Milford chronicle., 1940-03-08
LOOKING FORWARD
b FRANKLIN WALTagAN
Publicity Director, Republican National @

leVelL ODlecItVeS ana pOilcles IN the
last seven years.
OF course, II should be perfectly
obvious to anyone reading this re-
port in full that 1t is a severe in
Cictment OF the New Deal taken as
a Whole-an Indictment which has
not yet been answered. It is true that
certain New Deal detectives and I'M
dertakings receive the reports ap-
proval, but in many instances such
cbjectiVes and undertakings did not
originate with the New Deal.
Nevertheless the New Dealers in
sIst that nothing decent or humani-
tartan was ever proposed in govern
ment until they came along. Mr..
Roosevelt, on one occasion. contend
ed that the mechanics of civilization
did not commence until March 4,
1888. More recently he made the con-
tentiOn that during the twenties you
can't find a single statute enacted for
the restraint Of excesses, enacted for
the good, the betterment of the per-
manent security of the individual" "
About that we shall have great deal
TO say later on in this place.
Claims Bank Deposit Insurance
Our main theme this week, how
ever, is q contention appearing in the
Democratic National Committees
clipsheet. Reviewing the annual re-
port of the Federal Deposit Insur-
ance Corporation, the New Deal
propaganda agency asserted that
losses would have been sustained by
tens Of thousands of bank depOsitOrs
'IF 1T HAD NOT BEEN THAT THE
NEW DEAL SET UP A SYSTEM OF
BANK DEPOSIT INSURANCE"
This statement simply is NOT
.TRUE-it is unadulterated twaddle
and fakery Of the crudest sort The
New Deal did not 'set up" a system
OF bank deposit insurance. Indeed,
until Congress, under the leadership
of a Republican Senator, forced the
legislation on him, President ROOse-
Velt strenuously OPPOSED Federal
insurance of bank deposits. He did
so over his own signature.
In letter to an OhiOan during the
1882 Presidential campaign. the then
Governor Franklin d. Roosevelt
wrote as follows:
with reference to the Federal
Governments guaranteeing deposits
il all national banks. ! believe that
such action would be QUITE I'M
POSSIBLE. II would lead to laxity
In bank management and careless
ness on the part of both banker and
depOsitOr. believe that it would be
an IMPOSSIBLE DRAIN ON THE
FEDERAL TREASURY TO MAKE
GOOD ANY SUCH GUARANTY. FOR
A NUMBER OF REASONS OF
SOUND GOVERNMENT FINANCE,
SUCH A PLAN WOULD BE QUITE
DANGEROUS"
Roosevelt "Again" Opposed Plan
AS late as June 1888, MIR. Roosevelt
still opposed Federal insurance of
bank deposits After Senator Arthur
H. Vandenberg, Republican, of Mich
igan, succeeded in having the Senate
attach to the Glass Banking Bill an
amendment providing for bank de-
sought to have this amendment elim-
mated in the conference committee.
He wrote Senator Carter Glass as
follows:
Il must therefore AGAIN express
tc you my very definite feeling that
the Vandenberg Amendment MUST
BE REFLECTED IN TOTO. even as
revised, and AGAIN repeat that no
of this Amendment pro-
posed so far will avoid a serious sit
uatiOn."
Two years later a question arose
in the Senate as to Mr.. RoOseVelt's
for the bank deposit
insurance system. Senator Glass on
that occasion had this to say to the
Senate:
when 1t was first proposed to es-
tablish the insurance of deposits
fund. the President of the United
States (Mr Roosevelt) and his then
of the. Treasury, Mr.. Woo
din, WE'RE VERY EMPHATICALLY |
AND BITTERLY OPPOSED TO 1T. |
THEY SAID THEY WOULD NOT !
STAND FOR IT"
Credit Belongs To Vandenberg
The record is equally as clear that /
Senator Vandenberg is the real au-
.hor of bank deposit insurance. For |
Instance. the Associated Press on
Nay %. 1888, carried this dispatch:
In an amazing burst of speed the
Senate adopted the Vandenberg
and then because of the
powerful popularity of this immedi-
tie bank deposit insurance thus pro-
ided by the Vandenberg Amendment
he Senate passed the Glass Bill it.
elf"
Indeed. those most closely assOci-
ted with the Federal Deposit Insur-
nee Corporation give Senator Van
Ienberg the credit for this legisla-
ion. Leo T. Crowley. Chairman OF
he F. d. !. Con February Is, 1884,
TTOte Senator Vandenberg, assert
ng: Il consider you to be the father
f the Federal Deposit Insurance
.et."
L. E. Birdzell, F. d. /. C. general
ounsel. speaking in Grand Rapids. =
iichigan, in June 1894, at the Mich
gan Bankers Convention, said:
I'VE are under obligation to Mich
gan for having sent to the Senate a
entleman who Understood the ne !
essity of putting bank insurance.
ltO effect at the earliest possible
lOment. That man is Senator Van
enberg. He is perhaps MORE RE-
THAN ANY OTHER
NE INDIVIDUAL FOR PUTTING
NTO THE BANKING ACT OF 1888
HE PROVISIONS WHICH MADE
POSSIBLE TO INSURE DEPOS-
rs IN BANKS BEGINNING LAST
So we are under a debt
I gratitude to him for his leader ]
nip in that direction"
There is the record-and yet the :