Evening star., 1932-08-27
After Chateau Thierry-Soissons.

The reason for calling yesterday S
conference at this particular moment
the President said. was that we are
convinced that we have overcome the
major financial crisis-a crisis in sever
itv UNPARALLELED in the history of the
wcr.d-and til. with its -c'aX-, N
confidence and hope have rcappear2d
in the world" But the real spirit Of
Yesterdays meeting was expressed in
his closing words:
The great war against depression is
being fought on many fronts in many
carts of the world. One of the most
stupendous actions of this great front
has been the long battle Of the last
eighteen months to carry Our financial
structure safely through the worldwide
collapse. That battle may be likened to
the great battle of Chateau fhierry.
This attack on our line has been
stopped. But I warn you that the war
is not over. We must now reform our
forces for the battle of SCISSORS.
Pollyanna and her younger brother,
Ballyhoo, we're conspicuously absent
from yesterdays meeting-a meeting
the historians will be forced to record
as marking one of the significant stages
of the recovery.
The occasion was one for a factual
review and analysis Of those far
reaching developments of the last eight
cen months that have recorded them
selves with such bewildering speed
This was the period that saw, first, one
crash after another abroad, each one
with its inevitable accompaniment of
demoralizing effect in our own already
demoralized Nation, and each adding
to those "paralyzing fears spread into
every quarter Of our country; second,
the situation that found financial IN
stitutions suspended almost by thread.
liable at any moment to break, too
often breaking and bringing more dis
aster and more desolation: third, the
painfully slow moving into line for
defense of every instrument and
device available-the German morator-
ium and standstill agreement, advances
to foreign banks and the bipartisan
program of reconstruction legislation.
The men gathered in Washington
yesterday have been in the thick Of that
part of the battle taking place along
the financial and business front. Each
of the groups In the twelve Federal Re
serve districts has been busy in its own
assigned sector. The lull of battle,
brief interlude between repulse and
counter-attack, brought them here to
observe at first hand the new instru-
ments created by legislation for the
new drive now getting under way. The
President and those who have been ap-
pointed to direct the fire of these
weapons have, in effect, told these men:
Here is what we have. You are out
there on the firing line. 1t will be your
job TO give us the target and the range.
We will be here with the support when
you move forward"
The tangible result of this meeting
has been the creation Of Central
Banking and Industrial Committee to
NO-OI lllC bdI lOuO dStLN1GlCo Va OAlC
Federal Government with those of pri-
vate business, industry and finance, Aad
of six subcommittee. each to carry out
one phase of a six-point program out
lined by Secretary of the Treasury Mills.
Each of these points represents tre-
mendous problem in itself. And it is
approaching the impossible clearly to
visualize the magnitude of the task that
embraces them all. None Of the speak
ers yesterday attempted, nor would he
have been able, to outline with all its
bewildering complexities the picture as
a whole.
But one believes Owen D. Young came
as close as any one to concise de-
scription of the final objective, and his
statement of why it must be attained
was of genuine eloquence,
A part of it is quoted here:
They (the committees have one
object, and only one, and that is
to restore as rapidly as possible the
proper functioning Of our economic ma
chinery not cnly so that the savings
of our people, whether In banks, in in
surance companies, or legitimate securi-
ties, can be protected but more impor-
tant than all, so production and con-
sumption may again be restored to such
activity as will enable the unemployed
to be put to work and to permit those
in need again to meet their needs with
self-respect. We have to remember that
in any event both public and private
funds will be drawn upon for employ
ment. If we succeed even in small
measure in this undertaking and can
do it before Winter comes, then, Mr.
Chairman, think these committees will
have rendered very great service to
business in the United States. And not
only to business. because that Is sec
ondary, but to men and women who
need food and shelter and, most Of all
who need to retain their own self-con-
fldence and self-respect. And. indeed
not only their self-confidence and self
respect. but what is even more impor-
tant than all. to enable them and US
to retain the confidence Of the children
who are coming on. A fathers job lost
does more than humiliate the parent
It does more than weaken the respect
of the child. 1t threatens that stability
and so that opportunity for the future
which is the basis of our hopes and the
impulse for our accomplishments.
Mr.. Chairman, that is our problem
here. 1t is not one of partisan politics
It Is a problem Of the perfection fol
the future of a social and economi'
system which is the only one having
back OF it the human experience o
thousands Of years, and however faulty
it is the one into which is welded tn
evolutionary background of the people
,f