The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-07

very large purchases by the Schenectady
 industries of tools and machinery which are needed to enable these industries to
 execute contracts aggregating many mill
 lions which they have entered into with
 the representatives of foreign govern
 ments.
 Those who should know say that the
 governors of the stock exchange were
 with unanimity of the opinion that the
 situation in the United States today jus
 tifes the complete opening of the ex-
 change, the doors of which have been only
 half open since early iR the winter.
 The effect, both moral and direct, of
 this proclamation of the stock exchange
 governors appears to be nationwide. It
 is accepted everywhere as the formal
 declaration that the day of confidence has
 returned. Some have said that a good
 object lesson will have been furnished to
 the country when the short history-begin-
 ming on July 30 last year and continued to
 March 30 of this-of the relation of the
 stock exchange to American financial and
 commercial life is fully told. That his-
 tory will, it was said this morning. dem
 onstrate conclusively that the New York
 stock exchange is the pulse of the nation.
 just as the New York Clearing House as-
 sociation has been for many years the financial heart of the nation.
 The governors of the stock exchange
 are so far as their names and personal ities are concerned, obscure to the pub lie. But the extraordinary sagacty which they are now regarded as having displayed July 30. together with the conservatism well tempered by courage which has char acterized their methods of governing this institution since July last is well known to all of the real leaders of American finance. It is the understanding in this city that these men have gained the con- fidence and admiration of the federal re- serve board at Washington, certainly of two members of that board, Paul War. burg and w. P. G. Harding.
 Another Object Lesson
 Benjamin Strong, Jr.. one of the young CT generation of bankers whose achieve ments in the past eight months have made it clear that the new generation. both in New York and in other parts of the country, is admirably qualified to suc- ceed the one that recently passed away, containing as it did such eminent names as those of J. P. Morgan, James Stillman and others, is thought by some of his | friends to have had occasion to wonder a little at the unexpected course of bank | ing life in the United States. Yet MT. 1 Strong, who was president of a great trust institution from which he went to 1 the presidency of federal reserve bank | in his district, must instead have good reasons for surmising that one of the purposes which led to the adoption of the new federal reserve system might not | be accomplished For it was the purpose of those who first drafted the federal re- l serve law to create system which would prevent the concentration of large amounts of money into a comparatively 1 few hands, sometimes called the money trust. The desire was to secure wide 1 distribution of funds which in the past | had flowed to the great financial centers | principally New York and Chicago, as l well as St. Louis, and also to Minneapo. 1 lis.
 By an interesting chance and a some. | what curious identity of dates the an. l nouncement was made on or about the time when the governors of the New York l exchange declared the doors of the ex. | change to be wide open that to some 1 of the larger banks, state and national o1 the country funds in enormous amounts are steadily flowing. They are filled al
 most to repletion with money, but tht federal reserve banks here and in other 1 parts of the country do not seem to be I able to secure any Considerable par of these deposits.
 | This may be due to the fact that the I federal reserve banks have been in op i the fact remains that in spite of the new | system and of exceptional facilities whicf l it offers, the great currents which ars bearing funds in enormous amounts from many parts of the world convey these