Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1936-09-10
LARGE AUDIENCE GREETS
CONGRESSMAN SECREST

The large Maccabee hall was filled
to it's capacity Friday night, at the
meeting of the Womens Federated
lclub. The gathering was called to
order by the president, Mrs. Flo
lStrahl. Congressman Secrest, the
speaker, stated in the beginning of
his address that he promised the
hardest fought campaign of his life,
and stated that on his part it would
be 100 percent clean. In his ad-
dress Friday night he made good
that promise, since never once did
he refer to his opponent, or to a
single candidate on either ticket.
He went back to the year 1892 as a.
background. AS to the individuals
responsible for the terrible condi-
tions then, he did not name them,
but said the conditions were here.
| He said that foreign countries in
putting on a building campaign and
to raise money for other purposes
put on a bond selling campaign,
and through the banks foreign
| bonds were sold to us. money TAX
en- abroad and little of it spent here.
| He said the banks never would have
closed had it not been for these
| bonds, which totaled over eleven
billion dollars. All this vast sum
was drained to foreign countries,
with fractional part of it coming
back-our money was gone and buy
ing power gone: and he said that
| from the year 1929 to 1892 more
| than 1000 banks failed, and over
/ 100000 people lost all or part
Of their earnings. Buying power
was forced down until wool sold
from eight to 10 cents, and other
farm products all at record low
prices, simply because the people
hadn't the money with which to buy
Workmen he said could not afford
to buy wool clothing on their very
limited wages, thus there was no
demand for wool, or other products,
| at give away prices; people could
not afford to purchase at any price
what the farmers had to sell, hence
| there was no market for the farm
products. During that period he
said every second of the day some
home or farm was sold-homes and
farms that represented honest labor
Destroy homes, and the morale is
destroyed. He spoke of the num-
bers who were suicide victims.
Then Mr.. Secrest said that on top
of it all was started the installment
| buying plan, with the result that
soon IL billion dollars was due on
installments; this added to the
, amount due on private homes, and
the debts on farms made a grand
| total of 33 billion dollars in debts.
The first thing to do was to stop
conditions that brought about such
a state of affairs-the lost farms,
! lost bank deposits and lost homes
could not be brought back, but 9TH
ers could be saved, and they were
saved through the home owners
corpora ton.
Then the banking laws were fixed
SO that deposits were protected abb
solutely up to $1,000; the double
liability on stocks was done away
with, and to show how ruinous the
double liability feature had been, he
recited the big loss Marietta college
sustained. 1t had been bequeathed
a large amount of bank stocks-the
| bank failed, and not only did the
college lose the bank stock, but be-
cause of double liability had to put
up as much more as the value of the
stock. With bank deposits guar
anteed, and the banks on a solid
foundation confidence was restored
in banks, and the banks are filled
with money. The guaranty of bank
deposits Mr.. Secrest believes to be
one of the greatest bills ever pass
ed. Another measure he dwelt up
on was the law which protects in
vestors from the crooked stock
manipulations. which have caused
vast losses. Government is set up,
the speaker said, to protect it's peo-
pie not only from abroad but at
home as well. He said we have
made big strides, but there are still
other things to do. He referred ITO
the many things brought to south
eastern Ohio-our schools, better
roads and streets, new postoffice
buildings; that he said he had tried
100 percent, and had spared no time
or effort to build southeastern Ohio;
and that he was willing to go up or
down on his own record. He prom
lsed to make another visit here dur
ing his campaign and speak on other
issues in the campaign.
Several persons present made
brief talks, and number including
Congressman Secrest spoke of the
passing of Judge l.. j. Weber, and d
motion was unanimously passed to
send the family a resolution of SYM
pathy.
Music was furnished by John and
Ronald Christie of Rose Farm, and
| by Billy Link and Leroy McIntire
| of Malta