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C R O Z I E R PARK On-Lake-Michigan ALFRED O W E N CROZIER Harbor Springs, Michigan 30, 13 39 The Lodge s. , Federal "Reserve Bo*?d, Washington, D. C. . Dear M?# ^chols: Spending the winter in my 3ummer home here, I enjoyed your recent radio address very much indeed. Under the "welfare clau3e"' of the constitution, the United States is no doubt legally j u s t i f i t in spending any nece33ary anount of inoney to carry out i t s said pledge to the states and the people *• even to help provide means to feed, clothe *nd house the millions who have, without any fault of their own, lost their jobs, until by law or otherwise they are able to properly support themselves and their families* There stay be honest differences as to how this shall "be done. I t was, and s t i l l i s , my humble opinion that the plan adopted ind used was not the best plan* The thing most needed at the time was to have the ten o? fifteen million idle men returned at once to their old jobs, with which they were familiar, not working on roads, in sewers e t c , jobs they knew nothing about and in which they could not earn even the small wage paid* What should have been done in 1933 was for the Government to notify a l l former enployers of idle workers as follows: H Put every one of your idle workers at work again at their old jobs and at their former hourly wage. If your orders for products do not justify "full time" employment, put all of your employees on half or three-fourths time \s may be necessary to supply present and future demand for your output* The object is to keep everybody earning at least enough to support himself and h i 3 dependents without public ov private cnarity and to maintain a steady and gradually increasing "purchasing power" until full production and prosperity i s restored. Get from your own banks the credit you may need if possible, but if your b^nks can not o? will not supply you with the ne*&<*& commercial c r e d i t , the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or some oth^r agency of the federal SDvernment willprovide you with the necessary/ credit u n t i l your can get it from your bank or elsewhere. T i i e interest to be charged for such lo ins will be 3/£» Full and complete information about your business md assets will be required, and every reasonable effort made to secure the Government against loss as mucn as possible. Trie Government guarantees that such credit will be so provided, sc put all of your employees back %t their old jobs tomorrow and keep them there. The object is to enable the workers to at least support themselves so that they will -toot have to either burden the government nor accept public or private charity.- 1 EMMET COUNTY, MICHIGAN CENTER OF FAMOUS C SUMMER RESORT REGION D 1 2, r Mr* Marriner - page 2» I t is my belief that if th*t hid be^n done in 1933 i t would have broken the back of the depression in % few months, started the country rapidly toward recovery and accomplished full normal times within one year. With your great knowledge of the economic and financial and credit situation, I believe you will agree with me* I t was the only pr%ctio*l way to quickly abolish unemployment and -it the s%m time steadily but rapidly rebuild purchasing power that would soon increase demand and output and an increased demand for labor that would l^*£%$££?& f u l 1 W^SQS * i n d 3 o o n caused general wage increase and ofte'fscale of living. As you so well know, the specific thing that caused industry and business to lay off their workers wholesale and suddenly jew^ prior to 1933 and subsequently was the sudden withdrawal from use by industry and business of the enormous sum of ten to twenty b i l l i o n s of dollars of loaned bank credityMMfcgMix the thing with which American business does most of i t s business. If that withdrawn credit had been restired promptly to use, by the banks or by the Government, i t would have stopped or checked deflation and started things upward toward recovery, I am not certain that some such plan wilS^et be necessary - perhaps very soon. If that plan had been adopted the actual losses to the Government would have been negligable, and would have been made up many tiroes yicmgrftxwmaxover by extra income taices realized by the Government from the increase profits that would have been gained by industry and business in 1933 to 1939, i No doubt the Government was justified in believing that the £ jbviking system, in return for the b i l l i o n s advanced by the 5 Government to save the banking system from threatened imminent /^destruction, would gladly restore to industry and business the rjt withdrawn necessary bank credit so deflation could be stopped and reflation m& recovery be speedily attained. The banking system has failed to do tnat thing. It has largely merely "marked time", collected and hoarded the country's money and credit supply until i t is the largest in a l l hi3tory, failed to provide ^industry, agriculture, business and labor the extra credit needed, ^buying the b i l l i o n s of interest bearing bonds which the conduct of the banking system has helped to force the Government to issue to maintain twenty millions of people in idleness o? on V. P. A.I As I estimate i t , the banking system right now is in position ,where i t c o uld, under present Iaw3, legally increase i t 3 loans of bank credit some thirty <tff forty billions' of dollars; S The Government, under the Federal Reserve law, i3 now printing " some two or three billions of federal reserve currency - legal < £ rmoney - which i t i s loaning without i n t e r e s t or tax to the "banking system, said law p e r m i t rlrg the private banking system to legally hoard said b i l l i o n 3 of public currency in i t s "reserve" and again i t manufacture and loan twenty to t h i r t y billions of bank credit; http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Sincerely yours, Alfred owen Crozier. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis I • February 3, 1939 Mr. Alfred Owen Crozier Harbor Springs, Michigan My dear Mr. Crozier: Chair/nan Eccles has asked me to acknowledge and thank "you for your letter of January 30 in which you compliment him on his recent' radio address before the National Radio i'orum. Your suggestions to relieve the problem of unemployment are noted and your interest in the matter is appreciated. Mr. Secies and the writer are both acquainted with Mr. ifcalter G. Tut tie of whom you wrote, ( but know him only slightly. Yours very truly, Lawrence Clayton Assistant to the Chairman LC/fgr I© (Announcement) Wild, Rustic and Beautiful CROZIER PARK On-Lake-Michigan HARBOR SPRINGS, MICHIGAN THE LODGE This natural park long has been one of the attractions of the famous summer resort region of the Central West. Among its charms are virgin forests, dense thickets, shrubs, wild flowers and berries. Numerous deep and delightful wooded dells and ravines beautify the landscape. Giant sand dunes, sandy beaches and high bluffs give variety to the extensive park. Great bubbling springs feed the lagoons. The lake view westerly from Crozier Park includes Beaver, Manitou and Fox islands; it is often gilded with the ever changing rays of its sunsets. One feels in the very heart of Nature! Its owner, Alfred Owen Crozier, of Harbor Springs and New York City, assembled this estate forty years ago. Never before has any of it been for sale or open for settlement. (Over) Even now only a limited number of homesites, favored locations in the park are to be sold at moderate prices. No ordinary realty promotion is contemplated. The owner wants to keep most of the property as a park. Some sites offered are in the dense forests. Acceptable applicants may build log cabins or other artistic types of summer homes in this wooded park resort under the usual protective restrictions. These structures can be bungalows or mansions. Spring water, telephone, electricity and bottled gas enable modern conveniences. Privacy and restful quiet are assured as over-crowding is unnecessary. Those prefering to build commodious log cabins among the big trees in the primeval forests will have squirrels, birds and other for a summer White House. Pathe News showed pictures of the park and summer home in ten thousand movie houses and the press gave the offer wide notice. The estate was investigated and approved but the President, in order to better study the "farm problem," finally decided that he must go farther west. forest life as neighbors — reminiscent of the frontier life and deeds of our adventurous pioneers. The accessibility of this property or region by boat, railroad and Dixie Highway and its always cool climate make it ideal for summer homes for residents of the cities and towns of the midwest. It is their only convenient way to quickly escape the killing heat waves. Summer homes for increasing numbers have become as important as their homes in cities and towns. Three golf grounds are within easy reach. A plan to establish an Art and Recreation Center in the park is now under consideration. It would be run on new original lines for enjoyment and self-expression. Dramatics, Playwriting, Voice Culture, Plaque Painting, Map of Celebrated Resort Region ^ The scenic loop or cut-off of the famous Lake Shore Drive goes through Crozier Park from end to end, running along the shore and through the forests. If sites are selected early enough, it will be possible to erect cottages for 1938 occupancy. The new liberal Federal Housing Law of 1938 is now in effect. After March 1,1938, inquiries may be made in person at The Lodge on the estate, or by letter addressed to Alfred Owen Crozier, Crozier Park, Harbor Springs, Michigan. Basketry and group Games would be among the first offerings. The summer theatre would be located near the lagoons in the "Forest of Arden." Other plans suggested, but not ready to be made public, would if finally adopted be of national importance. Nation-wide attention was drawn to Crozier Park in 1927 when its owner tendered the use of his estate to President Coolidge It is hoped that those who receive this announcement will feel free to discuss the plan with their friends. Suggestions will be welcomed and cooperation is invited. Public welfare and personal improvement and enjoyment are among the objects in view. (Over) NOTED PUBLIC SPEAKERS ALFRED OWEN CROZIER Lecturer, After Dinner Speaker, Lawyer, Economist, Inventor, Novelist and widely known writer and speaker on Domestic and International questions. Author of many books, including: "The Magnet", "U. S. Money vs. Corporation Currency", "Nation of Nations", and "League of Nations". Few Americans have had such a long, useful, varied and stirring experience as that gained by Mr. Crozier in all parts of the United States, Canada, Newfoundland, England, Cuba and Yucatan. Mr. Crozier has been induced to resume public speaking with a series of many addresses based largely on his personal experiences and knowledge. He has made more than 1,000 public speeches. During the past fifty years he has "touched elbows" with great events and met many distinguished men here and abroad, including many Presidents. Undersigned is authorized to make engagements for Mr. Crozier to speak on any one of the subjects hereinafter mentioned. For terms, dates, etc., apply to stview Avenue tun y- Npw-¥m-k (Explain local occasion, and state which speech is desired). TITLES OF SPEECHES IN PRESENT SERIES No. No. No. No. No. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. No. No. No. No. No. No. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. No. 13. "What Ails Our Country?" "Depressions and Booms—their cause and cure". "The Mystery of Money and Credit and 'Inflation' explained". "Is our Banking and Currency System wise and adequate?" "Wall Street and its methods revealed." "The existing private control of the whole supply of money and credit and its dictatorship over all American business made clear." "The Cement Age—Housing—and our wonderful future." "The World—and its inhuman race!" "Can wars between nations be abolished?" "Mutualized Private Industry vs. 'Strikes'—or Bolshevism". "Adventures of an American Boy in England". "Amazing life of my friend John Sobieski, great-grandson of King John Sobieski of Poland." "Fifty years of vivid Incidents, Experiences and Impressions." Alfred Owen Crozier was born at Grand Eapids, Michigan, in 1863, with hair as red as the Civil war then raging; he was one of eleven children. His father was a distinguished clergyman pioneer and one of the founders of the Republican party, his mother a poetess, teacher and writer. They carved a home from the primeval forests of western Michigan. Mr. Crozier at sixteen left the farm and entered Olivet College. In 1886 he graduated from Michigan University and practiced law at Grand Rapids fifteen years until he retired. Since then he has resided in Wilmington, Delaware, College Hill, Cincinnati, New York City, and White Plains, New York, where he now lives. When seventeen he began his public speaking career as lecturer and organizer of lodges for the Independent Order of Good Templars, making a world record by establishing three lodges in three different towns in one day and sixteen lodges in sixteen towns in New Brunswick, Canada in that many successive days. In 1883 and 1884, when twenty years old, he spent eight months in England, where he made many public addresses. His stay over there was a series of amazing adventures and experiences. He sat in the ambassador's gallery of the House of Commons during a fierce Irish debate and heard Premier Gladstone, Parnel, O'Connor, Biggar and others speak. He attended the House of Lords through the courtesy of Earl Shaftsbury. In the Royal Courts of Justice he heard the famous Weldon trial, when for the first time in history a woman tried her own case, and won it. He met Commissioner Williamson, head of Scotland Yard, who made it possible for Crozier to enjoy many unusual privileges. He explored London night and day, saw the British army sham battle, spent a half day in Windsor Castle personally escorted by Lord Ponsonby, Queen Victoria's chamberlain. He heard Spurgeon preach, met Moody and Sankey, the latter having put the music to a gospel hymn written by Crozier's mother, and he spoke from John Bunyon's old pulpit. The Irish were on a rampage with bombs in London, and he missed death by two minutes when thirty were killed by the underground railway explosion. o IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICES Against his protest, Crozier was twice nominated for Congress where there was no chance of election, once at Cincinnati on Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose ticket. He never held any public office, but on vital occasions powerfully influenced the course of public events from behind the scenes. He originated and led the modern movement for the Atlantic Coast Inland Waterway from Boston to Beaufort, now completed except the link across New Jersey, and at a personal interview persuaded President Cassatt of the Pennsylvania Eailroad to withdraw the opposition of that road to the project. He is an authority in the field of cement products, having developed the only practicable method and machinery for producing blocks, brick and tile of standard concrete, obtaining ten patents on his inventions, and establishing nearly a hundred plants in different cities for manufacturing concrete building units. Crozier is also an authority in the field of banking and currency laws and a well known writer on constitutional and international law problems. On August 18, 1914 he submitted to President Wilson the first plan for an association of nations or Nation of Nations, and the plan was brought to the attention of the Peace Conference at Paris; and he published two books on those subjects. For many years he was treasurer of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections of the United States. Mr. Crozier always was a progressive. He organized the successful five-year fight which defeated the Aldrich central bank scheme sponsored by the National Monetary Commission, discovering and exposing the subtle "joker" that would have prevented congress from abolishing the private institution for fifty years no matter how dangerous it became. He went before the platform committees in 1912 and got the Democrats and Progressives to insert a plank opposing the measure, and that killed it. He persuaded Theodore Roosevelt to oppose the private central bank plan in his first speech, at Providence in 1912, and he was at the Colonel's side in Milwaukee when Schrank tried to assassinate the former President. In 1913 the Senate Banking and Currency Committee invited Crozier to appear before it and give his views on the Federal Reserve Bank measure that the House had passed. He went, and the Committee inserted in the present law several amendments he then suggested, but it rejected other suggestions that time has proved to be wise. At the currency conference of December 16, 1907, called by August Belmont, Crozier caused a national sensation by telling the assembled Wall Street bankers, brokers and financiers face to face that they caused the financial panic of October 1907 to help force Congress to enact the selfish currency and banking legislation they desired. He offered a proviso to their memorial to Congress, which proviso read: "Provided, that the power to issue and regulate the quantity of the public currency shall not be taken from our government and be put into private hands." They refused to accept that amendment. In 1908 Crozier originated the plan for a legislative investigation of Wall Street. Governor Charles E. Hughes, in a message to the legislature, urged the investigation and it was ordered and held. In 1916, Crozier was the first Progressive to publicly favor the nomination of Justice Hughes for President. CROZIER AS A SPEAKER Among- many letters of appreciation of the high character of the public speeches of Alfred Owen Crozier, the following by Hon. Charles H. Cheney, of White Plains, New York, then Superintendent of Schools of Second District of Westchester County, N. Y., is typical: "TO WHOM THIS MAY CONCERN: Three times during the past year, I have had the pleasure of engaging the services of Alfred Owen Crozier, Esq., lawyer, lecturer, economist and author of many books, of White Plains, N. Y., for public addresses. His address on "What Ails Our Country?" at the Kiwanis Club luncheon was received so enthusiastically he was engaged to speak again at a subsequent luncheon. Another address was before the Teachers Conference of the Second Supervisory District of Westchester County, which was held in the Auditorium at Pleasantville. I have also advised engaging Mr. Crozier for an address before the meeting of the State Educational Association meeting in Mecca Temple in New Yo.rk City next October. The various service clubs of White Plains have enjoyed the addresses of Mr. Crozier at their dinner or luncheons, and the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Crozier is nationally known as a speaker and authority on economic, banking, currency and international questions, and as author of a novel and several other published books. He is clear, earnest and forceful, with a fund of humor and anecdote derived largely from his personal experiences and adventures. Always, he is entertaining and interesting as well as instructive. At twenty, he had an exciting eight months in England; heard Gladstone speak in the House of Commons, visited Queen Victoria's castle, narrowly escaped being blown up by Fenians in the underground railway explosion, etc. He personally knew several presidents, was active in national affairs, stood by Colonel Roosevelt's side when he was shot at Milwaukee in 1912 and spent an hour cross-examining the assassin that same night. High schools as well as service clubs and other organizations will no doubt find it advantageous whenever they are able to obtain the services of Mr. Grozier for public addresses on any of his many subjects. Very truly yours, CHARLES H. CHENEY, : Superintendent
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