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September.. 1955 Owen D. Young Papers This is a series of notes from Mr. Young1 s file box No* 266 January * 1930 Bankers Magazine contained a criticism of the Federal Reserve Board and Banks as of that time. Mr. Burgess gave it to the directors to read. February 26, 1930 A telegram indicates that Leon Fraser and Mr. McGarrah were invited to join the B.I.S. Board as American directors. September L* 1930 A telegram to Montagu Nonnan from Mr. Young deprecated the publication of a report in regard to the gold shortage. Mr. Young hoped it could be deferred until a meeting of "such men as Burgess, Stewart, Sprague, Quesnay and others familiar with the central bank point of view to suggest means by which the possible ill effects of any deficiency in the gold supply may be avoided.11 September 8, 1930 Montagu Norman replied, "I have always been opposed to the Gold Committee under present circumstances, but have entirely failed to prevent or impede its activities. I guess this is true of Salter, but he is leaving. Anyway he was far from opposing this interim report and entirely content because it has Sprague1s approval. Not until the visit of Jeremiah Smith had anyone suggested anywhere that this report could be regarded as a dangerous document." (This document was apparently prepared by the Gold Delegation and Financial Committee of the League of Nations.) Jeremiah Smith wrote George Harrison that he was sure that the Bank of England was in favor of the report. He said that "Hopkins sounded more like William Jennings Bxyan than ever." He also said, "France and the United States Owen D. loung Papers - 2 ~ won't let the gold standard work.11 1932 The Lausanne Agreement of July, 1932 laid down a plan for an economic conference late in 1932. The American government agreed. Young was invited to meet with Ogden Mills in September. (Vas this the forerunner of toe ill-fated economic conference of the summer of 1933?) December 12, 1932 (This was after the Republicans had been swept out of office by the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but before Roosevelt was installed in office.) A five-page letter from Ogden Mills to Owen Young in regard to the Federal situation after the election of Roosevelt sets forth the economic, financial and monetary conditions of the country as it appeared to a Republican who was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Mills gives a vivid and gloomy picture. He says that Congress is "living in a little world of their own without genuine realization of the gravity of the fiscal problem and of its relationship "bothe general economic situation.11 For himself he would like the United States budget balanced and the British back on the gold standard, but he does not see how either goal can be achieved. (Young must have replied, but I cannot find his reply.) As a postscript to and commentary on this letter from Ogden Mills, I saw Everett Case at Colgate on Sunday and mentioned the letter. He doubts that it ever was answered in words. Mr. Case himself was in Washington at that t; /J^!/M^J W\,/t6&^w^ ISsscWt&Q hMfln~&t^C ftp*-* <*4t&<&*4' -d^JM *J as an assistant to Mr. Milli, tiying to pull together what *fculd, hati it worked, (£Cj have amounted to a voluntary program for private employment measures. I*ong conferences were held witiuheads of Chase Bank, National City Bank, etc., men who controlled great quantities of capital, in an effort to plan slum clearance, improvement of private property, and whatever other measures would give employment to vast numbers out of work. It was in those days that Mr. Case came to realize the limits of what private enterprise could do. He said that in every instance f Cs^S Owen D* Young Papers - 3 - tlie conferees would reach a certain point and find that a trusteeship of the terms of a will or the lack of potential gain or some other extraneous circumstance would interfere with plans that were being laid down. It became obvious that the situation was one which could not be solved by the conflicting interests of private enterprise. Nothing less powerful than the overriding SX ability of public enterprise would serve to break the perfectly legitimate rood block3 which private interests set up. This must have been part of the effort which Mr. Hoover cited as his own plans for taking care of the depressed condition. So far as I know, this I story has not been told, and Mr. Case would very much like to write it. I urged him to do so. MA:IB 1
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