep
resentatives OF the United States abroad
The other addresses were by E A.
Filene. vice president International Con-
gress of Chambers of Commerce, Boston;
Frank W. Noxon. Railway Business As
sociation; NJ. B. Trezevant. president
American Association Of Commercial
Executives.
Porto Rico coffee, better known in
Europe than in the United States, will
be served at the banquet at the New
Willard tonight. The coffee will be
supplied by the Porto Rico Government
Commercial Agency. composed Of George
R. Cotton, governor: Luiz Sancho Nor
ales. president Of the executive commit
tee. and Jose de Diego, speaker of the
House OF Delegates, of Porto Rico.
Mortimer Remington, the Porto Rico
governments commercial agent In New
York, who Is now in Washington, yes
terday completed arrangements for the
use of the coffee tonight.