The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-23
FEDERAL RESERVE
 SYSTEM IS TOPIC s OF OSCAR WELLS
Birmingham Banker Addresses American Bankers Asso- citation in Session in
 Washington

Washington, October 22.-(Special) --oscar Wells. presi ient of the First National bank of Birmingham, today addressed the convention of the Amer ican Bankers Association in session here on 'The Federal Reserve System" Mir. Wells spoke as follows:
 INT. President and Gentlemen of the
 American Bankers Association:
 Tt is an honor which I gratefully ac- knowledge to be asked to address the American Bankers Association upon any subject, but it is a greater honor to be invited to talk to you about the federal reserve system, for it is a mat ter that has been of vital interest to the members of this association fpr a number of years. even before the pas sage of the federal reserve act. I need not recall to many of you the part played by the committees of your ap- pointment, or the importance of the ap- peals that went up from your conven- ton platforms, during the years in which leading bankers and economists were contributing toward the crystal ization of a sentiment in favor of the enactment of new banking and cur rency law and which found it's consu- nation some seven years ago when Congress passed the Glass-Owen bill.
 Perhaps no other legislation in mod ern times represents the combined ef- forts of all the interested elements, both in and out of Congress, as does this law. As bankers, you not only helped in the making of it, but you have been intimately connected py{fb fhn nff hn Tray tions of the federal reserve banks to the provisions of the act. It is this familiarity of yours with my subject which caused me to hesitate in under taking the task assi igned to me, and even now, after a few weeks of prepa- ration, I approach it with a great deal of misgiving as to my ability to add anything to your knowledge of it. feel, however, sense of professional responsibility in the premises and would lay upon you similar kind of federal reserve system is involved, be- cause it is and doubtless shall ever be one of the great fundamentals of your vocational achievements.
 RESPONSIBILITY
 "As your knowledge and rela tionship p Is intimate and peculiar, so your re- Sponsibility is correspondingly great. Is the federal reserve system reason ably meeting the demands of economic conditions? If not and you can sup ply the corrective measures, your plain duty is not only to offer them, but to insist upon their being accepted. have enough faith in you to believe that you have not halted in the express sion of your views. and that you will not do so- I have no patience with the charge that the bankers of Amer ica are under the dominance of the federal reserve board, or any other in- stitution, even though 1t may come from such a high source as that of a United States senator of my own political faith. If. however, the sys- tenn is responding to the purpose for which you thought it was created, taking into full account the varying problems that have arisen during its existence, you can render thes busi- ness of which you are the authentic Representative. an important service. by giving to it your whole hearted stamp of approval. One banker friend of mine expressed himself re- gently as being 100 per cent for the system and 95 per cent for the admin istration of it. I need not tell you that a great deal of self sacrificing talent is on the federal reserve board, and among the officers of the federal re- serve pdHkS, WHoSe IdpOTS without your constructive aid become burdens of intolerable proportion.
 This theme is too broad to be GOV cred by one address, unless it should be a very long one. and as the sub ject is to be opened to the delegates Of the convention shall. in recogni- &jon of the limitations of the occasion and in deference to those who follow mo in the discussion of it. confine my ee7f chiefly to the functions, policies, powers and limitations of the federal reserve board and the federal reserve