The Days of a Man [;i893 



an oasis in the desert west of the Great Salt Lake, 

 where for a single meal the resources of many coun- 

 tries had been drawn upon. 



I believe no one in California has been made poorer because 

 I have lived in the state. 

 Value of A man on a high salary, or occupying an important place, 



time should not spend his time doing things some one else could be 



employed to do. A college president or a railroad president 

 should not be a mere clerk. Doing one's own writing is a 

 great waste of time. I want you as president to do nothing 

 which you can turn over to some one else who can do it just 

 as well. 



We may always advance toward the infinite. 



I have dealt with the man as I knew him best, 

 but before closing this tribute, I should speak of a 

 favorite idea advocated by him in Congress — 

 namely, a plan to make farming values fluid by 

 Farm loan dircct governmental assistance. In his view the 

 project Government should furnish loans at a low rate of 

 interest on farming properties. The fact that these 

 would themselves afford ample security for paper 

 money, issued for the special purpose, would, he 

 thought, tend to currency flexibility, not (as was 

 charged) to inflation. He often talked to me about 

 the scheme, going over his argument in detail.! 

 He felt that the farmer did not get due considera- 

 tion from Washington, and that such a measure 

 would be merely a matter of simple justice. 



It met with very little Congressional favor, how- 

 ever, although the violent panics of 1877 and 1893, 

 with the minor ones intervening, indicated a serious 

 lack in our monetary system. And early in the 

 Wilson administration a similar plan was adopted 

 in the form of the Farmers' Loan Act. \ 



I 490 1 



