The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-30
Never Allow Himself to Be 7 Used As a Rubber Stamp Y Never Been Accused of
 < Incapacity or, Corruption.
(By George Creel.)

(By George Creel)
 It Is the crime of William G. Mo- Adoo that he has been honest. He has refused to let himself be used as n rubber stamp. He has been accus- ed of meddling, but never of in capacity; of autocracy, but never of corruption. No man in public life has more reason to be proud of his enemies. .1
 When one stops to think, it will be remembered that few officials ever entered upon their duties with finer personal equipment or more exact training. As a lawyer in the South, MT. McAdoo had been brought into Intimate relations with the farmer and his problems; as builder in the North, driving the first great tunnels beneath the Hudson that connected Manhattan and New Jersey, he had come to know finance, to learn the / handling of large affairs. Not mere- fly as a lawyer, or financier, or cap- tain of industry or proved executives but as a combination of all, he went upon the hardest job in the gift of the President
 A first test of his decision came within few months after his induc- ton into office. The special session of Congress, convened in April, lslSs to consider tariff and currency legis- lation, brought in its train a pessim- ism that bordered on panic, and whether designed or not, conditions lwere produced that Aapproximated those that preceded the disaster of l1sO1. To meet this crisis, Secretary McAdoo made his famous emergency currency announcement, declaring his instant readiness to issue, $5oo,ooo,- 'O00, whereupon the, propaganda or panic collapsed absolutely. ,.
 Again in JuN of the same year, the farmers of the nation, about to move their crops, were unable to ob- 4ain sufficient money and quick money even at exorbitant interest rates. Mr. McAdoo came forward with the statement that he would de- lposft $50 ,e00, 900. in the banks of the t harvest regions for crop-moving pur- poses, accepting commercial paper as security. Such action was unprece- ldented, the money was deposited and q tho crops were moved without loss \ and without extortion
 I'm 1914 came the European war. international credits and exchanges ,wero disorganized. and the entire bus inesss and economic structure of the IJtnitedTStates was shaken to it's foun- tlatiors !. :. Stock exchanges closed, banks trembled, credit was paralyzed ' and aisrepettfion. of the panic of 1907 seemed a certainty. Acting swiftly and surely Secretary McAdoo distrib- Z. uated $sS6, 6,000,000 of emergency cur- rency. averting danger and restoring confidence. ,-t Moving on to the next need, he nA o special deposits for the relief of the ! Grain and cotton situation, and ar raneed cotton loan fund of $100,- io0o, ,00o as an additional measure of protection, f'ilsf Ss4Ft5 6 k .N.s. /
 Tho question of insurance for AmericAn vesse1s and American car goes came next. and, under the di- rection of Secretary < McAdoo, this new duty by act of Sept 2, 1914, was added to the activities of the govern msnt- In the two years following, Il more than 1.5o0 policies were written. >fand after paying all losses. the under 'tAking showed a net balance of more than $2.000.0o The entire expense sof conducting the business has been , 'less than $40,o00.
 ,s- The matter of putting the Federal Reserve law Into operation followed the other decisions without interval. Setting November 1e, 1914, as the date, the banks were opened in the i12 reserve cities, and who Is, there to-day who will say that the Federal Reserve act did not stand the test?
 The old currency system ,concen- trated the money and credit of the nation in few hands the Pujo com Iiittee declaring that the financial s,control 1.-the United States was cen tered in 100 or 200 men. An investi- ention made by Secretary McAdoo early in 1914 developed that the prin- rcip1e of concentration had been car Tied to a point where the national banks in six cities had on deposit from other institutions-national and 1State banks and trust companies one billion i've hundred millions, and that these banks in these six cities wore lending back less than 10 per cent.
 Of the vast amount placed in their keeping, approximately $530,00O,000 vas locked up in their vaults, about ,$3OO,0oO, ,000 had been invested in se- clarfties, and over $400,O00,000 was being loaned to borrowers who kept no; accounts with the lending banks, on stock exchange loans and on bought paper" [ ' It was this intolerable situation that Secretary McAdoo ended with his issues of emergency currency and his driving through of the Federal Reserve act. To-day it is impossible for a few men to decide whether money shall be tight" or "easy,"" and \ fwh11e1 . group has been stripped o1 ialnost despot1c power. a people have |been given confidence and security. ;. During the crisis caused by the Flu Iropsan war and at a time when emer- lGeDcy currency was being offered free 1y to the national banks in every par, of the country at rates varying from 2 1-z to 6 per cont, and when govern Iment funds were deposited with them lat 2 per cent interest, evidence piled >lup that many banks were restricting 1credits in the most arbitrary fashion Ias well as charging excessive interest on loans. The oppression" of Sec retary McAdoo consisted in the is- suance of this announcement:
 'Tf discover that depositary banks are refusing to extend legitimate credits, or that they arc charging ex. Icesslve rates of interest for govern SaApt funds deposited with them, ol for so-called emergency currency i which has bsen issued to them. shal