Wv
The Commoner
vta. i3; no. 32
20
"iAt':-
- rfwPWW;1' "0$
T-- ..
41
Success of the Crop-Moving Fund
f
IHni
-
'
8.
When Socrotary oC the Treasury
.McAdoo sent out a message to the
country on July 31, stating that ho
proposod to transfer from the treas
ury to tho national bankB In the agri
cultural districts from $25,000,000
to $50,000,000 to facilitate tho mov
ing and marketing of crops in tho
west and south, there were storms of
criticism and many doubts expressed
as to tho success of this epoch-making
plan. Subsequent events, how
ever, have proven that the movement
was of untold boneflt to the Interests
and sections that it planned to re
Hove. An idea of the successful
working of Secretary McAdoo's plan
is contained in the following special
staff correspondence to tho Phila
delphia Public Ledger, dated at Wash
ington, November 23:
"It is understood," writes a corre
spondent in one of the larger eastern
cities, "that the $50,000,000 that
went to banks in the soven southern
states, instead of reaching tho pro--ducor
or farmer, reached the com
mission people, and that the farmer
got little good out of it.
"Perhaps tho comptroller of the
currency or, somebody connected with
tho treasury department might know
tho facts."
"Somebody connected with the
treasury department" does know the
facts about it, and those are tho
facts: It has happened for years
that.Just about the time the crop
movement was about to begin there
has been almost invariably a scarcity
of currency, a tight monoy market,
difficulty in obtaining tho means for
tiho extraordinary demands of the
season. ,
Tho president of one of the. largest
banks in the south, which has to look
after the needs of 10,000 customers,
an a letter to the secretary of the
fcSv treasury thus explained one of the
$v difficulties with which he had to
deal j
tf ' "The general situation throughout
tho south was critical. After the
crops are harvested there will be a
; tremendous liquidation of loans, and
this. section of the country will be in
excellent condition.
"We have had to call on our New
York correspondents for some redis
counts in order to prevent harsh
liquidation of loans at home, and
while our Now York hanks have
taken care of us they have charged
Us high rates and have written us
disturbing letters and asked us to
curtail our demands all of which had
, the effect of being alarming. Wo
could no help hut sympathize with
them, for, aside from the govern
ment assurances, they were not in as
good position nB to cash holdings as
usual. I felt more like whistling
, yesterday morning after reading the
secretary's announcement than I
have for three months."
"Yesterday morning" was August
1, and the announcement made by the
secretary of the treasury was that he
would place at tho service of tho
banks for the purpose of aiding them
;'
"4
Certain banks in the several states
wore designated as depositories for
this crop-moving fund, and special
agents wore named by tho secretary
of the treasury to pass upon all ap
plications for loans which were only
made upon commercial paper of ap
proved value.' On November 15 the
crop movement had been so success
fully financed that $15,689,000 of
tho $50,000,000 set apart for this
specific purpose had not been called
for but remained in the treasury at
Washington. The payments to de
pository banks for crop-moving pur
poses up to that date were as follows
by states:
Alabama $1,170,000
Arkansas : 050,000
District ofvGoljimbia. ; ; .- 582,00.0
Florida . .. ' 795,000
Georgia . ' 1,022,000
Kentucky ...... 1,070,000
Louisiana .". . . 3,275,000
Maryland 2,900,000
Mississippi 600,000
North Carolina 1,400,000
South Carolina 1,500,000
Tennessee 2,565,000
Texas 900,000
Virginia . 850,000
California 50,000
Colorado ...."...;...."..' 825,000
Illinois 4,000,000
Indiana .....' 595,000
Kansas ....v..;..' 100,000
Minnesota . 500,000
Missouri 4,775,000
Now Mexico ,., 50,000
Ohio ; :.....r. . 850,000
Oklahoma ............. 187,000
Oregon . 800,000
Pennsylvania . . . . r. .... 75,000
Utah , , 125,000
"SHE'S MAKING GOOD!"
From the .Eagle (Brooklyn, N. Y.)
Washington-. .;.'. .". . 900,000
MISSOURI BIG BORROWER
The aggregate of those payments
was $34,311,000, and the amount re
maining in the treasury to the credit
of this crop fund was $15,689,000.
Of the amount paid out, counting
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri as
southern states, about one-half of
the total fund provldod for the crop
movement, or to be exact, $24,859,
000 was taken In the south.
These three states took up $9,345,
000 of the southern allowance. The
largest borrower was Missouri, which
took $4,775,000; tho next largest
borrower was Illinois, which received
$4,000,000. The largest amount paid
to any of the southern states .was
$3,275,000 to Louisiana.
It was never the intention of the
treasury department to hand out the
money to the farmers or producers
they did not ask for it and did not
expect it; all that they wanted was
enough money borrowed by them at
reasonable rates from the banks
until they could get their crops on
the market, and this they have suc
ceeded in doing without usury.
If they had not obtained this relief
they would have been driven into
bankruptcy and the country would
now be struggling with a money
panic. Nothing like this treatment
in financing the crop movement the the crop question was ever under
F
sura of $50,000,000 out of the treas
ury at Washington.
The announcement was like the
shadow of a great rock in a weary
land, and, in the opinion of Secretary
.McAdoo, averted a financial panic
which would have affected every
commercial and industrial interest in
tho country.
The announcement was made on
August 1, and money was a little
easier on August 2. It worked like
a charm, and the treasury has been
fairly flooded with the most grateful
letters from bankers and business
men in all parts of the United States
thanking it for this anchor to the
windward.
taken by any oil Mr. McAdoo's prede
cessors, and though it was a new
way of dealing with tho matter, it
was, after all, a purely business prop
osition and so it is regarded, by sound
bankers and successful business men
in all parts of the country.
COMMENDATORY MESSAGES
Tho letter files of the treasury de
partment are fairly bulging with
messages of commendation received
by the secretary from bankers and
merchants, lenders and borrower in
all the states.
An enthusiastic manufacturer in
one of the first cities in Ohio did not
wait to see how tho thing would
work, but on the day that the secre
tary made his announcement of his
crop movement plan wrote:
"I still believe that there is a God
in Israel and decent men on earth.
What a blow in tho solar plexus of
the money monopoly! More power
to your arm, and grace of God in
your heart! Isn't it refreshing to
find a man in the treasury who is a
servant of all the people, and not a
trained crook of and bootlicker for
the criminal rich.
"I am sure proud I gave $100 to
the Wilson campaign fund, and am
kicking myself that did not double
it. I am going to have my receipt
(certificate acknowledging contribu
tion), framed and hang It up in my
private office. Shake, old man."
A man in Missouri who has figured
large in the public Ufa of this coun
try (a democrat, of course, who has
been talked about in Pike count. as
a presidential availability, and who
has made a great reputation .nd well
deserved as a financier), telegraphed
to Mr. McAdoo:
"Your offer j aid crop vement
and relieve great financial stringency
by depositing $50,000,000 in banks
of south and west,- is, in my judg
ment, wise, opportune and patriotic."
"Houston is the financial center of
the state of Texas;" of course it is,
and when the McAdoo plan was
known, the Houston Clearing House
association adopted a resolution
highly commending the secretary for
his "wise and patriotic step, indicat
ing as it does a desire on your part
to perform a valued and legitimate
service to the commerce of the coun
try." It was said in a letter from the
president of this association that the
banks of Houston would be called
upon "to finance at least one-third
of the total crop of cotton of the
state," and would "be called upon to
finance within the next 90 days not
less than $75,000,000 of cotton and
Its by-products." Yet the figures in
the treasury department show that
the whole of Texas has called for
only $900,000 of the crop fund pro
vided by McAdoo, which shows that
the participation of the government
In the crop movement had a decided
effect on the outside circulation.
A national banker in Alabama and
a man of evidently high place among,
the bankers of that state wrote:
"It is extremely gratifying to know
that wo have an official at the head
of the troasury department who is
big enough to look upon and act upon
such matters from the national view
point, rather than be controlled by
any local influences."
The King County Democratic club,
of Seattle, Wash., wrote to say that
this crop movement act of Secretary
McAdoo was -"the most masterly
stroke of executive statesmanship in
its application to practical affairs
which has ever been made by any
secretary of the treasury in a time
of peace."
A. broker in Denver, Col., who has
"been in the money business all niy
life," wrote:
"It must be evident to the most
casual observer, who has anything to
do with handling money, that there
has been aa evident intent, on the
part of eastern financiers to harass
the west in its efforts to move its
crops, and at the same time inci
dentally harass the government.
"Will you permit me to say that
you are without the shadow of a
doubt taking the only course to kill
this 'vampire?' "
A man of large affairs in New York
city telegraphs:
"Your department has made a
master stroke preventing the worst
panic that ever threatened a nation,
and it makes tears of joy -ome to my
eyes in gratitude to our Creator for
giving us such aff you to preserve the
honor of our nation."
A successful merchant in South
Carolina wrote:
"By your statesmanship you .ave
discounted Wall street's scheme to
cause a pjinic, embarrass the country
and discount democracy."
M'ADOO PLEASES GEORGIA
A manufacturer and .nker in one
of the leading cities of Georgia wrote:
"It is gratifyi-ig to know that crop
moving will escape some of its ter
rors this autumn by your wise action.
"The waste of the world's "ars,
the natural growth of this country,
and hence its increased needs, timid
ity all have conspired to make it quite
essential that tho great crops, which
affect our balance of trade anl re
lieve the tension each year, should
this year, especially, be quickly and
economically marketed. Accept our
thanks."
This "Whole newspaper could be
filled with the lttjrs Secretary Mc
Adoo has received from men of busi
ness importance in all parts of the
country. Some of the messages have
been somewhat lachrymal, and others
still havo been distinctly partisan;
but all of them havo been fully inter
pretative of public sentiment.
The crop movement plan of the
secretary was undoubtedly the most
popular act of his administration so
far, nnd he has yet other plans,
doubtless, which will make business
conditions easier and financial ppera-
Hayih 1ocj Untile to umuiu ivw
manipulation,
J. C. H.
1
)j
i
i
1
W " R.
i:
i -. V. , U'JU'iJ-hi'it.