New Britain herald., 1919-01-22


 You have been here more'n two years now, and we want to hear from you"
 Il won't make a speech until l have something worth while to say" re- piled MT. Glass. "I will not get up and say 'Hurrah for the Fourth of July or something about the tarifr or stuff like that What do they want me to talk about?"
 T dunno, but just you start some kind of a speech Then we can nave Charley Hammer, your secretary stand LID in the gallery, and shout That's damn lie, and I'll guarantee you'll finish that speech III great shape. It will be corker.
 Needless to say. MT. Hammer never staged any such performance Tn the gallery. but it required as great nrovocation to make Mir. Glass deliver his first big speech on the floor. That speech does not appear in the Con- eressional Record. It was made at a Democratic caucus over the Federal Reserve bill. Proceedings of a caucus are not recorded.
 To understand how thoroughly the fighting spirit of the gentleman from Virginia was aroused when he made that speech to the caucus, 1t is neces sary to recall some of the early his tory of the Federal Reserve act
 What Does an Editor Know?"
 A. D. 1913 seems a long time ago when memory seeks to compass in tervening events, but it Is not so far in the distant past that the average citizen fails to recall the shock occa- stoned by the definite announcement that q. Democratic Congress would undertake a revision of the banking and currency laws of the United States.
 It had been generally understood that some scheme of decentralization of money control, the shifting of re- serves and provision for, a more elas- tic currency was in contempla tion but it's imminence and the thought perhaps, it was a beIief-that such an undertaking, striking at the very heart of the financial structure of the entire country was to be in inexperi- enced or radical hands sent a shudder through every bank in the land.
 Who'll write the biIl?" was asked in countingroom, office and club. wherever bankers and f1nanciers met
 Woodrow Wilson was in many re. spects an unknown quantity to husi- ness; finance was not sure of Mc. Adoo; but thoughts of neither the President nor of the Secretary of the Treasury caused such pangs of hor- TOT as did the mention of the new chairman of the House Committee o,, Banking and Currency, which was to prepare the banking law.
 Financial America asked:
 what does a country editor from Virginia know about banking?"
 And, again:
 What can he expected from Glass and his kind except a corn-tassel bill that will wreck the country"
 Glass said nothing to these onas. uons. He gritted his teeth for fight. For eight months he worked day and night, imperiling his health writing his answer.
 Playing virtually q lone hand. con- sult1ng only the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, the Vir ginian toiled over the banking bill foy, an average of twenty hours a day Three-fourths of the measure was written in his own handwriting, be tween midnight and sunrise. He locked himself In his room in a hotel, where he has lived during most of his residence in Washington, and worked.
 Writing In the tiresome method of holding pen between the index and middle finger of his hand, he covered many pages of foo1scap. He scratched out and interlined, revised and re- wrote, until he evolved what he be- lieved was wanted. The manuscript was copied by his secretary. The lone copy was carried about in an inside pocket of Mir Glass's coat.
 He took the typewriter draft of the bill and went over that, amending, supplementing, eliminating. and all the while every newspaperman in Wash ington and most of the bankers of the country were at their wits end to learn what he had written. His col leagues on the Banking and Currency Committee were uninformed, as Mr. Glass did not talk much. There was lot of speculation and little of actual knowledge.
 Later, the Democratic members of the committee were called in for & conference on the bill. Some further changes in wording resulted, but the measure retained it's fundamental pro- visions. Then 1t was introduced in the House.
 Impossible--No!