Evening star., 1927-05-10
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
/. G.. NJ.

United States Senator, doubleday.
Page & Co.
Tell me story" runs from cradle
to age itself, a persistent and un'
diminished plea. No matter how
graveiy profound the groundwork OF
the business may he, the mood and
movement of romance, OF adventure
and it's heroes. insure clear contact
and zest of comprehension that no
other form Of address whatever can
command. This fact, now so com
monty recognized, is being MADE use
of not alone by the protessionai
novelist. but by writer's in other helds
az well-history with it's next OF KIN
biography, science. religion, phllosQ'
phy. economies, finance, Durant
''Story Of Philosophy Browne $
o,rhis Relieving World" Van Looms
"Gtorv of Mankind" and many an
other serious and important WORK give
evidence that the form and spirit Oh
romance are carrying more generaliy
usefn, cargoes Of information than
that of the lovelorn heart beats OF
Darby and Joan.
"An Adventure in Constructive
Finance" stands as one more PROOF
that the fling of adventure Is rlchiy
ADEQUATE vehicle for the substance Oh
vital and weighty concerns. In gen
eraI drift this work follows the re
form of the national currency sys'
tenn of this country. In dehnlte point
and action it sets out the origin, the
fempestuous career and final passage
nv the Congress of the United states
of the Federal Reserve act.
AS approach TO the body or the
theme in hand, Senator Glass reviews
the past so years of serious maiad-
iustment between two great ana III
herently related forces of the country.
On the one hand stand the lndus0lai
and commercial interests of the com
monWealth as whole. their lmpera
tive need that of prompt and full
financial response to their proposed
legitimate activities. On the other
hand stands a national currency sys-
tenn woefully inadequate to meet such
needs and demands.
To the average of us even the
simplest aspects of finance are as
crvptic as ancient oracle. Yet to be
able to seize at least the elementary
principles and ordinary behaviors of
the national currency system becomes
the plain business of the American,
Mr.. Everyman, himself potentially a
Federal lawmaker. himself deeply
concerned in the practical fact of a
flexible and competent currency syS-
tenn.
Senator Glass, on his way TO the
heart of the legislative adventure in
hand, points out the trouble with the
former system. 1t was rigid thing,
that old system. impotent to meet the
swift f1uidity of modern industry and
commerce. Naturally so. too. since it
was based upon the bonded indebted
ness of the United States. AS the
Government debt was reduced, to
that measure also currency and cred
it's became less, as matter of course.
Moreover, reserves such as existed
were punched in the great money CEN
ters, temptation" to human nature
toward individual or corporate uses
not catalogued as those of general
utility and impartial application. At
critical points in such situation, en-
terprise was bound to languish. trade
to fall off, stagnation to approach,
hard times to ensue. AS matter of
record, under it the national calamity
of financial panic did more than once
make it's sinister and disastrous ap-
pedrance.
That long so years of financial mis-
adventure on the part of the Gov
ernment was, however, period of
active education in every field of the
Nations phenomenal progress. Tn
der a general stir of research and
examination the defective currency
system itself came under sharp and
critical scrutiny as a subject of prime
Importance, first to the country at
large and, next, to the Congress of
the United States. Within this legis-
lative body many currency laws of
remedial intent were offered, tested,
rejected. The general trend Of action
was, however. forward and upward to-
ward the goal of a more rational sys-
tenn. toward a genuinely constructive
plan for a sound and productive alli-
ance between the Governments none
terry system and the Nation itself ex-
panding so notably in large activities
of common interest and of vital inn
pOrtance to all.
Toward the end of this half-century
period there became manifest every
where a marked liberalization in the
political thought of the country
Gathering it's forces in the name of
progressivism, the movement served
groups. In 1912 the Republican
party was split in two by this new
spirit and through the passage Gre
ated by the rupture Woodrow Wilson
walked into the White House.
At this historic moment of states
manly support the experiment in ma
tional finance becomes an immediate
actuality. AT this point, too, ii takes
on the tiavorS of true adventure. Ac
ton, always strenuous and often bit
ter, marches toward the ultimate
achievement of the Federal Reserve
act. A measure. this, definitely cal
culate1 to correct the inadequacies of
the 90 system. In place of an arbi-
trary and inelastic groundwork. the
new provision is to be founded upon
the liquid commercial assets of the
country itself, ever ready in response
to the demands of business. 1t is to
be a plant. accommodating instru-
ment, issuing currency when it is
needed, retiring it when the need is
satisfied. The sOundness of the plan
is set out definitely in a citation of
the bulk of protection and stable as
surance behind the new mode of finan-
cial procedure. The story then goes
on with the establishment of regional
reserve banks, ready at hand so to
speak, in various centers of industry
where loans and credits may be
made to facilitate the movements of
all legitimate industrial activities.
Every reader knows little, at least,
about the Federal Reserve act. The
newspapers, day by day, gave items
respecting its vital features and the
progress of it's enactment into Federal
law. In this study, however, the sub
ject is treated in its entirety of funda-
mental purpose, of working plan. of
effect upon the business of the coun-
try and upon the revived spirit of
that business. BY virtue of its COM
pleteness and its authoritative source
the book is admirably designed for
the study of subject that stands
an actual part of the business life
of the country. A generally abstruse