The Washington herald., 1918-12-14
NATION LEAcuN
WALL ST. AIM
Big Financiers Much Inter.
ested in Peace, Hol-
land Says.

Z ~
No one can have talked with soDe
Of the leaders in the financial dtstr
with intent 20 get the opinion Of g.
men respecting the contemp
league of nations and freedom oxS&be
seas points, as these will be discvnned
at the peace conferesce. without His
covering that there Ia almost a. much
interest centered in the League Of
Nations plan az in the question which
refers TO the freedom Of the seas.
There seems TO be much doubt 10
the minds Of influential men of finance
respecting the real meaning OF the
league Of nations Some are wonder
ing how a lea que can be maintained
unless there stands behind II force
sufficient 10 enforce Il should any ma
tion attempt TO back out OF IT,
That, Il is understood, is the crucial
point in this proposition 20 which Col
Roosevelt In private conversation has
| frequently alluded. Nevertheless, the
best minds in the financial district
seem now to be persuaded that the
only guarantee OF permanent peace Ia
one which would be established by a
binding agreement among all the ma
tions, so binding that they can be held
to this agreement, although anxious TO
withdraw.
Thomas W. Lamont. who has taken
part in much public service OF I'M
portant financial character, for which
he has received no more remuneration
than hts sense OF having done some
thing that has besx and Is now Of
service in financial Adjustments. and
will be Of service in readjustmentx.
is strong advocate Of the League OF
Nations, presumably representing the
views Of his partners In the house Of
J. p. Morgan and Company Other
bankers confess that they strongly
hope that an agreement OF this kind.
which viii be binding. will be per-
fected atSthe peace conference.
This view is held not because there
IS any expectation or sense OF person.
al profit I'm ne paramount mainfe-
nance OF peace, but because peace es-
tablished and guaranteed means 80
much for the advancement OF civiliza-
ton.
Chsuncey NJ. Depew. in speaking OF
the proposed league Of nations. said
yesterday that at one time when he
was dining with Gladstone he was
asked by Gladstone n he were not a
delegate 70 the peace congress. In
reply Depew said that he was. There
upon Gladstone said that there were
]
at that time and, therefore, any In
ternationsl peace agreement was an
absurd proposition. In that way Gdae-
stone looked at the proposed inter-
national agreement Of the nations 30
to act as to maintain peace. But De-
pew said that one Of the reasons why
IL Is vital for peace that a league Of
nations be ests tsblished Is TO be found
in the fact that IL il were established
il would not be necessary TO maintain
armies numbering 10000 people upon
the continent OF Europe. The demobi-
lizing Of armies and the limiting of
numbers Of men in military service to
an aggregate that would be suficisat
for internal protection and police duty
is. Depew thought. one Of the chief
purposes upon which the proposition
Of the league Of nations is based. -sat
Billions Again
Ninety-eight trust companies. eOs
State banks and eighty-four private
banks are today in operation in New
York State. II has been the hope of
the Federal Reserve governors Lbst
in due time many Of these State bark
ing associations will be numbered
among the members OF the Feceral
Reserve system. Already some Of the
State banks and trust institutions have
allied themselves with the Federal re-
serve system The experience which
the State institutions have happily met
with and especially IN the first two
months OF the autumn Of this year
tells indirectly at least q story OF I'M
usual prosperity. All Of these instf-
tUtions combined have resources OF
81. .261. 900. 900 Cround numbers And IN
seven weeks since September 10 Jhe
| resources were increased by nearly
Sl3s ,O0o.O1o. With what favor the trust
institutions are regarded Is revealed
by the fact that they now carry s. .2e1.-
10000 in the form OF resources and
S2.500.O00.OoO (roUnd numbers) repre-
sented by deposits. The State banks
which number a little over loo more
than the trust companies. have re-
sources of 81 900 0.0l0,Oo0 Never before
has it been possible 10 report State
bank resources in excess Of s. .OoO. .oo0.-
COO. Had it not been for the war un-
doubtedly a report OF this kind could
not have been made.
What Farmers Bre Doing.
The Department OF Agriculture at
| Washington does not refrain from
expressing its gratitude at the sc-
tion of the farmers OF the United
States in increasing their acreage
sowed TO winter wheat For that
acreage is larger than was put un-
der cultivation TO wheat last year
and justifies the hope that weather
conditions proving favorable, our
harvest OF wheat next summer will
be a larger one than that OF the
summer Of 1918. The department
expects that the acreage sown in
spring wheat will be very large.
Whatever the wheat crop may be all
Of il will be needed. for Il is the
presumption that the United States
will be called upon for a year or
more to furnish large amount OF
wheat to the people OF the coun-
tries in Europe, who will be short
OF food.
One factor which the farmers can
have no doubts about is the price.
Wheat is the only grain with
guaranteed price and this guarantee
will cover all the wheat harvested
in 1919.
Many times the question has been
asked what rs England or France
or Italy to do so far as American
wheat is concerned when Australia
and Argentina are anxious TO mar
ket their wheat at a price at least
81 less per bushel than the Federal
government guarantees the Ameri-
can farmer for his wheat. These
nations will be sure to buy where