Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-10-27

| showing how IL provides for an unlimlt-
ed expansion Of currency and credits to
accommodate the business of every sec
tion of the country, and draws In this
currency when the needs of business
| have been accommodated.
| He then reminded his audience of the
fact that the secretary of the treasury
last fall announced that abundant cur
/ rency would be provided. through the re-
/ serve banks OF the south, to enable the
south to hold its cotton. and that this
announcement drove the spectators
from the field.
BANKS FREED BUSINESS.
The reserve banks freed the bust
ness Of the country from the domination
of a few Wall street bankers" Senator
Smith continued. and was-again applaud
ed, and they directly helped the south
/ TO hold its cotton. And let no south
ern man forget for moment that his
prosperity depends upon the prosperity
/ OF the southern farmer who grows cot
I ton. But the reserve bank act went
even further than providing these mani
fold benefits which 1 have mentioned.
and carried a provision allowing the
reserve banks to rediscount a farm
er's six-months' note, which was
specially intended for the benefit
Icf the agricultural interests OF
/ the country. as the act provided that
ordinary commercial paper must mature
I I'm ninety days to be eligible for re-dis-
I count by the reserve banks"
COTTON EXCHANGE REFORM.
And there is another thing the DEM
ocratic congress has done for the south
to which 1 want to direct your atten-
I tion." the senator continued.
For years the New York cotton ex-
change was an agency that robbed the
| southern farmer. Everybody in the
world that bought cotton, bought it by
/ the quotations of the New York cotton
/ exchange. Up to two years ago the
exchange did business under a dishon-
est contract intended to enable the
! spectators to rob the southern farmer.
/ prepafed a bill to stop this robbery.
and L went to the floor OF the senate
and convinced every member of that
body that the New York cotton exchange
was robbing the south. Further, l con-
WINGED the senators from New England
states that the dishonest contract of
/ the New York cotton exchange was rob-
bling their spinners. 1 showed them
/ that under this contract, the seller OF
cotton could tender trash, having no
spinnable fiber, and could compel the
buyer to take the trash and accept an
| arbitrary difference between its value
and the value of spinnable cotton. I
showed them that the dishonest contract
enabled the spectators on the New York
cotton exchange to move the price of
| cotton up and down at will, and that
this manipulation kept the price of cot
ton always below its actual intrinsic
value.
What was the result? We passed the
/ bill unanimously. In this bill we pre-
scribed a contract under which the New
York cotton exchange shall do business;
we prescribed standard grades of cot
/ ton; We compelled the sellers on the
exchange to tender cotton according to
these grades, and levied a tax of $40
per bale on every transaction not sub
/ ject to the contract prescribed I'm the
bill.
DEFENDS EIGHT-HoUR LAW
I'VE have been severely criticised for
passing the eight-hour law" said Sena-
tor Smith. but I'm here to tell you that
l defend il, that l defend the president
/ for insisting on it, that L voted for it,
/ that would vote for il again" The SEN
atOr was interrupted by prolonged ap-
plause.
But 1 do not approve of the threat
to bring a nationwide railroad strike"
/ he came right back. "Such a strike
| would have stopped every factory, left
/ every farmers crop to rot I'm the fields,
turned millions out of work. starved
women and little children. The country
/ will never submit to a nationwide rail-
/ road strike as a means of settling a dis
pute between the railroads and their
/ men. and L do not think the threat will
| ever be made again" And here the SEN
| ator was again applauded.
zone of the issues. however, between
/ the railroads and their men, was whether
/ the minimum day of the men should be
| eight hours or ten hours. The president
said that issue was not debatable, that
the records of the interstate commerce
commission show a majority of railroad
accidents to be due to overwork, that an
eight-hour minimum day is long enough
/ for men to handle the geat mogul en-
gines and enormously long freight trains
of the present day-especially in view of
/ the fact that they must often work
longer because of delays in schedules,
minor accidents and other reasons.
They accuse the president of indOrs-
/ ing the eight-hour day without investi-
cation. Why, the subject has been I'M
der investigation for ten years. The
| eight-hour day was Endorsed by Theo-
dore Roosevelt in a message to congress
/ ten years ago. Applause and laughter.)
HIS FOREIGN POLICIES.
And now We come" the senator said,
ito President Wilson's foreign policies.
Hughes and Roosevelt have denounced
Wilson for everything he has done, and
yet never but once has hughes declared
what he would have done. In his Louis
willie speech he said if he had been presi-
dent, he would have cabled the kaiser,
when he saw that warning advertised in
the New York papers, that IL the Lusi-
tania were sunk he would sever diplo-
matte relations. The kaiser wouldn't
have got the cablegram for six days,
or more, because the cable to Ger
many was cut when the war began, ana
| the submarine commander wouldn't have
heard from the kaiser till long after the
Lusitania had been sunk. And yet Mr..
Hughes says If he had been president,
and had done what he says he would
have done, the Lusitania would not have
been sunk. daughter and applause.)
| Later he said he would have severed
/ diplomatic relations. You know what
this would have meant 1t would have
1.eant war with Germany. Roosevelt
says he would have seized every Ger
man ship in American harbors. This
would have been an act of war. and yet
| Hughes indorses what Roosevelt says he
would have done. So that Hughes cam
not escape the conclusion that he would
have plunged the country into war. That
| conclusion is inevitable-because be-
tween diplomacy. on the one hand, there