The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-11-15
WHEN PRESIDENTS
 CONSULT BANKERS
Nv HOLLAND

! him at inc White House for the pur- pose of holding conference with him. 1 it is a reasonable inference that great financing and financial propositions which the government must consider made it expedient for the President to secure the views of those who are recognized as experts, both as domeselc and international bankers.
 | Many have been the inferences If the financial district regarding the reason why President Wilson was in confer ence for sometime with Otto H. Kahn 1 q few days ago. The inference common ilv held was that the President feels that there should be some change in the methods of financing the govern lment's war necessities and perhaps i'll the relation of the government ana the treasury department to the general anu 1 industrial business situation. The Iace that the course of the securities mar ] ket has been tending downward ever since the war tax was adopted py Con I gross Is regarded as a symptom ol anxiety, apprehension and perhaps some dissatisfaction with the manner l in which Congress has made appropria- i tions and then provided for enormous I taxation as well as for heavy loans 1 with which to meet the expenditures ot l tho government.
 1 Otto H. Kahn is a Prussian by birth. In his spare moments he has or late 1 been occupied in translating into Ger man the address which he recently de- 1 1ivered at Harrisburg, in which he Spoke with vehemence and the utmost | sincerity of his detestation of the l methods and policies and principles l which characterize PrussianiZed Ger l many. No American citizen has spoken 1 with more profound understanding Of the real issue in this war than MT. Kahn did. This address attracted great | attention, so that there was demand for it in convenient pamphlet form i There also came intimations that it would be of much value if having been translated into German, it could there- by be placed in the hands of Germans here and probably Germans in Europe Earlier MT. Kahn delivered one or two addresses upon economic and finan- cial questions that the war has raised In one of the addresses he discussed | the tax problem, and also what he thought was the true proportionate part of incomes which the government might take for revenue without impair ing capital or industry. Very likely President Wilson read these addresses. At all events he did apparently what
 no President since Lincoln felt that it
 was expedient to do, excepting in two
 instances.
 President Lincoln, al time of great embarrassment in the days of the civil war, and in the face of financial diffi-
 culties which were relatively compara- ble i'll magnitude with those of the pres ent day, thought it expedent to meet a group of leading American bankers, per
 haps 15 or 20 in all. By appointment
 they met the President at the White
 House and spent an evening in discuss ing some of the financial problems which
 Lincoln and his Secretary of the Treas ury, Salmon F. Chase, were compelled tc
 solve. Lincoln frankly confessed to these
 men of finance that he himself did no, understand much abouc finance, he pro- nounced the word as though it was spelled feenance), but he admitted tha1 he had gained insight into financial
 questions through the information whicI
 these bankers gave to him. Undoubt
 edly one of the results of that meeting
 is to be discovered in the action speed fly taken by Secretary Chase.
 Instead of summoning men of finance
 and bankers whose experience and opin.
 ions were worth consideration to the White House, General Grant. when Pres. ident, came to New York for the pur-
 pose of securing the views of bankers iSopcCtlHS Wual WdS Called the -7lnIla- tfon bill.' President Grant listened in tently to all the bankers and put many lquestions to them, bur none of then was able to get any impression of the
 opinion which President Grant may have l formed.
 He was sSillful enough to put his ques. !, tions as any man would do who was
 simply seeking information. There was
 no expression of his face which gave a clue to the working sez his mind. But l it was afterwards known that the in formation President Grant then secured
 supplemented by his own careful consid eration of the subject, led him to veto
 the Imitation bll,' and that was re-
 garded as one of the greatest achieve
 ments of his administration.
 l When the federal treasury was in dan. ger of suspending gold payments and placing itself upon silver basis. ths
 l. late J. P. Morgan and President Cleve. :. land were for severai hours in confer , ence at the White House. The hope was
 that the leading private banker of tho United States might be able to sugges to President Cleveland and the Secre-
 tary of the Treasury, John G. Carlisle , measures which, if taken, woyd protec,
 the treasury against the drain of its ], gold. The counsel given by Mr Morgan
 was accepted, somewhat reluctantly, b, President Cleveland. and the treasury department. by reason of this action
 was perfectly protected.
 II Now President Wilson has been in con.
 ference With partner in one of tn, greatest Of the international banking thouses-in fact, house which in othel days was assumed to typify the so called money power or money trust , which many persons believed was con centrated in Wall strees. President Will i. son went, however, 70 that identica 'private banking house for his frs choice as member of the newly created 3 federal reserve board AZ Washington
 Paul Warburg, until he became mem
 Der of the federal reserve board. was
 as Mr. Kahn now is, partner in thu S International banking house of Kuhn }. and training and his natural and ac r nuired ability are now recognized t, 6 have been of very great service in tn,
 federal reserve system So also it il presumed that MT. Kahn's ability, whicl
 is very great. his integrity which ha often brought to him many tributes, ant :. This profound knowledge of finance. o : banking, both domestic and interna tional, enabled him to place befor, 2 President Wilson such information al 1 may greatly serve the President, who a z [ d time when he needed the best servic of this kind, went to the best source from which service of that kind coult
 be secured-anmely, the great bankers. : A--------..-------
 Rice Market
 New Orleans, November 14-Rougl
 and clean rice continued steady to .lxx