The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-12-07

Distrusfful here, a speech that
was believed at the
time to have ,salved the bankers feel
ings, considerable dlstrust Of admins
tratien policies has begun to accumu.
late among the banking fraternity. 1t
was noticed before the appointment Of
NJ. S. Eccles as governor of the fed
eral reserve board, but it has become
much more evident and more vocal
since. The reason is that Mr.. Eccles
Is considerably more of liberal than
most bankers and business men.
Frankly, some of the important bank
ers of the country fear that Mr.. Eccles
will go far to the radical side In direct
ing affairs of the greatest banking sys-
TEN in the world.
While most financial authorities are
not now alarmed over the prospect Of
any imitation by means of reckless run
ming of printing presses, they do fear
that the banks of the country will be
forced into the position of buying gov
eminent bonds whether they desire to
do so or not. I was told by one bank
er, man who has served in official
capacity in washington, and therefore
knows this field as well as banking,
that he would not be surprised If banks
were assigned certain blocks Of bonds
which they must purchase in the course
of financing by the treasury in the next
two years. All of the conservative
thought in the country looks upon this,
of course, as next to printing press
money in its inflationary tendencies.
AS the laws now stand, it apparently
would be difficult for the treasury. act
ing through the fed
Glass eral reserve board,
Would Fight to tell any particular
bank how many gov
eminent bonds it must absorb. But 1t
would not be difficult to change the
law so that any bank could be allocated
stated amount of bonds and be given
the privilege of turning over those Sc
curities to the federal reserve bank for
currency.
Obviously, such financial students as
the veteran Senator Carter Glass, vir-
ginia Democrat, would fight to the
death against what he believes to be
misuse of the federal reserve system
and the country's banking structure.
There are several other Democrats,
both in the house and senate, who
would follow the Virginia senator's
lead. The belief, however, is that there
are not enough to defeat such a pro-
posal were it sent to congress with
the administrations blessing.
There is banking legislation sched-
uled for this coming session. Its scope
has not yet been determined but it will
be more far-reaching than the previous
legislation and, in all probability, there
will be some brand new pet schemes
put forward by professional advisers
who have been called into conference
by Secretary Morgenthau and his aides.
Then there are the findings of the SEN
ate committee on bank and currency
to be considered. That committee, as
will be remembered, held lengthy hear
ings and exposed much corruption in
certain types Of banks. Whether the
members Of that committee and the
administration will attempt to bind the
whole banking structure hand and foot
because of the rotten spots found in
several apples in the barrel, it is too
early to forecast.
Yet it is to be remembered that there
were ultra-radical investigators includ-
nj To- bn cfo Of Vrybn nnnrQfnd
under Ferdinand Pecora, the commit
tees counsel. Mr.. Pecora. of course,
is now a member of the securities COM
mission and therefore not in direct
touch with his former employer, but
there are those here who say his infiu-
ence is just as great. If that be true,
the senate committee can be expected
to 60 off at a tangent in drafting legis-
lation to hamstring not only the bad
banks but the good ones.
Because weather affects our daily
lives as nothing else, it proves an ever
fascinating subject. 1t is always in
teresting as well. really fascinating
occupation, to look ahead.
While we cannot definitely foretell
the weather this winter, the American
Nature association and the United
States weather bureau have compiled
some records about other winters that
are most interesting. Take for exam
pie, the countrywide blizzard of 1888.
The boys and girls Of those days,
those who now say, do you remember
way back when," insist that that was
a winter which really was winter. The
later generations point to the "war
winter" of 1917-1S, a period of exces-
sive cold and of great snow through
out the United States east of the
Rocky mountains. The Far West was
much warmer.
Two outstanding winters were:
1912-Severe cold weather during
the first three months of the year when
unprecedented ice formed on all north
ern lakes and rivers. It was during
this cold spell that Lake Superior was
frozen from shore to shore and moose
croSsod On tho icQ Lake Michipan