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Chairmen tt m w December Id, 1935. Mr. A. P. Giannini, Bank of America, 1 Powell Street, San Francisco, California. Dear Hr. Gienninii I was pleased to receive a copy of the letter from Mr. P. H. Williams, one of your vice presidents, to Mr. Edward C. Romfh, president of the First National Bank, Miami, Florida, a copy of Sir, Williams* handwritten note to yourself, and the printed copy of the address of Mr. Romfh given at Miami, Florida, before the Florida Bankers As sociation on November £5rd. I found this address quite entertaining but it aroused my interest only because it sottkes so many errors in comprehending the effect of the Administrations fiscal and monetary policies on the private banking structure of the country. Evidently Mr. Romfh should join that hard shelled group of *hicfa some other conspicuous members are J. H. Nichols and Orval Adams. X think the best answer to this kind of growling and grumbling over policies which have in fact saved the neck of the growler is that made by Ur. Stuart Chase in his recent *Ode to the Liberty League”• The particu lar words which express my feeling after reading Hr. Romfh*s eddress are as follows: "In my more irritable moments I sometimes wish that the life line had never been thrown, and that you had sumk to a man. The trouble with this picture is that the rest of us would have sunk with you." Mr# A. P. Giannini - 2* I note th&t Messrs. Fleming and Sloan Colt recently s&ng the sane tune which Mr, Eccles composed and has been singing for upwards of a year or sore* The strange part of it is that their performance has been rather favorably received, whereas that of Ur* Eccles was oily politely received* I suppose this is due to the fact that the latter is considered an Admin istration sum and bankers and big business generally are not impressed by any kind of good logic emanating from tost direction. The same thing, however, coming from erne of their own ranks is hailed as something new, sound and constructive. However, the sain thing is to have this theme developed sufficiently to bring about results regardless of who gets credit for the aessage* I firmly believe that we shall see a considerable in crease in bank lending within the next year. The letters above referred to and Hr# Romfh*s address are returned herewith* With best wishes, X am lours sincerely, X«awrence Clayton, Assistant to the Chairman. enclosures ic/tgr
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