Show 0 national topics interpreted by william bruckart for the first time since the federal reserve system was created a very real rift has developed Is politics between the federal creeping in reserve board and the f federal e d e r a I 1 advisory council that group of business ae leaders aders which Is supposed to act as intermediary between the reserve board and the public the line of cleavage has developed over gold how far it may go in disturbing faith in the federal reserve system as a banking structure it Is yet too early to tell but I 1 find in many quarters frequent questions as to tile the indication that politics may be creeping into government supervision of the count rys largest banking unit the federal reserve system the controversy had its origin in a statement of views delivered to the reserve board by the advisory council last month of 0 course the advisory council has no power and can only function in accordance with its name and give suggestions to the reserve board its influence nevertheless heretofore always has been an important factor in federal supervision of bank policies and any wide difference of 0 opinion between the advisory council and the reserve board naturally Is an influential factor in financial conditions the ts oserve erve board did not dot enjoy the statement of views from the advisory council which was to the effect that no real or permanent recovery can be hoped for until the federal government returns to the gold standard for our currency it said unequivocally that the currency and credit supply now existing Is ample for all needs and that business cannot be expected to go forward until it has some assurance of a permanency in our currency in other words the advisory council takes no stock in the baloney dollar which has been so strongly advocated by prof george F warren one of the important brain tr trust advisors advisers to the president in addition to the councils criticism of the currency policy of the administration tra tion it did not pull its punches with respect to the countless governmental experiments in business I 1 quote that paragraph of ICs 10 statement A serious factor of rapidly increasing importance Is the tendency of 0 business enterprises directly conducted by government agencies to reach out further and further into fields heretofore occupied by private capital thereby destroying taxable values the use of government money in competition with private business Is not only paralyzing to private initiative but experience peri ence has amply demonstrated that it Is costly generally inefficient and that ahat its disastrous effects reach far beyond the limitation of the particular industry immediately affected 0 the council had much more to say respecting other policies of the present administration fear savings including what it de threatened scribed ascribed as a constant threat of inflation fl fla tion a condition that the council felt was stifling personal thrift it asked directly whether there was any inducement for an individual to S save ve or to buy life insurance and preserve P serve earnings against the time wh when age e will prevent continued prodoc production of income if there was an overhanging threat that all these savings may be wiped out by uncontrolled inflation of the currency obviously tile the federal reserve board was ivas wrought up when the advisory council did the unusual thing of making public its views although the council withheld its stat statement emerit r until three weeks after the meeting at t which it was drafted and given the reserve board that lapse of time did not salve the feeling of the board to show how it felt about the action of the advisory adil adI sory council the board very promptly met and adopted a resolution by unanimous vote returning the councils statement to its secretary this spanking has aroused u great many business leaders who have expressed fears that politics now dow Is permeating the two federal agen agencies cles for the advisory council Is 19 a body created by statute lust just as much as the federal reserve board no one can tell what the out cropping of this situation may be there are a number of men in the advisory council membership who have been outspoken in their support of president roosevelt likewise the president has named two members of the present reserve board and one or two others of that group of seven are entirely in harmony with his economic policies consequently there Is much talk in washington that the two schools of economic thought are engaged eng aged in a clash that may he be serious in its effect on the supervision of the count rys banking structure whatever may be the attitude altitude of the reserve board I 1 nave have found a con sId erable body of within opinion holding that its rights the advisory council was functioning within its own sphere when it made the statement to the board As explained above the board was under no compunction ion lon to abide by the expressions from the advisory council and if it elected to do so GO it could allow the councils views to be pigeonholed pigeon holed and forgotten but the point Is that the council Is representative of business and financial interests and therefore when it considered federal policies it was speaking tor for that segment of our national life which otherwise had no means of making itself vocal according to much opinion in the national capital further the fact that the council took direct issue with the administration Is being regarded in many qu quarters as a healthy sign I 1 believe there Is no dispute about the right of individuals or groups to criticize the political party responsible for or government management at any time and it if the particular part of our commerce and industry represented by tile advisory council feels dissatisfied with the gold policy with the unbalanced budget with the continual spend spending ing and experiments that have gone on there Is a great number of people who insist those views should be disclosed some students of economy and government here hold to the opinion that such expressions may have hare a tendency to lead to policies acceptable to both sides this phase of the situation situ nilon may be linked to the efforts which the administration has been making to accomplish an understanding with some im business leaders through fre quent conferences at the white house and through informal and indirect meetings outside of washington I 1 refer to the dinners and meetings which have been held many in new york by prof raymond moley formerly the number one member of the brain trust but now a magazine editor although white louse house sources deny any part in the holey dinners most washington observers accept the denial with a grain of salt they are convinced that mr roosevelt noo sevelt Is fully informed of the views expressed by individual business leaders in those meetings and that he Is seeking some basis of understand ing with business it takes no stretch of the imagination then to connect these various happenings despite the wounded feelings of the federal reserve board 0 henry P fletcher chairman of the republican national committee said the other day ile he an makes it little in losing fight crease in republican membership in the house of representatives tie ile can see sea no method he said of defeating the tha disbursement of cash that has baa been going on to in the roosevelt administration the republican ch airmans statement followed compilation by the democratic national committee of figures showing the amount of cash that has been paid out by the government through its various channels since presed president t roosevelt took the reins the democratic committee complied compiled a list of states and set off against each state the amount of money distributed therein for relief agricultural benefits public works construction st and otherwise democratic campaigners were not invited to use these figures but chairman fletcher insisted that was the basis and the real reason tor for their compilation mr fletcher proved his statement with hands full of clippings gathered from newspapers throughout the country each one quoting some democratic candidate who had informed an audience as to the benefactions bene factions of the federal government in that particular state the republican chairman told news paper correspondents tn in a press conference that he was not accusing the roosevelt administration of buying votes but he added with candor that votes naturally were going to go towards the source of money supplied with several billions being distributed and a considerable amount being turned loose within the last month mr air fletcher made a clean breast of his bis feelings that it was difficult to battle santa claus in connection with the republican charges over cash distribution both of the national committees have been corn cona piling statistics respecting registration of voters through the country in prep oration for the election these reports indicate that public interest Is aroused far beyond the usual condition voters are awakened to the importance of these elections obviously there are many local issues to be fought out and settled by the ballot the situation in california Is illustrative of this never before I 1 am told has california seen such a registration list as Is made up there in anticipation of the vote on upton sin clairs program to eliminate poverty in california agricultural areas according to the registration lists are prepared t to a sup gup port or upset policies of the agrical tural adjustment administration and some industrial centers show figures indicating widespread interest in the vote that Is naturally to have a bearing on the status of the national recover recovery y administration many blany astute clans are saying that the great registration makes guesses as to tile outcome rather hazardous while the etu btu dents of government welcome the large polling lists as encouraging evidence of an awakened interest among the populace ce in this thing we call government it Is proof they hey say that whether right or wrong more voters want their feeling known in the current election than hitherto has been the case except when the ballot involved the presidency 0 western newspaper union |