New Britain herald., 1915-12-11

l loOhS dS 1T Ill the udyS or reCOnStruC-
 tlon and recuperation which are
 ahead of Europe we would have to do
 many of the things many of the most
 important things which hitherto ] have been done through European in l strumentalities. No man can say just ] how these matters are going to shape
 themselves. but every man can see 1 that the opportunity of America is going to be unparalleled and that the 1 resources of America must be put at l the service of the world as they never 1 were put at the service before. There l fore, it is imperative that no impedi- l ments should be put in the way of l commerce with the rest of the world. l You cannot sell unless you buy. Com l merce is only an exalted kind of bar. 1 ter. The bartering may not be di- l rect but directly or indirectly it is an 1 exchange of commodities and the 1 payment of the balances; and, there l fore, there must be no impedimerts l to the free flow of the currents of
 commerce back and forth between
 the United States upon which the
 world will in part depend. and the other countries which she must supply | and serve.
 And for the first time, gentlemen. it happens-I believe, providentiaIly- l that the business men of America, have an lnstrumentality in the new banking law such as they never had terore TOT the ebb and flow and free course or the natural processes of creolt. TOT the first time we are not
 couho up Tn an inelastic currency
 our creolt IS current and that current will run through all the channels of
 
 "A gentleman present here today told me that he had done what I trust it is not his habit to do: he said he had been looking up an old speech of mine and that when I addressed the American Bankers association in Denver some years ago I said that mad been called upon a little while fefore to speak to the bankers of New York on the elasticity of the cur rency and that I had replied that I spoke upon 1t with the more freedom because I know nothing about it. Se1ng a professor at that time on a salary. I was not in a position to know anything of the elasticitv of the currency. I hope that he is ready to believe that in the time that has in- tervened I have taken pains to find out something about the elasticity of the currency, for was an enthusiast supporter of the bill which finally es- tablished the federal reserve system. and I think that I understand it.
 Credit Very Spontaneous.
 At any rate, gentlemen, testing apart, it does furnish the business men or this country with an instrument such as credit never possessed before Credit is a very spontaneous thing Its excursions ought not to be per- sonally conducted. There have been times in this country when the expe- d1t1ons of credit were personally con- ducted. I could name some of the agencies where guides were provided. But if you are starting an enterprise in one part of the country you do not want any guides; you rather resent guidance from another part of the country. And there were times when there were limited circles in the Eastern portion of our great country. who thought they knew more about business in the other parts of the 1 country than the people who lived in 1 those parts Of the country. I always l doubted them. l now know that thev did not.
 The vision of a democracy that I 1 have is this, that you must not be presumptious enough to determine be- forehand where the vitality is going to come from. The beauty of a demo- cracy is that you never can tell when a youngster is born what he is going to do with you, and that no matter how humbly he is born, no matter where he is born, no matter what cir hamper him at the outset, he has got a chance to master the minds and lead the imaginations of l the whole country. That is the beau ty of democracy that you do not, be- forehand, pretend to pick out the vital l centers, but they pick themselves out. The men who are going to lead you rick themselves out and elect them selves by an electoral process over which legislation can have no control whatever I like to think that the now are playing some where, perhaps in a gutter, who are some time or other going to stand up and speak the voice of America for all the world to hear.
 Cosmopolitan Spirit.
 ''So I want you to share with me this vision of the future of American ousiness-of a cosm opolitan spirit, of spirit of enterprise out of which the old timidity has gone. For you will nave to admit, gentlemen, that Ameri- can business men have been timid. They have constantly run to Washing ;on, and said: Tt locks like in; for Gods sake, give us shelter You do lot need Washington. There is genius enough in this country to mas ,er the enterprise of the world, and ! t ought not to ask odds of anybody would like to have the thrilling l pride of realizing that there was mo- body in America who was afraid to match wits with the world.
 The Typical American.