Evening star., 1933-09-30
CREDIT CHIEF PLAN
T0CURb INITIATION
Henry Bruere Offered Post
of Co-ordinator by
Roosevelt.
CONTINUED From FfrSt PageD
for the deposit insurance system. an
alternate plan is under consideration.
Bankers Responsive.
Continued From First Page)
Bankers Responsive.

Bankers RESPONSIVE.
This proposal, still in the formative
stages. would be to have the Federal
Government in effect underWrite loans
made by banks to industry. Bankers
VINO stoutly resisted the So-called Jones
plan for accepting per cent SIX
month money for relending to indus
try upon easy collateral terms pre-
scribed by the Government. are react
ing fayorably to the new plan by which
the Reconstruction Finance Corpora
ton would designate banks to make
loans for a temporary period until the
securities act could be modified. The
banks would extend small part OF the
loan, say 10 per cent, and the Govern
ment the remainder on terms suitable
to itself.
In selecting Mr.. Bruere to be super
administrator OF Federal credit polcy
designed to get new capital into com
mercial organizations which cannot
get new capital from the public under
present circumstances, the President
was actuated. in part, by desire to
steer clear of the commercial bankers
whose reluctance to lend on present
circumstances has brought broadSldes
of administration criticism.
Mr.. Bruere is a savings banker who
has come to be regarded generally as
the spokesman Of savings banks IN
national as well as State and city
affairs. With an unusual gift as
negotiator and composer of differences.
he gives more of his time to profess
sional and public causes than does any
other banker Both the present Demo-
cratic administration and the pre-
vious Republican administration have
availed themselves of his advice, and
he was one of the bankers in the group
which went to the apartment OF An
drew W. Mellon, then Secretary Of the
Treasury, on a Sunday night in the
Fall of 1881 for the conference which
conceived the National Credit Corpora
ton.
Sound Money" Man.
Incidentally, in the last few weeks
there has been some talk Of reviving
that corporation. with its facilities for
direct lending to industry.
"As the president of the Nations
leading savings bank. in the sense OF
total investments. Mr.. Bruere Is re-
garded as a sound money man, but
with liberal tendencies. Those who
sought at reflection of President
Roosevelts objectives in the person.
ality of his latest selection for key
position regarded him as believer in
orthodox methods for keeping credit
good
THE idea OF creating such a credit
co-ordinator post was first suggested
bv Frank c. Walker. who is the secre-
tary of the Presidents executive coun-
Gil in general charge Of the recovery
program, holding a somewhat similar
post on the administrative side.
William H. Woodin, Secretary of the
Treasury. made a similar suggestion
to the President.
ut had been found that -the policies
of the separate Government agencies
interested in credit matters had not
always been harmonious. In any event
it was thought that if they were gatn-
cred under a single head more COM
prehensive plan of action could be
mapped.
Credit Cost Cut Is Aim.
One of the problems to be faced by
the credit generalissimo is to reduce
the cost of Federal-eredit, which IS now
very high. i'll some cases ana 4i2 per
cent. The credit of the Government,
it is felt, must be better than that OF
the borrowers. Some market opera
tionS may have to be undertaken ultl-
mately, it is suggested, to drive up,
first, Government obligations, and, sec
ond, gilt-edged bonds of all kinds.
Banking experts contend this may not
be done until permanent financial and
monetary policy has been determined
upon and the questions Of stabiliza-
ton and of refinancing the present alb
normal expenditures of the Govern
ment have been settled.
In the background ,is the question OF
political control of the Federal Re
serve system. about which the bank
ing community and conservative men,
bers of the administration are uneasy.
How much control over its policy
co-ordinator may be able to contrive
is a matter of conjecture. The atti-
tude of the administration is taken
to foreshadow real pressure upon the
Federal Reserve banks. and through
them, upon all the great lending insti-
tutions of the country. 1t means that
the Government is taking direct re-
sponsibility for the loosening of credit"