The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-08-07
cContiuued from Page Five.)

 The price in the British metropolis is a stated figure less the cost of trans portation. The routing of these com modities by water would effect a saw ing of approximately eight cents d bushel, which means that American grain would net just that much more.
 For more than forty years before Woodrow Wilson was elected president in 1912, a reform of our banking ana currency system had been almost uni- .versally demanded and had been year after year deferred or refused by the stand-pat element of the Republican party in obedience to orders. The control of money and interest ra:es had long been held by favored groups who were thus able to dominate mar kets, regulate prices, favor friends. destroy rivals, precipitate and end panics and in short through tneir ff- nancial, social and political outposts, be the real rulers of America. The Federal Reserve act was originated, advocated and made a law by a Dem ocratic president and congress, against the bitter protests of the Republican standpatters, who almost without ex- ception voted against it. Among these men are the familiar names of Senators Lodge, Penrose and Shoot, the inside senate cabal responsible for the existing status in the leadership of their party. The Federal Reserve act is admitted to be the most con- structive monetary legislation in his tory. At a stroke it transferred the power over money and credit and all they represent, from one financial district out into the keeping of the people themselves and instead of one center to which all paid tribute, there are 12 citadels of financial freedom where every citizen has an equal right and where the principle, that the credit of American business shall be free is the basis of administration. Every citizen should be alert to guard this great institution which. is his guarantee of credit independence , It should be kept from the hands of . those who have never been its friends, and who by changes in a few ob- scure phrases could translate it into a greater power for evil than it ever has been for good. It is almost un- necessary to speak of the Federal Re serve system in connection with the winning of the war, as, next to the consecration of our manhood and womanhood Itself, the greatest factor was the marshalling into one unit through the Federal Reserve banks of : the stupendous wealth of America. To those of vision who look out beyond , our shores into that commercial do- main where we are so justly entitled . to enter in a time of peace, latent power of the Federal Reserve system can be seen promoting in every quar- ter of the globe an overwhelming flow of American commerce. We will soon have a merchant marine fleet of II, = 100000 tons aggregate, every ship frNey 4 A
 in American bottoms the products of mill and mine and factory and farm. ' This would seem to be a guarantee of continued prosperity Our facili- ties for exchange and credit, however, in foreign parts, should be enlarged and under the federal reserve system, ! banks should be established in impor- tant trading centers. I am impressed q also, with the importance of improy- 7 ing, if not reorganizing our consular service. The certain increase in for eign trade would seem to demand it, This suggests another change. Our amoassadors to foreign countries have had assigned to them a military and a naval attache. The staff should be enlarged so as to include an officer of the government whose exclusive duty would be to make observation and report development and improve ment in educational and social prob lems generally.
 Government Bureaus during the war had close contact with the bus mess organization of the country That experience revealed the modern need of reorganization along purely business lines. The advantage of a democracy in government need not be recounted- It has been held by ex- perts that it involves the disadvantage of disbursements, authorized by the law-making power without sufficient knowledge of the need of the service or the possibilities of extravagance. The answer to this is the budget sys- tenn. No successful business enter prise of any size can operate without it. For a hundred years, the fed eral unit, and the states as well, made appropriations without determining the difference between department need and caprice, at the same time, paying little attention to the relation as between income and expense. Many of the states have adopted a budget system, and with a success that car ries no exception. Efficiency has been ved-departmental responsibil- ity has been centered, and economies have been effected. The same can be done by the federal government. The system will reveal at once, as 1t did in the states, vast surplusa ge of employees. It awakens individual interest, encourages greater effort and gives oportunity for talent to as- sert itself. The normal course ot least resistance, develops in govern ment bureaus a hardpan. which re- tards progress. When the reorganiza- ton is made, pay should be commen- surate with service. M-ny federal de- partments whose notifications touct the country generally, have lost val iuable men to business. This has bad 1y crippled postoffices, the railway mail service and other branches.
 am convinced after considerable study of the subject that the expense of the government can, without loss of efficiency, be reduced to a maxi. mum of four billion dollars, includ. ing sinking fund and interest on the national debt. When we enter the z League of Nations, we should at the tame time diminish our cost for arm