The following is a summary of the discussion at this morning's meeting:
The President, General Dawes and Undersecretary Mills reviewed the situation. The meeting was directed to a general discussion of the means and measures of organization to meet the problem of hoarding. It was agreed that hoarding had accumulated to the extend of $1,250,000,000 or $1,500,000,000; that its results were to immobilize a large portion of the national gold supply and cause drastic deflation and credit contraction, and seriously to restrict business expansion and maintenance of employment and seriously to affect commodity prices.
It was pointed out by many of the leaders of the national associations that a dollar hoarded not only ceases to perform its function as currency but destroys $5 to $10 potential credit. A dollar in the hands of a hoarder is just a dollar, but a hoarded dollar in the hands of a bank, or wisely invested, will furnish the basis for $10 of credit. As some of the representatives expressed it, that currency is a high powered dollar. Hoarded currency means that high powered dollars are idle and that in turn means idle business, idle men and depreciated prices.
It was agreed that a large portion of the hoarding was due to misunderstanding of the national effect of such acts, that it arose out of unnecessary fears and apprehension and that nothing could contribute more to the resumption of employment, to the stability of agricultural and other commodity prices, than to restore this money to work. This would turn the tide of depression on the way to prosperity.
It was unanimously agreed that all the national associations represented, and others to be invited, would place the full strength and force of their membership behind a patriotic campaign to be conducted under the leadership of Col. Frank Knox, to put these hoarded dollars to work; that the organization should be set up state by state in which work all organizations would participate with view to setting up ultimately a definite working organism in each community. The whole conference expressed its resolution that the time had now arrived for the people themselves to enter the fight against depression and give full support to the measures taken by the Government so as to make them completely effective.
The conference expressed its great appreciation of the leadership taken by the Federal Government in the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and other measures, and declared that the time had arrived to rally the people themselves not only against hoarding but for the general expansion of employment and to turn the economic tide.
The leaders gave assurance that the whole 20,000,000 members of the organizations represented at the meeting would take it as their special mission to organize and carry forward this campaign of appeal to reason and patriotism and to [sic] action.