AGRICULTURAL INQUIRY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1921. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, JOINT COMMISSION OF AGRICULTURAL INQUIRY, Washington, D. C. The joint commission met, pursuant to call of the chairman, at 10 o'clock a. m., in room No. 70, Capitol Building, Representative Sydney Anderson (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The commission will come to order. The commission this morning will hear Hon. John Skelton Williams, former Comptroller of the Currency. Mr. Williams, the commission is investigating, among other things, the causes of the present condition of agriculture; and the banking and financial resources and credits of the country, especially as affecting agricultural credits. The commission assumes that as Comptroller of the Currency you are familiar with the policies that have been adopted during the past 18 months, and that you will be in position to give the commission information upon which it can recommend a definite policy with reference to agricultural credits in particular. The commission will be glad to hear you develop the matter in any way that you desire to present it. STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SKELTON WILLIAMS, FORMER COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY AND MEMBER OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD. Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the commission, the value of testimony depends not only upon the character of the witness and the study which he may have given to the particular subject which is under discussion, but also to a large extent upon the practical experience of the witness; and with the permission of the commission, I should therefore like to state briefly what my experience has been during the past quarter of a century. For more than 30 years (except during the past eight years which I have spent in Washington as First Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and as Comptroller of the Currency) I have been a director, vice president, president, or chairman of trust companies and banks, both National and State, not only in the South, but also for a considerable portion of this period in Baltimore and New York City. Twenty years ago I was president or chairman of the trust company section of the American Bankers' Association, and member of the executive council of the American Bankers' Association. in the South, and three or four years later planned, organized, and More than 25 years ago I became president of a railroad company was president of the Seaboard Air Line system, operating approximately 3,000 miles of railroad. I parted with my interests in that 3 |