Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-09-29
Livestock Interests Bring Up New Question at Kan
 sas City Convention.
PRESIDENT TALKS
 NATIONAL DEFENSE
Despite General Opinion That Great. est Prosperity Prevails, Minneapolis Banker Asserts Banks Are Profit.
 ing Less Than Ever Before.

kanas City, Sept, 2S.-Congression- al investigation of the livestock in- dustry, including the production, marketing, slaughter, distribution and sale of cattle, was asked today in resolution presented to the American Bankers association, in convention here. Action on the resolution, pre- sented by George E. Webb of San Angelo, Texas, was deferred until to- morrow.
 Despite the present prosperity, characterized as the greatest the coun- try has ever known, the bankers are making less profits then at any time in the last 20 years, according to statement made to the convention by Joseph Chapman of Minneapolis. Min | imum rates of interest are being paid, MT. Chapman said, although the bank CTS themselves are being charged the maximum for loans He recommended 9 service charge on all small deposi- tors accounts, and the consolidation of the office of comptroller of the cur. rency and the federal reserve board.
 The fight of the country banker against collection and clearance of checks without charge, as provided for in recent ruling of the reserve board, was won by them by the adoption of a resolution asking the amendment of the federal reserve act so as to per init small banks to charge on their ] clearance.
 The dicontinuance of the use of gold as currency, except as reserve on which federal reserve notes might be issued, was advocated by w. P. G. Harding, governor of the reserve sys- tenn.
 | Announcement was made tonight that the nomination committee will to- morrow recommend the election of ?. w. Goebel of Kansas City, Kansas, present vice president, as president, and of F. A. Hinch of Cincinnati, Ohio, as vice president of the associ- ation.
 The Presidents Address. [ President James K. lynch of SSan Ern~cicco made his annual address, in which he discussed the federal rn serve and national defense
 "The primary purpose of a govern ment" he said. "is to provide ade- quate defense for the country gov erned, and how shamefully this pur- 1 pose has been neglected under one administration after another is a fa- miliar tale.
 "We are given to boasting ot our size, but when we are no longer cap able of feeling pin bricks in our feet, are we not too large. For years our citizens in Mexico have been subject ed to murder and the most untellablo outrage. and the national conscious ness, is barely aroused. Not in Mex' co alone. but within our own borders as we'll as on the high seas. have cur people on their lawful occasions bean 1 done to dea.h while the nation has slumbered or murmured feebly In it's sleep
 "As a nation, we have grown rich, l and have grown fat, and have grown soft, and we are today the most tempting prize under the blue canopy of heaven.
 But if as a nation we are sick, it is as individuals that we must supply the cure. Congress does not lead, but follows public opinion. First of all, we need co-opera ion, teamwork, the things that win any kind or hu- man endeavor, and to secure this there is nothing quite so good as uni versal military training which /; arouses national feeling and national consciousness as nothing else can do. 1 Newspapers An Aid. l "In the task of vitalizing the na- tion, the most important agency IS the press, which informs, instructs, advises. admonishes the people, It i'll becomes one ignorant of the dif- faculties encountered in collecting and distributing the news, to criti- else the apparent failures or deficien- cies. but is it too much to ask of 0If papers that they take the larger view of our national affairs and neip III the difficult task which is before us, and to ask of our people that tney discriminate between the varylhg grades of ability and integrity Win which the work is done!
 "If our people can rise to the heights of citizenship that the times demand, the work that must be done can be accomplished peacefully and in order, but if they will not learn from the bitter experience Of our kin across the sea, the reformation VII! be worked out amid the ruin or war" i So far as the bankers are concern ed, the most important subject of the day is the operation of the federal reserve act, said President Lynch: criticism of the reserve banks had come from different sources: rom | (Continued on page fiyel