The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-03-24
National Topics Interpreted

through which the nation Is passing IL
Illustrates better than
Real Danger language the deli
Not Realized cacy Of balance that
exists In norm
times In the country's financial struc-
ture and the money that we use in
daily life. An object lesson has been
furnished also in the methods devel-
oped by the federal government to deal
with the problem. for those methods
show clearly how misstep or slip
would wreck all that has been accom-.
plished, including restoration Of pub
lie confidence.
1t has been, and continues to be. an
ordeal by fire or whatever methods
they used Of old as test, for Presi-
dent Roosevelt and his secretary of
the treasury, William II. Woodin. Thus
far, Mr.. Woodin has retained his sense
of humor, and it appears due to that
fact alone that he has been able to last
under the strain Of the perilous period.
AS time passes since the memorable
night of March 5, when the President,
by proclamation, closed the cOuntry's
banks, and when he called the con-
gress into extraordinary session, it be-
came more evident that the country
could not know the real danger of the
situation at its worst. That accounts
for much of the secrecy experienced
during the several days succeeding
March 5, when the treasury was un-
able to tell fully what was happening.
There had to be period in which to
survey the situation and consider as
quietly as frightened men could, what
the best course was.
In other words, to save the banking
structure from wreckage and hold the
currency of the nation up in the faith
Of the people, drastic action was re-
quired.
It became evident Immediately after
the decision had been reached to close
the banks until legislative remedies
could be enacted, that the most diff
cult job lay ahead. The banks could
be closed with ease, but they could not
be opened with the same celebrity. So
a group of earnest men, government
officials. bankers and economists. set
to work to find out the way.
Those men recognized that public
confidence was shaken. 1t had been
disturbed by isolated cases such as had
occurred in Michigan and in Maryland.
These had resulted in hundreds of
thousands of people rushing to the
banks to withdraw their money. That
was natural. Whether it was right
or wrong to be hoarder does not fig
ure here. The condition happened,
and in order to reopen the banks, there
had to be measure of confidence re-
established
Here is where the emergency bank
ing legislation enters the picture. 1t
proposed to make sufficient funds
available SO that the banks could have.
all of the cash they needed to pay out
when their depositors called for it. Un-
less the banks could do that, there was
no use to reopen them; If they could
do that, nearly all of us were made
to feel that there was no necessity for
taking our money out of the bank. ex-
cept, of course, the money that we had
to spend for food and clothes and or
binary expenses.
Secretary Woodin several times has
expressed his amazement at the calm
de eanOr of the
People Calm American people in
In Crisis the crisis. He said
he believed that no
other people in the world would have
accepted the situation with the same
philosophical calmness and under
standing that marked their attitude in
the circumstance of Presidential or :
der that closed all banks at one
stroke of the pen. It made solution
of the problem much easier. OF that
there can be no doubt.
1t may be several months before
banking, as we have known 1t in nor
NAL times, will be operating again. But
that should not be discouraging. The
banking operations that are not going
to go forward as they used to will be
of the type that does not interfere
with the bulk of the folks. Ordinary
transactions can even now be carried
out through the banks without the
slightest hitch. The story it tells is
one of accomplishing what many OBJ
servers here feared were insurmount-
able difficulties when they first arose.
There was much that was not writ
ten for the metropolitan press in the
stress of the perilous week of March 3.
Things happened so fast and the dan
gers were so grave that many trained
newspaper correspondents found them
selves at a loss to present the
picture. They were handicapped, of
course, by the secrecy that the Off
Gals found necessary and consequent
ly there was confusion. Hence, it ap-
pears likely that some months must
elapse before there can be an analysis
of the circumstances. At least, there
must be more time before we can learn
from the experience of those events
what the lessons were and what can