Evening star., 1935-05-05
FISCAL POLICY QUESTION
RAISED BY BANK BILL
Presidents Advisers Numerous, TEN
porary and of Different Views in His
Little More Than 2 Years i'm Office.

these fiscal advisers, five after brief
terms of Importance, have resigned
or otherwise ceased to have weight.
In the Treasury hierarchy the sec
ond official Is Undersecretary. To that
Office Mr.. Roosevelt appointed Dean
Acheson, q Washington lawyer OF ex-
ceptionally fine mind and high char
acter. After seven months Mr.. Ache
sons tenure ended under circum-
stances which caused most OF Wash
ington to feel that the President
wished his resignation.
An important adviser Of Mr.. Roose-
welt during the first months OF his
administration was Mr.. James p. War
burg. a New York banker Of lifelong
experience, generally accredited with
unusual power of thought in his field.
He was close to Mr.. Roosevelt in
Washington during the early months
of the administration and was finan-
cial adviser to the American delega-
ton at the World Economic Confer
ence at London. After few months
Mr.. Warburg disappeared from the
scene. He has since been and still Is
a strong critic of the administration
fiscal policies.
After Mr.. Roosevelt had been in
office a few months he announced,
with obvious satisfaction. that he had
chosen DR.. Oliver M. w. Sprague as
a fiscal adviser. DR.. Sprague had had
a similar relation to the Bank OF Eng
land and before that had been q pro-
fessor of banking and finance at Har-
ward University. After DR.. Sprague
had been in the Treasury about six
months, from May to November. 1888.
he resigned and made 1t clear to the
public that he disagreed strongly with
some of the Presidents most i'm
portant fiscal policies.
When Mr.. Roosevelt first took ONCE
he appointed as his director of the
budget Lewis w. Douglas. For many
months Mr.. Douglas was powerful In
the fiscal branch of the administra-
ton and was close to Mr.. Roose-
velt personally. Mr.. Douglas enjoyed
to a practically universal degree the
confidence of persons having con-
servative habit of thought about Gov
ernment finance In September, 1884,
Mr.. Douglas resigned. The common
understanding was that he believed
the President ought to follow the pol
icy he had emphasized before he be-
came President, the policy Of working
toward reduction of Government ex-
penditures and balancing the budget.
washington observers who followed
fiscal matters closely felt that Mr.
Douglas resignation was due to his
conviction that the President had de-
parted definitely from the policy. Mr..
Douglas is now an extreme critic OF
the administration fiscal policies.
Gold Views of Warren.
A financial adviser who was close
to Mr.. Roosevelt for several months
and who is credited with authorship
of an important fiscal policy which
the President followed for some time
was Prof George F. Warren OF Cor
nell University. Prof. Warren was a
leading exponent of the theory that
the Government should follow a pol
icy of buying gold at advancing prices
and that this policy would result in q
worldwide rise Of the prices Of COM
modities generally and would by that
lead America and the world out OF the
economic wilderness.
Prof. Warren for several months
had an Office in the Department OF
Commerce Building and for time
was believed to be the Presidents clos
est fiscal adviser. His policy Of buy
ing gold at advancing prices was fol-
lowed from October, 1888. until Feb
ruary. 1884.
Prof Warren was never officially
connected with the Government and
has never been officially disconnected.
The practically universal judgment of
Washington. however, Is that after
comparatively brief period the Presi-
dent ceased to have reliance on Prof.
Warrens' policy as device. In June,
1884, when q number OF So-called "Sil-
yer Senators" were urging Mr.. Roose-
welt to adopt the policy of buying sill
yer at advancing prices Mr.. Roosevelt
was reported In newspapers as having
said, well, we bought gold and that
did not work; we might as well buy
silver a while and see what that does"
What the lesson is of this series Of
incidents I do not undertake to say.
Obviously. Mr.. Roosevelt must have
believed in each Of these five men
and their policies at the time he
chose them. But apparently, in each
case, a time came when Mr.. Roose-
welt did not believe in their policies,
or ceased to find their personalities
sympathetic, or for some reason de-
parted from them and their policies.
One lesson would seem to be that
the country and Congress should sub
iect the present banking bill to suf-
f1cient scrutiny to make certain 1t is
what the country needs and wants.
1t is a material departure in the di-
rection of greater control over bank
ing by whoever happens to be Presi-
dent. 1t is possible Mr.. Roosevelt's
recommendation of 1t may reflect, on
his part, q judgment as ephemeral as
the five judgments that led him to
select five fiscal advisers in succession,
and later to find their policies I'M
satisfactory
A further lesson would seem to be
that the country ought to give much
weight to the opinion Of Senator Car
ter Glass of Virginia. Senator Glass
is still as able as he was when Mr..
Roosevelt wanted him to be Secretary
of the Treasury. 1t is Mr.. Roosevelt,
and not Senator Glass, who has
changed his views about finance. I
think-though about this I have not
inquired-that in addition to Senator
Glass, all Ave of the men whom Mr..
Roosevelt at various times chose as
fiscal advisers would oppose some
features at least Of the present bank
ing bill.
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