Evening star., 1933-09-20

bullion coined and used by them it
would lift the white metal from Al cents
an ounce to its present American
monetary value of 81 29 and restore it
to past glories.
Pittman. as an American delegate to
the London Economic Conference
worked out tentative plan there to
aid the metal and on his return to
the United States resumed his efforts
for its rem netiza lion.
His recommendation of free coinage
as an emergency step followed several
days of study by P.ttman of the legal
questions involved
Believed to Have Power.
II have come to the firm conclusion
that the President has every legal
p-wer necessary under the inf1ational
amendment to authorize this form of
coinage of silver. which would be a
vital aid in the general recovery pro-
gram" Pittman said
A formidable legal brief setting fortn
the reasons for his conclusions was
talked over with the Chief Executive
Pittman estimated between s29,000.-
900 and $33 100000 would be put i'm
mediately into circulation through this
step, explaining the ratio of silver tc
gold could be fixed by the Govern
ment's charge for minting the metal
He argued that the step would serve
the dual purpose of initiating the
monetary structure and helping silve,
Senator Dill, Democrat. of Washing
ton, another silver advocate. disclosed
yesterday also that he had talked over
with Mr. Roosevelt the desirability of
buying silver and issuing currency
against it. He indicated. however. that
Mr.. Roosevelt frowned upon this step
at the moment.
THE President seems to be very
much interested in working out some
thing that will help silver" Dill said
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
officials said they had no figures on
which to base an estimate of demands
by banks for a share in the agency's
N. r A. billion. but one remarked
there hasn't been any rush for it. al
though there has been a lot of cor
reSpondence from banks and business
men,"
The program was announced on Sep
tembe1 IA and they explained some
time would be required to gain any
knowledge of how wide the demand
would pe or the extent to which the
money would be used.
AiC 1tCoCLFC oOdIu, Will UptII
ket operations of $37,o00,000 each in
the last two weeks, officially held to
its policy of buying from time to time
as the situation merits" after having
increased its operations q month ago
from a $10,000,000 weekly average to
$35, 5,000, 900.
Regarded Significant.
The attitude of the Federal Advisory
Council was considered the most sig
nlficant development of a day marked
by imitation discussions in many
quarters. The statement of Mr.. Smith
which did not indicate whether he
spoke merely for himself or for the
council was issued on Federal Advisory
Council letterheads and through the
regular Federal Reserve Beard pub
hcity channels without the knowledge
of Federal Reserve Board officials. It
said:
Walter w. Smith. president of the
First National Bank in ST. Louis. who
is also president of the Federal Ad-
vlsory Council, gave out the following
statement:
Banks are being unfairly and
widely criticized on the presumption that
they are refusing to make loans. Banks
can only make expenses and profits by
lending money and most banks have q
substantial amount of unused funds.
1t should be remembered that the
money to be loaned is the property of
depositors. However, banks must be
In a position to meet the demands of
their depositCrs from tins to time
Therefore. they should not make loans
that either cannot be collected within
a reasonable time or are not eligible
for rediscount at Federal Reserve
Banks"
To members of the Federal Reserve
Board who had attended the joint
meeting Of the board and its advisory
council. the statement appeared to be
news. Presumably it was the result
Of q short meeting Of the advisory
council alone after the general meet
ing had adjourned. Gov. Eugene Black
Of the Federal Reserve Board had said
following the earlier meeting that he
had the impression the bankers were