New Britain herald., 1916-05-10

tionist can have any concern about 1 the condition or stability of industry ! when it is to be protected by the non | partisan tariff commission which the 1 president proposes. The purpose of 1 the proposed act is to take the tariff | out of the realm of partisan discus l sion and to reduce it's difficulties to
 mere matters of business. What honest American can fail to support such a policy?
 Federal Reserve Act
 The next great achievement of President Wilson was his insistence upon the passage of the federal re- serve act. You will remember that many people wanted congress to ad- journ and not to touch the currency. The president, however, insisted, that 1 congress should not adjourn without completing this great constructive law. It is not disputed that, until the passage of the federal reserve i act, the currency system of the United States was one of the most chaotic and unsatisfactory prevailing in any civilized nation. The passage Of the federal reserve act, if it had | Eeen the only thing accomplished by President Wilson, would in itself be sufficient to give him enduring fame. Resisting pressure from all quarters with that patience and courage char acteristic of him, he adhered to his purpose.
 Now, there is not disinterested statesman in America, not respon- siple banker who is heard to criticise that law. On the contrary, it's ap- prOval has been almost unanimous. Senator Mclean suggests that there ought to have been one central bank or five central banks insteal of twelve. He forgets that the instincts of the American people are against one great central bank and the fame of Andrew Jackson rests largely upon the courage with which he met the demands of concentrated capital in the early days Of the republic, We are not, however, concerned with technical criticisms of immaterial de- tails. The federal reserve act was passed over the organized and sys- tenatic opposition of the republican party, backed by the Wall Street hanks and all their power and sup Torted by a f1ibuster conducted by Senator Root, the intellectual leader Of the republican party And yet from the moment of it's passage, that act has been an unqualified and com plete success.
 Two days after Senator McLean's speech there was published an official report of the comptroller of the currency. This report discloses that the resources of the national hanks of the United States on March [, 1916, amounted to 1882 million dollars, exceeding by BOT million dol lars the greatest resources ever known in the history of the national banking system and exceeded by 2,271 million dollars the resources of the national banks as shown by a statement Of the year before It also showed that the aggregate re- sources of the national banks of the United States exceed by about three thousand million dollars the aggre- gate resources of the bank of Eng land. the Bank of France the Bank Of Russia, the Reichsbank ot Ger many, the Bank of the NetherlahdS' the Swiss National bank and the Bank of Japan.
 It also discloses that the increase in deposits in the past twelve months amounted to more than the sum total Of all the deposits in all the national banks twenty years ago. These figures show the stupendous resources of this country, it's amazing pros perity and the successful mobilization of it's finances under the leadership of Woodrow Wilson.
 Until the present administration came to the fullness of it's power there has not been any real pros Derity in this country since the re- publican panic of 1907 And that panic was one of the most inexcus- able in our history and was primarily que to the archaic condition of our financial system under republican rule.
 The passage of the federal reserve act saved this country from an in dustrial and financial cataclysm.
 When the war in Europe began it l disturbed the finances of the world. | Trade and commerce were impaired, 1 insecure institutions were endangered | and, in many instances destroyed. i This was a world condition.
 Every nation of South America ] suffered from panics, values were de- stroyed and bank holidays were a constant necessity. America alone , survived the shock and has had the financial ability to loan hundreds of millions of dollars abroad during the war. Such is the financial condition of America, and any critic whose mind is not distorted by partisanship and whose soul is not dwarfed by envy, will give full credit to the wise statesmanship of Woodrow Wilson.
 Income Tax.
 The democratic party placed upon inc statute books an income tax. The