New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-22
WADSWORTH FEARS
u. s. OWNERSHIP
SenatOr-EleCt Warns Cred
it Men of Menace i'm
Political Sky.
PUTS REMEDY UP
TO MERCHANTS
Urges Business Men to Pay
More Attention 10
Legislation.

Government ownership OF all the
great industrial activities OF the ma
tion such is the menace which Sen
ator-elect James ". Wadsworth, speak
ing az the New York Credit Mems As
socIaf ON dinner at the Waldorf last
night, declared 20 loom on the political
horizon. The sole remedy. he said, was
that business men should pay more
attention 70 politics.
THE time has come when business
men should give heed TO what is going
on in the legislative bodies Of the coun-
try." he said. Il sec m the future.
except this need is given, develop
meut which will prevent the individual
from carrying on his business. honest
though he may be. with his own initia-
tive and enterprise.
MANY men IN public life. even in
Congress. abhor enterprise. They at
tack all business that is big. not seeing
that we need big instruments 10 meet
the big problems Of modern ciyiliza-
ton or that IL is individual enterprise
which has built Up the country.
Some Of the agitation against bust
ness has been justified. Some men
have cynically disregarded the rights
of the average man; but there's no
excuse for the man who burns down
his house because he wants to clean
one room.
eve as n people are cursed with the
habit Of logislation-of trying TO dc
more by laws than any other people on
earth Approximately thirty thousand
bills are introduced into Congress a,
each session. and as it usually hears
nothing but the affirmative, il acts ac-
cordingly. Government is tending to
regulate the minutis Of business 70 an
extent never before knC W."
The end Of all this. Mr.. Wadsworth
said. would be government ownership
unless business men interfered.
Edward James Cattell. statisticisn OF
the city of Philadelphia. followed II
r. Eldridge, vicepresldent of the Ma
tional City Bank, who gave long and
somewhat technical discussion Of the
advantages Of the Federal Reserve act
and of general economic principles.
Mr. CattelPs speech was crowded
with optimism.
The great war will destroy class
hatreds and divisions he said. Dur
inr this year noble and peasant have
gone forward, side by side TO death;
they have stood together in the water
logged trenches; they have suffered
and died together. This fact viii give
the lie TO the argument Of the dema-
gogue who seeks to instigate class war
"Revivals in religion. appearing in
many parts of the country, VIII be fol
lowed by revivals in commercial az
fairs. The destructive wave which
swept over the country, burying every
thing in scorn and suspicion, making
il seem as if every man who made q
dollar had stolen II, Is over; we are
entering constructive period, when
all will unite in upbuildlng the coun-
try.
"As 70 the war again, the fact that
the socialists and anarchists Of one
European country are shooting down
those of another. negatives the claim
that they can form a worldwide or
ganization. thus removing a danger
feared By large employers of labor
Mr. Eldridge said that the Federal
Reserve act marked the greatest step
forward the country had ever made in
its financial advancement.
THE ability of banks to support the
structure Of credit, no matter what
conditions prevail. is greatly aug
mented." he said, land there is little
reason to believe that We shall ever
have 20 go through again such periods
of acute financial disturbance as we
have in the past
"Under this act our facilities 70
handle the business OF the country are
greatly increased. and we may go for
ward feeling the ground under our feet
safer than ever before
One Of the guests tainted at the end
of the speech.
Some five hundred members of the
association attended the dinner.