Evening star., 1933-06-16

1898. The cotton thus sold to the farm
ers and held by the Secretary of Agri-
culture in trust for them is to be dis
posed of by March 1, 1885. After de-
Quoting costs to the Government, the
profit, If any, is to go to the farmers
who have contracted to receive this
cotton and reduce production.
The initiation part OF this act gives
the President the following powers:
He may direct the Secretary of the
Treasury to enter into agreements with
the several Federal Reserve banks and
the Federal Reserve Board whereby the
board will Cd conduct open market
operations in United States Govern
ment obligations and In the obligations
of corporations in which the United
States is majority stockholder. And
CD purchase directly and agree to hold
for specified periods Treasury bills or
other United States Government obli-
cations up to $4,000, 900, 900, in addi-
ton to those they already hold.
If this fails to achieve the purposes
of the President, then he is further
empowered to cause to be issued United
States notes in denominations from 81
to $4,000 under the act Of February
d,
to be similar in size and color to Fed
eral Reserve notes They are to be
used to meet maturing obligations of
the United States and for buying
interest-bearing obligations of the
United States, and when bonds are
bought with them the bonds are to
be Cancelled. The limit of this green
back issue is $4,000, 100000 and the
act appropriates enough to allow the
Secretary of the Treasury to retire
per cent Of the greenbacks per annum
as long as they are outstanding.
The President is further given power
by proclamation to fix the weight Of
the gold dollar in grains nine -tenths
fine, and also fix the weight of the
silver dollar In grains nine-tenths fine
at a definite fixed ratio to the gold
dollar, 'at such amounts as he finds
necessary from his investigation to
stabilize domestic prices or to protect
the foreign commerce against the ad-
verse effect of deprecated foreign cur
rencies, and to provide for the un-
limited coinage of such gold and silver
at the ratio so fixed" He may fix the
weight, also, so as to carry out any
agreement between the United States
with any foreign government or govern
ments.
The limitation on this power is that
in no case may the weight be fixed at
less than SO per cent Of the present
weight.
Debt Payments in Silver.
Again, the President is given power
to accept from any foreign government
indebted to the United States payments
in silver, arbitrarily valued at so cents
ay Yv, &c s~.pz
recent payment made in silver, the ef-
feet Of this was to grant a discount of
n per cent on that particular payment.
as the market price for silver was 361a
cents an ounce the day it was made.
The silver is to be deposited in the
Treasury and silver certificates issued
against it for payment of obligations of
the United States.
The President may use the powers
given him In the imitation section, in
the words Of the act whenever the
President finds, upon investigation,
that Q) the foreign commerce of the
United States is adversely affected by
reason OF the depreciation in the value
OF the currency of any other govern
ment or governments in relation to the
present standard value of gold, or CD
action under this section Is necessary
IN order to regulate and maintain the
parity OF currency issues of the United
States, or CD economic emergency re-
quires an expansion Of credit or az an
expansion of credit is necessary to Sc
cure by international agreement a
Stablllzation at proper levels of the cur
rencles OF various governments.
In sending the agricultural relief bill
Roosevelt wrote:
cat the Same fir,a thai x, -,
are joining in emergency action to
bring order in our banks, and to make
our regular Federal expenditures bal
ance our income, I deem it of equal
Importance to take othe- and stimuli
taneous steps without waiting for a
later meeting OF the Congress. One of
these Is OF definite, constructive i'm
portance to our economic recovery.
Effect on Farmers.
1T relates to agriculture and seeks
to increase the purchasing power of
our farmers and the consumption of
articles manufactured in our industrial
communities, and at the same time
greatly to relieve the pressure of farm
mortgages and to increase the asset
value OF farm loans made by our bank
ing institutions.
Deep study and the joint counsel of
many points of view have produced a
measure which offers great promise of
good results. I tell you frankly that 1t
Is a new and untried path, but I tell
you with equal frankness that an un-
precedented condition calls for the
trial Of new means to rescue agricul-
ture. II fair administrative trial of
1t Is made and it does not produce the
hoped-for results, I shall be the first
to acknowledge it and advise you"
Secretary Of Agriculture Wallace in
q speech described the purposes Of the
bill thus:
Its basic purpose, first Of all, Is to
increase the purchasing power of farm
ers. The method is restoring
the balance between production and
consumption as rapidly as possible.
The goal of the bill, IN terms Of price,