In writing the Federal Reserve Act infinite pains were taken to get the point of view of the bankers of this country. I, myself, spent days listening to the arguments, personally and directly, with the leading bankers of the United States, in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis ; and I invited their confidence, and I imposed upon them the duty of instructing me as far as possible, as Chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency of the Senate.

The rule of the few in this country is the only element of serious danger to our stability. It is the rule of the few in Europe where they made a mistake somewhere we do not know just where, and it is not for us to say, but it is evident that the human brain fell down in the administration of government in Europe, and those people are at each other's throat destroying human life on a scale so gigantic as to make the entire world tremble with anxiety and fear. We have in this country a minority system, which is directly at variance with the fundamental principles upon which every one of our State governments was founded.

Every State government has in it, as a fundamental principle, the principle that the sovereignty resides in the people; and they have a right to alter, amend, or change that government whenever it fails to meet the requirements of giving protection to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And yet we have only in a comparatively small degree written upon our statutes the mechanism by which that sovereignty shall be exercised without undue or sinister influence. In the Senate of the United States I could not pass a Corrupt Practice Act because of the hostility of a few in that body; and the rules of the Senate adopted in 1806 which gives unlimited right of debate to any garrulous debater, or any man who is unwilling to allow a bill to pass.

It is minority rule, and it is bad minority rule. It should not be endured in a free Republic. The Senate of the United States should have the right by a majority vote to determine when it will dispose of any pending question. It has not that right now, under its own rules.

In the Federal Reserve Act you will find a preferential ballot system, and I call your attention to it as citizens of the United States, because I regard it as of fundamental national importance. The preferential ballot automatically coheres a majority, and no nomination can be made except by a majority, and no election can be made except by a majority, and an organized group of politicians on the inside of either party at present is able to dictate nominations by the plurality system dividing the majority of their own party first, and then dividing and conquering the unorganized rule of the others. And the politicians of both parties keep them from enjoying that privilege. This matter could only be understood by giving it attention ; it can only be understood by giving it thoughtful attention ; it can only be understood, thoroughly understood, by putting the microscope on it, and unless some man calls the attention of the country to these principles, it will be longer delayed than it should be.

I call your attention to the fact that the Civil War in the United States was due to a defect of government in this country. We had a Constitution which was amendable ; we had a Supreme Court which was not recallable; and the Dred Scott Decision was passed, nationalizing slavery, and we could not change the Decision, and we fought it out at the cannon's mouth as the only available political remedy. We should not let that recur to the United States, and I call your attention to the fact that we are face to face with a struggle between the interests of Organized Labor and Organized Capital in this country, and we have no mechanism that is adequate to thoroughly meet these differences if they arise upon Constitutional questions.

Your interests are not affected by the Federal Reserve Act alone; your interests are also affected and will be affected by the other Acts which have passed relating to it indirectly. Your interests will be affected in a very important way by the Rural Credits Act, because the Rural Credits Act is going to bring forward the need of those who are cultivating the soil of America with those that have idle money to invest, and those bonds which will be issued, based upon landed estates, under the safeguard of Federal management, will cut a very important figure in enlarging your own field.

It will stimulate agriculture in this country and enable the people to buy a much larger volume than ever before. In Germany they say that the average wheat yield is 36 bushels an acre; in the United States it is between 12 and 14 bushels per acre. Our people do not use a sufficient amount of wisdom in tilling their soil; they do not use a proper kind or a proper quantity of artificial stimulants to the soil. The United States has now by Act proposed to spend $15,000,000 for making nitrates, and when the nitrates are not needed for the manufacture of powder they will be used for fertilizers. The United States by the Smith-Lever Act is sending a demonstrator of agriculture to every single county in the United States, and many counties are supplementing that work with their own funds.

We are teaching scientific agriculture; we are teaching scientific husbandry ; we are teaching scientific horticulture; economics of the farm, too. Those things mean a greater purchasing power on the part of the people of the United States; it means a larger field for you, because of this larger purchasing power. I therefore commend your friendly interest on behalf of the Rural Credit System when these bonds are issued. I think you should take a friendly hand and place those bonds with the view to build up this country as a patriotic service and above all the service of building up America to make it what it should be; and incidentally you will serve your own interests thereby.