The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-07
HARDING ASTOUNDS BY
 HIS FEATS OF MEMORY

The senatorial 1nveSt1gatlOn TOT the pur- pose of ascertaining a method by means
 of which the government can extend aid
 to the farmers of the country. will bear no fruit in the immediate future, accord ing to indications.
 The Secretary of the Treasury, Davld K.
 Houston, while appearing before the sen ators and representatives. displayed i'm patience. He appears to be without sym
 pathy for the movement. He was abrupt
 in his manner, and when he declared that he knew of no feasible plan for aiding
 the agriculturalists of the country. he
 subjected himself to criticism. Senator
 Dial of South Carolina was open in his
 critical references to the secretary.
 w. P. G. Harding, governor of the fed
 eral reserve board, unlike Houston. indi- cated desire to help if help could be extended according to law. and the prin- ciples of safe banking. MT. Harding was not hopeful Various schemes suggest ed to him as possibly feasible, he clearly
 indicated he regarded as infeasible. But his manner was entirely sympathetic,
 The members of Congress who are try ing to solve the problem for the farmers are members of the agricultural commit
 tees of the Senate and the House. IL IS
 apparent that their inclinations are en- tirely with the farmers. They want to find remedy. In their anxiety to please
 the farmers and make the farmers oe- lieye they would do something for them,
 the members indicate impatience when of-
 ficials connected with the treasury meet suggestions with statement of law or conditions which make suggestions inn
 practicable.
 It is entirely probable that effort Will be made to enact legislation reviving the war finance corporation, or to make avail able profits of the federal reserve banks for loans to farmers, or to secure . far with the tention of holding German money in the hands of the custodian of alien property for security Such legislation, however, VIII be passed only with great difficulty, and 1t is regarded as more than prob able that the President, influenced by the Secretary of the Treasury, would veto such legislation even if it were enacted.
 In connection with the present enthu- siasm that members display in the interest Of the farmers of the country, 1t is true that the effort to secure relief would never have made headway but for the fact that the productr of wheat was netd hit In other years, when the cotton planter was alone in his plight Westerners appeared pained. but gave no material en- couragement In the present emergency, however, they are up in arms, and are willing to form an alliance with the mem ters from the south. The comDnaron is the strongest that ever appeared m Consress in behalf of the farmers. ana while the fruit will be late in maturing according to indications there IS nsa.1 T doubt but that in the long run there VIII be fruit.
 Along with the members Of Congress from agricultural states, the farmers nave ff,eir own representatives on the sce1e. The farmers, in some respects, are ihoie arsressive than ever before In the years of the war they prospered. Ana tney
 vUY- y- -,~>rw wf<,v, farmers and some clever poiiticians' U look after their interests These gen.le- men. like the suffragettes and the An.. Saloon leaguers. keep ciose eye evSrv individual member of Congress and made it a practice to let the cI' stituency Of each member know Jus' what he is doing or preparing to do.
 In connection with the testi"ony G MT. Harding, governor of the federal reserve beard. there is an interesting iact which has nc bearing on his testimony. He 6isplayed the evidence of a most re- mD2xable memory. The facts that nc had at his finger ends astounded. With out reference to notes he named the ui- rectors of each of the federal reserve hsnks gave their addresses and their oc- cupations: he told the amount Of money In the vaults of each of the banks. the reserve funds. and the rate Of nteY@t each charges
 At one point, it was necessary Tor him to meet the argument of Senator Norris of Nebraska. by reference 10 the law which created the federal reserve sys- tom He named the section in question, and then said: There are subdivisions A. B. c and D. Discard A, B and c. We come to n. From memory. quote"
 And he proceeded to repeat the words or the subdivision. A reference to the text by members of the com mittee proved that MT. Harding had quot | ed the law word for word.