Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-09-04

At BABYLON. Is
it not high time that the bankers de-
mand the preservation and practice
of those sound fundamental principles
which are so absolutely essential to
the welfare of the nation? Bankers
and business men of the country have
little right to complain of the preva-
lence of unsound economic theories,
Of radical political tendencies and
paralyzingly foolish legislation, so
long as they maintain the silent or
defensive attitude which has charac-
terized them in the past.
A few days ago l heard a gentle
man, supposedly well versed in poll
tics, say that if the charter of the
Federal Reserve System were UP for
renewal or extension at the present
time, he doubted very much if Con-
gress would prolong the life of the
System, and certainly if it did would
only do so after such amendments
and notifications as would destroy
the basic principles underlying the
present structure.
A real menace is involved in this
suggestion, but l wonder how much
we have done or will do to acquaint
the voting public, who will eventually
elect the Congress who will pass upon
this proposition, with the actual facts
of the case Notwithstanding mis-
takes that have been made in the
administration of the System, most Of
the opposition to it is bas not upon
facts but upon twisted stories and
the absolute falsehoods Of the Office
seeker, who has Sfound it easy and
popular to attack and blame the Sys-
TEN for all the Ills, alleged and imag-
ined, which may affect any particular
group.
Banking a Science
The science of banking is not an
accident. 1t rests upon principles as
fundamental as the laws of the uni
verse. Long, technical aid practical
experience is absolutely essential to
the safe management of any financial
institution, and yet what is the re-
suit of the political assaults that have
been made upon the Federal Reserve,
the greatest piece of financial machin-
cry in this country? The people from
time to time are electing to office men
whose chief claim to their support is
that they will see to it that every
banker is driven from the Federal
Reserve Board and that the Board
shall be constituted in a majority or
wholly of those coming from the par
ticular bloc the politician alleges he
represents.
] There should be a diversity of in.
! terest represented upon the Board, but
that the majority Of the Board should
ever be constituted of other than
men thoroughly trained by practical
experience in financial management
Is to me utterly unthinkable and If
practiced will in the end lead to a
complete disintegration of the
strength of the System, il not to a
worse conclusion.
We do not select bankers for our
plowboys or bricklayers for our ar.
fists. We demand specialists for
every character of specific activity,
and the welfare of our whole popula.
ton demands that the credit power of
the nation, without which no business
can live, must be committed likewise
to the hands of experts in it's use and
distribution.
1t is pretty and catching phrase
to declaim that if you destroy the
agriculture of the country grass will
grow in the streets of your cities, but
it is no more true than to say that If
you destroy the credit structure of
your country the products of your
labor will rot in the fields and the
machinery of your industry and COM
merce rust into inactivity and decay.
Therefore, let us, who are in no small
measure responsible for the banking
and financial welfare of the nation,
give unstintingly of our time to the
propagation of sound economic poll
lcies.