Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-03-04

Washington, March Ats getting
so these days that when anyone wants
to start a really big bank he calls upon
DR.. Parker Willis of Washington to
organize it.
This is becoming a matter OF course.
It explains why the new Philippine
bank has offered DR.. Willis its presi-
dency at a salary of $4,000 year.
DR.. Willis, who is secretary Of the
federal reserve board, has declined
this offer. But he has consented to
take a six-months' leave of absence
from his present job and put the Phil
| ippine institution on its feet as an Or
/ ganization.
! 1t would be like DR.. Willis to regard
| his forthcoming jaunt to Manila and
/ the task of organizing the $10,000,00
bank as a vacation. He is opposed to
vacations as a general rule-fshing,
hunting, idling, novel-reading sort OF
vacations. He has never taken one in
his life. But establishing the Philip
pine bank, setting up an institution
that in the future may be our most i'm
portant trade outpost in the orient,
that is just the sort of fun that DR..
Willis would regard as the ideal vaca-
ton.
The government discovered H. Park
er Willis as an adviser about four years
ago and since then he has been Uncle
Sans privy counselor in matters OF
finance. He first helped the ways and
means committee draft the Underwood
tariff law. Then he told Uncle Sam
how to frame the law which created
the present federal reserve banking
system, and the principal structure OF
his plan was adopted.
Then Uncle Sam began worrying
about rural credits. Dr. Willis, as eX-
pert adviser. told congress how the
bill should be drawn. The resulting
bill was never adopted, but its chief
recommendation are included in the
rural credits legislation now before
congress. In all Of these activities Dr.
Willis was retained by the various con-
gressiOnal committees as an expert
He was congress only legislative ref
erence bureau.
Naturally when the federal reserve
bank was established by law in 1914
the federal reserve board called upor
Dr. Willis TO be it's secretary. Since
then he has been the federal banks
most important official.
! The national bank act has not work
ed well in the Philippines. Because o.
limitations put upon the activities o.
national banks these institutions in the
islands have not competed successfully
with British banks, and a number o.
American banks have withdrawn. The
, war has caused the parent British in,
situations in London to withdraw CAPT
tai from their foreign branches, anG
, as consequence business in the Phil
ippines has been hampered. -. ..-.
The Philippine government, which
had been operating an agricultural
bank, desired a broader institution
, which would give to the Philippines al
elastic currency based on commercial
paper, such as is, now provided for us
by the federal reserve bank and in ad
dition have the power to lend none,
on real estate and to finance private
and provincial enterprises Of variou.
kinds.
DR.. Willis was the man called upol
4 to draft the bill. He found time to Ok
so last fall and in early February tn,
Philippine legislature adopted Law
! based OF DR.. Willis suggestions. TIL,
= majority of the S10,O0O,00O capita
: stock is to be purchased by the Phil
ippine government.
Washington knows DR.. Willis bes
not as financial expert but as a news
paper man For several years priol
to his appointment as secretary of tht
federal bank he was the Washington
correspondent Of the New York Jour
nal of Commerce. This was his chic
work. All such simultaneous things
as being dean Of the College OF Politi
cal Science of George Washington uni
versity. lecturer at Columbia uniyers
ity, and so on, were side issues will
him. He was first and foremost a re
porter. Even the several textbooks OF
finance which he has published were
dashed off at odd times when he WASH
! writing news.