The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1913-08-29
Treasury Department
Policies and Reforms

members OF his cabinet, Pre5l-
dent Wilson decided to place the s
handling Of the fiscal affairs Of
the nation in the custody of (
William G.. McAdoo to be adj ;
ministered in the interest of
all the people rather than on be- |
half Of the Money Trust and the j
Kings Of Finance who had long ]
exercised a control over the life J
!. llood Of business.
How well Secretary McAdoo :
has executed the trust and
] proven the warrant for the con-
] fidence reposed in him by his
chief, is attested by the policies
] he has inaugurated and the re-
: forms which he has wrought
during the few months in which
: he has been in charge of Uncle
Z Sans pocketbook. In other
: walks Of life, before he became
: a public official, Secretary Nc
: 'Adoo demonstrated the fact
that he is a man of ideas with
the courage to put them into
peration and execution. The
same genius, force of character
and executive ability which
made possible and practical the
tunnelling of the Hudson river,
and 50 greatly facilitating traf-
fc in and out of the crowded me-
trOpolis, he has brought to the
public service to be used in con-
s .ducting the office Of the Secre-
tary Of the Treasury. His at
q titude has inspired confidence
3 throughout the country and has
q served to give notice to the
q money power that the financial
8 affairs Of the nation will be
81 conducted from the big granite
. Luilding on Pennsylvania avenue,
8 in Washington, rather than
8 from a private office in Wall
81 street. Those who talked of the
. possibility of panic by his meas
8 ures have been hushed to silence
8 and the efforts of those who
8 would seek to bring on a fnan-
s. ICial stringency for their own
81 personal gain have been thwart-
8 d. The country has been made
& Ito understand that there is a
8 man in the United States Treas
81 ury who will not permit the
81 money changers to manufacture
81 a money panic, and that the cir
8 culating medium of the country
will not be withheld in order to
Il force the payment of usurious
interest to private individuals.
= Moreover, the treasury will no
longer be used as a well from
which Wall street bankers may
pump funds for their own pur-
poses without the payment of a
proper rate of interest for the
use Of the governments money.
Coming to the treasury portfolio
with a broad and liberal knoWl-
dye Of business affairs, Secre-
tary McAdoo was not long in
studying out reforms for some
Of the evils which have existed.
One of his first important acts
was to promulgate an order to
the effect that beginning June l.,
1913, all government depositor-
les, both active and inactive
would be required to pay an in
terest at the rate of two per
emit per annum ON average
monthly balances, be be credited
semi-annually on January L and
July 1 Of each year. The decis-
ion of the Secretary to require
government repositories to pay
interest on all public deposits,
whether active or inactive, reg
ular or temporary, is based on
the authority given in the So
called Vreeland-Aldrich emer-
geneY act of May so, 1908, and is
in keeping with the sentiment
Of the great Democratic leaders