The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-12
M EN w o MEN
 A ND T HIN c s

When 1t comes to high finance 1 admit that am outc1assed, and T reckon that if I lived to be as old as Methusaleh a 1o-dollar bill would continue to seem whole lot of money to me.
 never get unduly excited whom the banks begin to draw in, for as long as the one with which I do business will let me draw out from time to time modest amounts by signing note, I am pretty well con tent.
 l get wool gathered whenever the politicians begin to talk about the currency and suppose that l am the only man who made no pretense of understanding what all the row was some years back on account of free silver" and hard money" ] heard both sides and thought that each one was making lot of fuss about nothing.
 But suppose that in the light of history 1t is we'll that "16 to 1" was put in the waste basket, the scare of fiat money dissipated, and the gold standard was raised aloft in America. I have always found it hard enough to finance myself with out having any wish to regulate the finances of the government. early adopted the policy of friend who works on the theory that a fellow must try and make enough so that the tax gatherer wont get all he lays by
 I heard William Jennings Bryan make his famous silver speech at Cooper Union in New York city when things looked tightly blue, and Il happened to be in the east when one Palmer was doing much speaking on behalf of gold. It was divisive time even in the ranks of the democra ts and silver and gold became the acid tests by which the politicians as- sessed the worth of a man to lis party.
 Having made these admissions II will now proceed to state my bewil- derment over the furry which has recently been blowing around the federal reserve board. I have been particularly interested In it as Gov. Max Wellborn of the Atlanta reserve bank is an old Eufaula boy, and ". P. G. Harding, governor of the federal reserve board, is a Birming- ham man. and therefore, knowing them both so well I felt interested the system with which they had been so closely identified from the start. I knew them both to be straightfor- ward and conservative bankers, and was sure that when the time came they would be able to show a reason for their acts.
 After reading the hearings stl Washington without being able to pass upon the mooted questions of high finance, yet I think any unpre- judiced person will admit that the bearing of Mr Harding in the face of criticism was better than that of MT. Williams, his critic, and that inI all of his testimony he was more anxious to present the facts than to score against his opponent, though when the time came for plain speak
 
 was greatly impressed by the case made out by Governor Harding confident that out of the inquiry he will have strengthened his hold upon the American people as fiancierI with nationwide grasp instead of playing to any one section or group. A man of lesser courage and sanity might easily have been swayed un- der the excitement and pressure brought upon him to keep the prices of certain commodities to a high level.
 I was greatly impressed by the testimony given by Governor Strong of the New York reserve bank be. fore the congressional commission, when he said--in describing collapse of prices in 1920 as "the most seriois in modern times, yet he considered the business situation well embarked now upon a cycle of recovery" cit-, ing industrial resumption, advancing prices of high grade securities, and lower interest rates as the base for his conclusions
 No one who heard Gov W. P. (i. Harding of the federal reserve board when he spoke here some months back can ever forget his mastery grasp on the financial situation in the United States and the world 1t large, for he said at that early time that the country had weathered the storm and better times were ahead He was true prophet, and the busi- ness men who will dare are the ones who are going to win. There IS no use of further waiting, the time has come to get into the game