Norwich bulletin., 1914-03-28

l pTODi6nS or CnG nOuT appeal Nll4 pc ] eulfa power to the intelligence and 1 activities of the business man, for they | are really great business questions. A | single instance will illustrate this. The l question now agitating the country to l its renotest bounds Is a business ques- 1 tion: Shall business combinations be 1 permitted; if so, to what extent, under | what limitations? The answer to this | inquiry will shape, for many 8 decade, our commercial and industrial destiny. | I believe that combinations will be ul- | timately 1ega1ized, with regulations to | prevent the unconscionable exercise of 1 the vast powers thus obtained. This l question concerns you, business men of l Norwich. Take a hand in it's solution. It won't solve itself.
 Cannot Shirk Political Service.
 1 Perhaps I have said enough to con | vince you of the interdependence of business and polftics-enough, per
 haps, to venture the proposition that l every business question is in some de-
 gree a political question, and every | political question to some extent | business question. We are living In a commercial age, an age of colossal un- 1 dertakings, of vast accumulations,, of | unprecedented opportunities, an age 1 in which business is king, and the great 1 commercial structures which business l energy and genius have erected will 1 fall of their own weight unless our l political policies are moulded by the | wisdom of business experience. In such
 an age no man trained to business can
 safely shirk political service. Professor Sprague of Harvard. Professor O. M W. Spret,ue of Har- 1 ward university, who has been one of | those to appear before the senate com l mittee in the consideration of the new 1 currency law, was the next speaker
 introduced by President Macpherson to | speak upon The Currency Question. | Professor Spra gue called attention ] first to the exigencies which might 1 arise in the banking situation when | unusual demands for money or loans
 are made under exceptional circum- | stances. There has not been in this 1 country an available supply of cash 1 or credit to meet demands in such | periods of strain, IS in European coun- | tries there have been central institu- l tions managed with that end in view. From this Professor Sprague passed l on to @ description of the national 1 reserve bank system that has been l evolved and pointed out how it differed 1 from the European system in provid- l ing an available supply of cash and | credit Technically from a banking l standpoint this seemed to meet the l situation, but it did not agree with | the present state of the public mind 1 because it did not provide for a large | measure of governmental control. He l
 the scheme of series of central con- | trol districts Tinker together by the 1 federal reserve board.
 He brought out the point that there | was a very nice distinction between | organization and administration. These
 banks will have adequate resources for l the situation if they are used wisely. | The law provides that these federal 1 reserve banks shall have adequate re-
 sources. It rests with the management rkAf- n~ PaFa ! served for emergency situations. These 1 federal reserve banks will have from | $500, 900 900 to STOOL 100000 with which | to operate. With this cash and the
 right to issue notes these banks will | have very large lending power. ana 1T | it is properly conserved we shall have 1 no such financial troubles as we have suffered from in the past.
 l Need Conservatism and Caution.
 The danger in these institutions Is | that the federal reserve banks will not 1 be sufficiently conservative, and for | that reason the men to manage these | banks should be men with a consider | able degree of backbone and g highly 1 developed bump of caution, for in times | of active prosperity they will be with | out doubt much pressure brought upon l them to loosen up and supply more
 and more money for the conduct of 1 business. The system will work well, | however. II COnSeGNdIlF6 INSn are 0l0Cl- l ed by the member banks. If the op- l posite prevails, this system will break | down and we shall have a situation 1 that will be wore than before, and this is the erux of the situation.
 1 But Professor Sprague said he be- l lieved the system would work, and he i made the prediction that the federal | reserve banks would in the course of 1 time take over all the business of col | lection of checks and ought to result 1 largely in the disappearance of collec- | ton charges One of the most serious | defects in our banking system has | been that the collection on checks has 1 always broken down in times of fnan- l cial stress, and this will be overcome 1 because the check business will be l done on the books Of the federal re- | serve banks.
 | Professor Sprague was applauded as
 he concvluded and he was thanked by 1 President Macpherson for his lucid eX- 1 planation of the new federal reserve 1 banking system
 Judge Colts Witty Speech. With his well known ability in mak- l ing an after-dinner speech bubbling 1 with humor, Judge William B. Colt of 1 New London responded when intro 1 duced by President Macpherson as the | Billy whom every Yale man would swear by.
 Judge Colt touched on a great va i 1iety of subjects of mutual interest to l Norwich and New London, at one | point drawing an amusing picture of l the days to come when bevies of beau- | tiful girls from the College for Women l will stand on New Londons new piers | waving greetings or farewells to the 1 ocean liners while an adniring throng 1 of all the yopng men from Norwich 1 who can, and all the old men who l dare will make frequent trips down the river. for in those dayS while Nor 1 wich may still remain the Rose of New 1 England, we will have to look to New London for the buds. Judge Colt had l his audience in laughter throughout, and was warmly and often applaud 1 ed.
 C. c. EIweiI Speaks. The final speaker called upon by | President Mcpherson was Public Uul- | ities Commission Engineer Elwen, | formerly of this city, who was given an | enthusiastic greeting as he rose to 1 speak.
 Mr Elwell made the statement in the
 course of his remarks that he was glad | to see that Safety First was now
 the watchword for the New Haven
 road for in former times it had been | Speed First and it had been this | which had been the cause of trouble in times past and had brought broken | hearts to the old railroad men. He | had been criticised he said for some l of the reports that he had written on
 some of the Rrecks, but if he had the same cases to do over again, he would