Evening star., 1920-03-13
FEDERAL RESERVE
FREE Of POLITICS
Representative PIatt Reas-
SureS Financial and Busi-
ness interests.
BY WILL T.. kENNEDl.

FtNtFdllN neeN nave no it'ii '1'''S 80
federal reserve system is going TO be
disturbed: any changes contemplated
in this system are with a view 70
wedding out of it any vestige of poll
rA.s and TO strengthen it to serve the
public rather. than for profit
This assurance is given by Repre-
tentative Edmund Platt of New York
chairman of the House committee on
banking and currency, and rs belleNet
To- represent the opinion OF the ma
1ority in Congress, for Mr.. Platt has
consulted with the party leaders ana
with the business interests through
out the states.
In reply to some democratic cam
J,aign publicity that the republicans
threaten to destroy this system. Rep
Tesentative Ilatt says: Among IN"
achievements to which tn" dem0crat!"
party points with greatest pride. as
= indication of its ability in construc-
tive legislation, is che federal reserve
act Now, pointing with pride is q
well recognized and entirely legIti-
mate platform prerogative, and is also
a metaphorical gesture properly made
by campaign orators. but when II Is
coupled with charges or even with IN
timations that the opposite party. If
intruSted with power by the people.
would undo the constructive work
done. or even greatly change 1t.
purpose or intention at hand.
Evidence Is Lacking.
"In due exuberance of post -prandial
oratory. with nothing stronger than
grape juice for inspiration. certain
democrats high in the councils of the
party have declared that if a repuh-
1ican President and a republican Con-
lCeSS should be elected by the people
Of the United States next November
they would proceed to destroy root
and branch the federal reserve act.
bulwark of our banking system.
No evidence in support of such
statement exists and no such inten
ton seems to be entertained by any
republican of prominence"
Republicans in fact claim to have
laid the foundations for the federal
reserve act. through the work of the
national monetary commission and
through the Aldrich bill. which was
introduced in the administration of
President Taft. Republicans spent
humber of years debating banking
reforms and bringing in bills of vary
ing degrees OF merit without being
able to reach results. Just as they
seemed about to unite upon a system.
they assert. they Were swept from
power by the interposition of the pro-
gressive upheaval and democrats
came in to finish the work.
The emphatic declaration of Repre-
sentative Platt at this time is pecu-
liarly significant. He succeeded Car
ter Glass as chairman of the banking
and currency committee OF the House.
He was a member of the committee
when the federal reserve act was
passed in 1913 and objected strongly
to two or three features of the bill
az that time. In fact he made an ar
gument for a central bank ana de-
clared that some of the twelve re
/. Id h.l
weak to be safe in times of stress.
He saws now. however, that he does
not believe that republicans have the
slightest intention of making any
very radical changes in the act. In
the first place 1t has been amended
already so as to meet some of the
. objections and in the second place
it's working out was placed by the
President in able hands. and it has
worked well. Every republican read
iiy comedies that
No Partisanship in Committee
Furthermore. since the initial eau
cuses in the preparation of the bill
in 1913 there has been no partisan
shin in the committee on banking
and currency. Representative Platt
s,Ipported heartily the amendments
passed during the chairmanship OF
Mr. Glass and Representative Pheian
of Massachusetts in the last Con-
gress.
The federal reserve act has. in fact,
figured very little in republican dis
cussion except that now and then
some one has declared that the sys-
fem has promoted great imitation and
should have been administered more
corsarvativeIy during the war.
Chairman Platt says that he believes
that central bank with branches
would have worked as well. and with
less overhead, than the twelve reserve
batks hut he can see little advan-
tag. to be gained by making radical
changes in a system now we'll eStab-
lisI,ed that has weathered the ordeal
Of war so successfully. There arc
some things in the act that rephh-
l.cans would not have written into
ii tut IL doesn't follow that there
would he any great advantage in
changing many of them now The
.Tark % England itself is curiousiy
formed piece of financial machinery
which nobody would follow exactly
now. bnt the English financial world
is aCcust onned to it and prefers to
IT. il alone rather than t"E to reform IT
e. long j" works we'll.
Some things that he believes the re-
ruNlicdnS should do when they obtain
Tire opportunity are outlined by Rep
rcSpntative Platt. one of them is to
raEr AL notes issued by the federal
reserve banks bank notes and make
gold requirements. The clumsy de-
N.cn Of having federal reserve notes
issued TO the banks bv a government
gent in order to fool Nj Bryan into
The belief that they "~c government
notes rather than bank notes ought
10 be done away with said Repre-
sentative Platt. but these matters do
not seem 70 me quite so Fundamentally
important as they once did. The notes
ere bank notes. in fact, and are so
f{a -rI I'D. f,F Iot 70
act itself calls them. and the public
so accepts them"
Less Degree of Control.
Doubtless some republicans would
favor strongly a less degree Of gov
e,ninunt control OF tn de~al 70
serve banks, but not much has been
said along this line in republican
councils. Republicans, however. if
they carry out ideas that used to be
frequently expressed with much We
hr'uence. and are still frequently
heard, may do something toward
making the Federal Reserve Boar
more nearly non partisan by provid
ing that tho controller of the cur
rcncy. a political appointee, shall not
b. member of it
Apart from this matter of the ros-
siblc control Of the board through
tie membership on it of the. Secretary
Of the Treasury and of the controller
IL the federal reserve act seems ica-
dcmic rather than political. Even if
the federal reserve system shoold
b. completely divorced from govern
rnent control ii would have to op-
crate, in Representative Platt's opin-
ion. just about as II is operating
"ir the public interest rather than for
profit
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