The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-10-09
Score
CURRENCY VIEWS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

rency commission be received and placed
on file
Resolved, That we approve the work
of the currency commission. and that
we ratify and endorse the action of the
Chicago conference. the conclusions they
reached and the recommendations they
made.
Resolved. hat we urge upon Congress
the wisdom ana necessity of incorporat-
ing into the proposed law the amend
ments recommended by the Chicago con-
ference, all of which have been elabo-
rateIy presented to the Committee on
Banking and Currency OF the United
States Senate. in which body the pro-
posed law is now pending"
Mr. Hill. in a speech. condemned
forced subscription to the Federal re-
serve banks under penalty of death,
objected to the government impounding
part of the earnings of the banks. and
asked whether the people would prefer a
government monopoly or the competition
of . 900 independent banks.
Supervision and regulation of banks
are proper functions of the State and
the nation, but management, ownership.
control. and profit-sharing are character
istics of the government monopolies of
Europe and are not in accord with our
free institutions
How long before other businesses shall
he taken over on the plea that 1t Is Tor
the governments goOd?" Mr.. Hill asked.
For answer came a thunder of applause.
Objects to Reflection.
Thomas c. McRae. Prescott, Ariz.. re-
scented the reflections upon the admin
stration. which characterized the cur
rency bill as socialistic.
haWa
body representing the greatest business
institutions in the world. and charge the
government with favoring reputation?
You want to select the board of control
and say that the administration may
put in politicians Let US be honest with
ourselves. We are as good as anybody
else, but no better. Our business is en-
titled to no more consideration than the
business Of any other people. Every
section OF the country has been honest
" heard at Washington. yet in return
you allege that these representatives
elected by the people are Socialists and
likely to be regulators. These resolu-
tons do not reflect the sentiment of the
great many OF the country banks"
Loud cries of "Oh, Oh" and other
noisy protests greeted this remark. The
Interruptions lasted so long that Mr..
McRae, amid shouts of time reluc-
family sat down.
George NJ. Reynolds. of Chicago. who
was on the platform. jumped TO his feet.
motioned for silence. and said: II hope
you will be quiet and give the gentle
man every opportunity to express his
opinions"
Mr. McRae, resuming. warned the
bankers to approach Washington in a
respectful mood or else they would not
fare well. He said that the question of
who should control the country was sub
mitted to the people last year, and Pres
ident Wilson received the most over
whelming vote that ever came to a
President. Wild shouts of mo. no,
laughter, and other noises broke out
Would Trust officials.
Mr.. McRae said he had served in Con- /
gress under four Presidents-Cleveland,
Harrison, Mckinley, and Roosevelt, and !
that he would be willing to trust any
of them to make the appointments pro- /
vided under this currency bill, adding: |
These appointments are to be made |
Mr.. McRae urged that all reference to |
socialism be struck out of the commits |
sion's report. He characterized them as |
insulting to the peoples representatives. |
Festus J. Wade, of st. Louis, said Mr.. |
McRae either had not read the report of |
the currency commission, or he was not |
stating facts. Bankers, he said, have |
never asked TO control bills to be passed |
by the government, but had advised !
against the government putting its obIi- |
cation upon bank notes, because history |
and practice had demonstrated that this |
was unsound economically. The greatest |
number of representatives that the bank
ers had asked for on the central board Of |
control was four out OF eleven.
We are not invited to be heard by
the Banking Committee of the House,
and our request TO be heard was politely,
but positively refused, and We were not |
asked by the Senate committee to ap-
pear until we made the request"
Answers Mr.. McRac.
A. Frank Frame, of Waushaka, Wis,
said: You can lead a horse to water, but