Carter Glass Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Restrictions apply to veterans claims.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions in this collection except for veterans claims.

Preferred citation:

MSS 2913, Carter Glass papers, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
141 Cubic Feet 285 document boxes, 3 oversize flat boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

MSS 2913, Carter Glass papers, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

The Carter Glass papers, 1820-1946, 141 cubic feet, consist of correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper articles, photographs, speeches, and printed materials from his work in the Banking and Currency Committee, the Secretary of the Treasury (1918-1920), and the United States Senate (1920-1946). Subjects include: The Federal Reserve Banking Act of 1913, the Federal Reserve system, and the Banking Act of 1933 (1932 Glass-Steagall Act).

Other topics include international, national and state issues reflected in the politics of this time period including opposition to the National Industrial Recovery Act; National Labor Relations Act; Bank Holding Company Bill; Office of Price Administration; World Wars I and II; League of Nations; World Court; Democratic Party platforms and policies; presidential elections of 1912, 1920, 1924, 1928, and 1940; Senator Huey P. Long; Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal; attempted packing of the Supreme Court; neutrality legislation; disarmament; regulation of the coal industry; (business) products and services; child labor; anti-lynching law; immigration restriction (especially Chinese in Hawaii); Muscle Shoals; trade with Russia; diplomatic relations with the Vatican; Four-Power Treaty; soldiers' bonus bill; tariffs and protectionism; and national defense.

Virginia topics of concern to Glass or his constituents include poll tax elimination; African American suffrage; women's suffrage; highways; intrastate commerce; University of Virginia Board of Visitors; Woodrow Wilson Foundation; national Patrick Henry shrine at "Red Hill"; gubernatorial election of 1924; Bishop James Cannon, Jr., prohibition and the Anti-saloon League; Skyline Drive; Spotsylvania Battlefield Park; Virginia Fight For Freedom Committee; operation of the Lynchburg News and Advance; and patronage requests from Lynchburg, Roanoke, and Bedford, Campbell, Floyd, Montgomery, and Roanoke Counties, Va.

Miscellaneous items of interest include a letter describing the early life of Booker T. Washington, election tickets for 1848, a 1906 recipe book, and letters concerning Glass' belief in the Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship.

Among the many correspondents are Edwin A. Alderman, Newton Baker, Ray Stannard Baker, Alben Barkley, Bernard Baruch, William E. Borah, Chester Bowles, John Stewart Bryan, William Jennings Bryan, Harry F. Byrd, Richard E. Byrd, Calvin Coolidge, John W. Daniel, Josephus Daniels, Colgate W. Darden, Westmoreland Davis, Frederic A. Delano, the Democratic National Committee, Marriner S. Eccles, James A. Farley, Henry Ford, Douglas Southall Freeman, James A. Garfield, Samuel Gompers, Cary T. Grayson, Charles S. Hamlin, William P.G. Harding, Warren G. Harding, George L. Harrison, J. Edgar Hoover,Herbert Hoover, Edwin M. House, Cordell Hull, Harold Ickes, Hugh S. Johnson, Jesse Jones, Joseph P. Kennedy, Russell C. Leffingwell, Walter Lippmann, Huey Long, William Gibbs McAdoo, George Walter Mapp, Andrew Mellon, Eugene and Agnes Meyer, Andrew J. Montague, R. Walton Moore, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Robert L. Owen, George C. Peery, Edmund Platt, John Garland Pollard, A. Willis Robertson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dave E. Satterfield, C. Bascom Slemp, Rixey Smith, Billy Sunday, Claude A. Swanson, Harry S. Truman, Joseph P. Tumulty, Oscar W. Underwood, Samuel Untermeyer, Arthur H. Vandenberg, Robert F. Wagner, Henry A. Wallace, Paul Moritz Warburg, Richard S. Whaley, William Allen White, John Skelton Williams, Henry Parker Willis, , Edith Bolling Wilson, Woodrow Wilson, Clifton A. Woodrum, and Walter Wyatt.

Correspondents include President Woodrow Wilson, Samuel Untermyer, Henry Parker Willis, Charles G. Hamlin, William Gibbs McAdoo, Robert Owen, Victor Morawetz, Harry F. Byrd, John Skelton Williams, Henry Moehlenpah, Paul M. Warburg (under revision)

Box summaries Box 1: The Federal Reserve Bank Act and Federal Reserve system; the Federal Farm Loan Act; Panic of 1912; The Aldrich Bill; branch banks; central banking board; gold reserves; Currency [reform] Bill of 1913; Emergency Banking Act, 1933; the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall Act; the Bank Bill of 1935; opposition to the National Industrial Recovery Act; the National Labor Relations Act; the Bank Holding Company Bill; and the Office of Price Administration.

Box 2: Federal Reserve Act (Glass-Owen Bill)6454, 2639, 7837;Aldrich-Vreeland Law;Federal Farm Loan Act Rural Credits Bill;and Clayton Anti-Trust Bill

Box 3: Federal Reserve Act; Federal Reserve Banks; Federal Farm Loan Act; Land Mortgage Bank Bill; Branch banking; Kern Bill; Hollis Buckley Bill; Usury laws; Charles S. Hamlin; Edmund D. Hulbert; William Gibbs McAdoo; J. H. Tregoe; Woodrow Wilson; John Skelton Williams; Henry A. Moehlenpah; Frederic A. Delano; and Carter Glass

Box 4: Federal Farm Loan Act;Rural credits;Federal Reserve Amendments and responses; McFadden Bill; Hollis Buckley Bill; and gold certificates

Box 5: Federal Reserve Amendments and responses (Kitchin and Hardwick Bill);and Pomerene Bill. Charles S. Hamlin,William Gibbs McAdoo,Woodrow Wilson,Clayton Act,George M. Reynolds,Paul M. Warburg,John Skelton Williams,and Carter Glass

Box 6: Federal Reserve Amendments and responses (Kitchin and Hardwick Bill); Federal Reserve Act authorship; Capital Issues Committee; Federal Land Bank of Baltimore; and the Revenue Act of 1918.George Norris,Edmund Platt, Frederic A. Delano, William P. G. Harding,Paul M. Warburg,Charles S. Hamlin, John Skelton Williams,Henry Parker Willis,Eugene Meyer,and Carter Glass

Box 7: Federal Reserve Act authorship; Federal Farm Loan Amendments; Federal Land Banks; currency shortage; check collection; Smoot Bill; Liberty loans; Federal Reserve Bank of New York; railroad and shipping costs; War Finance Corporation; and Second Pan American Conference. William P. G. Harding,George W. Norris,Robert L. Owen,Russell C. Leffingwell,Benjamin Strong,John Skelton Williams renomination,William Gibbs McAdoo,Charles S. Hamlin,and Carter Glass

Box 8: Federal Reserve Act authorship; Clayton Anti-Trust Act; Smoot Bill; check collecting fees; branch banking; Virginia-Carolina Joint StockLandBank; budget bill; excess profits tax; gold; and Liberty bonds. Walter Edward Harris, Charles A. Korbly,Edmund Platt,William Skelton Williams,William P. G. Harding,William Gibbs McAdoo, Hollins N. Randolph,Henry Parker Willis,Russell C. Leffingwell,Arthur Capper,Thomas B. McAdams,and Carter Glass

Box 9: Federal Reserve Act and authorship; Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; Bank of Haysi; Bank of New York; Open market commercial paper rates; McFadden Bill; discount rates; Overman Resolution; Liberty bonds; Pan American Conference; and Russian trade.William P. G. Harding,John Skelton Williams,Thomas B. McAdams,Russell C. Leffingwell,Edmund Platt,John Thomas Heflin,Hollins N. Randolph,William Gibbs McAdoo,George J. Seay,Henry Parker Willis, George Armstrong,Benjamin Strong,and Carter Glass

Box 10: Federal Reserve System; McFadden Bill H. R. 2; Farm Loan Mortgage; discount rates and eligible paper; Pittman Silver Act; Frank A. Vanderlip banking plan; War Finance Corporation; Bank of New York; bank failure; Anderson Bill; Lenroot Bill; and William P. G. Harding reappointment.John Skelton Williams,Reed Smoot,Hollins N. Randolph,Russell C. Leffingwell,Thomas B. McAdams,Paul M. Warburg,Edmund Platt,Henry Parker Willis,Woodrow Wilson,Benjamin Strong, Daniel C. Roper, William Gibbs McAdoo,Charles S. Hamlin,George W. Norris,and Carter Glass

Box 12:Federal Reserve Act authorship; McNary-Haugen Billand (speech responses); McFadden Bill; Federal Farm Loan Act; and Carter Glass book. Walter Edward Harris,Paul Warburg,Norman Davis,Walter E. Edge,Charles W. Collins,Charles S. Hamlin,Henry Parker Willis,George J. Seay,Benjamin Strong,and Edmund Platt

Box 13: Pascagoula case; Federal Reserve Act authorship; McFadden Bill; "Committee of One Hundred"; Carter Glass book; and the McNary-Haugen Bill. Henry Parker Willis,William P. G. Harding,George J. Seay,Harry Flood Byrd,Bernard M. Baruch,Russell C. Leffingwell,Charles S. Hamlin,Charles W. Collins,Walter Edward Harris,Thomas B. McAdams,George W. Norris,and Edmund Platt

Box 14 Federal Reserve Act authorship; McFadden Bill; Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; Lafollette Resolution; "Committee of One Hundred"; Federal Home Loan Bill; misuse of Federal Reserve System; President Roosevelt criticism of Federal Reserve System; Charles E. Mitchell; and bank failures. Eugene Meyer,Edmund Platt,Henry Parker Willis,Bishop James Cannon, Jr., Thomas B. McAdams,Russell C. Plainwell,and Elben C. Folks

Box 15: Federal Reserve Act authorship; responses to Depression and banking crisis; Bank of Kentucky; curb stock speculations; security abuses; Charles E. Mitchell; McFadden Bill; and criticism of Herbert Hoover. Thomas B. McAdams,Walter B. Mahoney,John W. Pole,Edmund Platt,Henry Parker Willis,Bernard M. Baruch,Eugene Meyer,William P. G. Harding,George L. Harrison,George W. Norris,George J. Seay,and Richard C. Whitney

Box 16: Responses to the Depressionand(banking crisis); and Bank of Kentucky.Jouett Shouse,Henry Parker Willis,Henry B. Steagall,Eugene Meyer,Charles S. Hamlin,Milton S. Florsheim,Samuel M. Kaplan,and Elben C. Folkes

Box 17: Responses to the Depression and banking crisis; President Hoover Plan; Federal Land Banks; Wall Street bankers; bank failures; Bank of Kentucky; Federal Reserve Act authorship; Federal Farm Loan Act; Federal Home Loan; and Hoover moratorium. Bernard M. Baruch,Jouett Shouse,Richard C. Whitney,Charles S. Hamlin,Henry A. Moehlenpah,Millard E. Tydings,Henry Parker Willis,Andrew W. Mellon,Edmund Platt,Eugene Meyer,Russell C. Leffingwell,and Thomas B. McAdams

Box 18:Depression and banking crisis; Bank of Kentucky; Senate Committee on Banking and Currency Hearings; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; Nye Report; Pan American Finance Conference; Gold; Silver; and death of E. C. Glass. Elben C. Folkes,Al Kaplan,Herbert Hoover,Jouett Shouse,Charles S. Hamlin,George L. Harrison, Thorwald Siegfried, Eugene Meyer,and Pat H. Drewery

Box 19:Federal Home Loan Bank; Federal Land Bank of Baltimore; foreclosures; Glass-Steagall; and Henry Parker Willis articles in France on gold upsetting to colleagues.Franklin Delano Roosevelt,John W. Pole,Henry B. Steagall,Oliver J. Sands,Russell C. Leffingwell,Charles W. Collins,Charles S. Hamlin,and George L. Harrison

Box 20-24: Glass Steagall responses; and Glass speech on gold

Box 25: Glass-Steagall Act; Goldsborough Bill; gold standard; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; Joint Stock Land Banks;Revenue Act of 1932; responses to Carter Glass speech;praise for Carter Glass; bank failures; Banking study; Holiday proclamation by President Roosevelt; Funding for projects such as the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and a bridge across the Potomac River; Herbert Hoover;Newton D. Baker;Russell C. Leffingwell;George L. Harrison; Eugene Meyer; Samuel Untermyer; Chester Morrill; George W. Norris; Richard S. Whaley;Princess Amelie Rives Troubetzkoy;James F. Byrnes;Louis Wiley; Robert J. Bulkley;John W. Owens;HenryParker Willis; and the Dallas Chamber of Commerce

Box 26: Responses to banking crisis and Depressionand criticism of Herbert Hoover

Box 27: Responses to Depression; McNary-Haugen Bill; Home Loan Bill; Emergency Farm Mortgage Act of 1933; Thomas Bill; Federal Reserve Amendment Section 10b; Glass-Steagall Banking Act; and Credit Report U.S. S. R. (George N. Peek).George L. Harrison,Chester Morrill,Russell C. Leffingwell,Louis T. McFadden,Emmanuel Kaplan,Hugh S. Johnson,and the National Recovery Act

Box 28: Glass-Steagall Act responses; Emergency Bank Bill; California banks; and Goldsborough Amendment. Edmund Platt and Frank A. Vanderlip

Box 29: Glass-Steagall Act responses, and Section 19 Statewide branch banking for national banks; Huey Long filibuster; bank guarantees; Charles E. Mitchell investigation; and continued moratorium on closing banks. Duncan U. Fletcher; Ferdinand Pecora; and Virginia Governor John Garland Pollard

Box 30: Gold, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Senate Banking and Currency Committee investigation of J. P. Morgan; Glass-Steagall Banking Act; National Recovery Act; Emergency Banking Act relief; Morris Plan; and criticism of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Duncan U. Fletcher; and William Gibbs McAdoo

Box 31: Senate investigation of J. P. Morgan;Gold standard; Expand use of silver; stability of the dollar; praise for Carter Glass radio speech "Facts about Fiscal Policy of Our Government During the Past Few Years" and "Shall We Go Over the Precipice?" Duncan U. Fletcher; Edmund Platt; and Herbert L. Myrick

Box 32: Rsponses to Glass speech ["Shall We Go Over the Precipice?"] against Roosevelt inflation bill; Emergency Bank Bill; Bankruptcy legislation; Banking Act of 1935; Credit Union Act; Marriner S. Eccles as Governor of the Federal Reserve Board; Branchbanking; Bank of the United States; death of Eugerne R. Black; and Philippine currency. Charles S. Hamlin; Edmund Platt; George W. Norris; George L. Harrison; Herny Parker Willis; Paul M. Warburg; Henry B. Steagall; Clifton A. Woodrum; Edward W. Kemmerer;Rudolph Spreckels; Sam M. Kaplan; John Foster Dulles; Milton Friedman; T. F. Wentworth; Dean Acheson; Chester Morrill; Walter Wyatt; Eugene R. Black; James P. Warburg; and James Elliott Heath

Box 33: (Fletcher-Rayburn Bill, Kean Bill; National Securities Exchange Act, McLeod Bill, or the Banking Act of 1935); Federal Reserve Amendment Section 12b; Morris-Sheppard Bill; Chester Morrill; Thomas B. McAdams; William Gibbs McAdoo; Elmer Thomas; Henry Morgenthau, Jr.; Eugene Meyer; Duncan U. Fletcher; Jesse H. Jones; and Richard C. Whitney

Box 34: Banking Act of 1933; National Securities Exchange Act; Kean Bill; Fletcher-Rayburn Bill; misuse of the Federal Reserve System; de-evaluation of the dollar; and Gold Reserve Act

Box 35: Banking Act of 1935; Gold Reserve Act; Gold speech of Russell C. Leffingwell; National Recovery Act; Hugh S. Johnson; Kaplan Plan; Robert L. Owen inquiry; Huey Long; Goldsborough Amendment;Elmer Thomas; Charles S. Hamlin; George Wharton Pepper; Henry H. Heiman; Henry Parker Willis; George W. Norris; Duncan U. Fletcher; J. F. T. O'Connor; Robert D. Kent; Royal S. Copeland; Edward W. Kemmerer; and A. Willis Robertson

Box 36: Responses to the Banking Act of 1935; Harry Flood Byrd; Duncan U. Fletcher; A. Willis Robertson; Leo T. Crowley; Jesse H. Jones; Edmund Platt; Henry Morgenthau, Jr.; J. F. T. O'Connor; Thomas B. McAdams; and Thomas P. Gore

Box 37: Responses to the Banking Act of 1935; Glass concerns about Marriner S. Eccles as Governor of the Federal Reserve Board and criticism of government and political control of banking; Federal Reserve Act authorship; Goldsborough Amendment; Townsend Plan; A. H. Dobson; Frank A. Vanderlip; Irving Fisher; Walter Lichtenstein; Arthur Capper; Duncan U. Fletcher; Bennett Champ Clark; Thomas P. Gore; Henry Heiman; Thomas B. McAdams; Hollins N. Randolph; Hugo L. Black; and Thorwald Siegfried

Box 38: Banking Act of 1935; Gold clause; Comptroller of the Currency; silver; Robert L. Owen inquiry; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; repeal of Thomas Amendment; concern about Marriner S. Eccles as Governor of the Federal Reserve Board; portrait of John Skelton Williams; Edmund Platt; Agnes and Eugene Meyer; Chester Morrill; Robert F. Wagner; Kenneth D. McKellar; George L. Harrison; Harry S. Truman; George W. Norris; Henry Parker Willis; Henry Morgenthau, Jr.; Marriner S. Eccles and Russell C. Leffingwell(Treasury and Nye Report)

Box 39: Repeal Thomas Amendment; Branch banking; Bankhead-Jones Farm Act; Federal Land Bank of Baltimore Bank Holding companies; and Reconstruction Finance Corporation.William Gibbs McAdoo,Edmund Platt,Thomas B. McAdams,Henry Heiman,Jesse H. Jones,Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,Robert L. Owen,and the death of Henry Parker Willis

Box 40: Henry Parker Willis Foundation; Federal Reserve Act anniversary; J. F. T. O'Connor resignation; misuse of the Federal Reserve System; Robert L. Owen and Carter Glass accusations against Marriner S. Eccles; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; Clayton Act; Mead Bill; De-evaluation of the dollar;silver program; Gold Act; Home Owners Loan Corporation Act; Self-liquidating Bill; and Barden Bill.Edmund Platt,Jesse H. Jones, William Gibbs McAdoo,Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,Robert F. Wagner,and Marriner S. Eccles

Box 41: Tribute to Edmund Platt; Embargo Act; Banking and Currency Committee pending legislation; Branch banking; Silver Purchase Act; de-evaluation of the dollar; Trust Indenture Act (Robert F.Wagner); Bank Holding company; Jones Wheeler Bill; Federal Home Loan Bank Act; Clayton Act; Townsend Plan; FDIC; Pittman Amendment; Farm Relief Bill; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; Wagner Lea Bill; and disappointment with Marriner S. Eccles;Harry Flood Byrd,Jesse H. Jones,Henry Heiman,Frederic Delano,and Leo T. Crowley

Box 42: Tribute to Carter Glass; Banking and Currency Committee pending legislation; FDIC and excess profits tax; Federal Reserve Amendment Section 23; medal for Howard Hughes; American Palestine Committee (Robert F. Wagner); Farm credit; Credit Union Act; price control; Bank Holding Company; Reconstruction Finance Corporation; de-evaluation of the dollar Federal Reserve Act authorship; and criticism of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Cordell Hull; Walter Lichtenstein; Chester Morrill; Robert F. Wagner; and Leo T. Crowley

H. S. Trout, president First National Bank, hoping that the bill will be defeated

Glass expressses concern that Untermeyer is trying to push the Aldrich Bill. Other correspondents include William A. Glasgow, A. P. Pujo, Hubert D. Stephens, and Henry Parker Willis

Glasgow to act as counsel to the Banking and Currency Committee of the Senate

Set up a meeting with the President to revise the currency system; Henry Parker Willis; and reference to Aldrich Bill

J. C. Goodloe suggests the need for new banking laws in order to help the farmers

Offering methods to create calmness in banking instead of panic

Banking and Currency Committee of the Senate Banking survey questions about banking

Criticism of S. 4129 and H.R. 13570 to place tax on real estate instead of stocks and bonds to help relieve bankrupt Treasury

Colonel House wants to set up a secret meeting for Samuel Untermeyer with President Wilson in order to promote the Aldrich Bill

Glass apologizes for his reaction to a speech given by Forgan

Charles McCulloch, Andrew J. Montague, and William GibbsMcAdoo

Includes correspondence about the banking bills from January to April 1916. (Carter Glass correspondence with Clement C. Dickinson January 22, 1916 defending the Federal Reserve.)

Bankruptcy laws, World War I

Mentions medal for Howard Hughes

includes correspondence Carter Glass

See also 1933

Woodrow Wilson typed speech to the House of Representatives

Historic moment when Glass takes the first transatlantic flight to Europe with the loan from Treasurer Russell C. Leffingwell

Agriculture Appropriation Bill; Smith-lever funds; and African Americans in Virginia

See also Trade Farmers' and Growers Association Box 52 Folder 1

printed item "The Aluminum Monopoly"

Virginia Polytechnic Institute request for captured German cannon

mention of J. G. Ferneyhough and cows also

Edwin Anderson Alderman, Governor E.Lee Trinkle, Jr.

Glass S. 4029 to determine location for engagement of war vessels and memorial; interview with last survivor of the Merrimac, Richard Curtis; and John Stewart Bryan

Sibley lawsuit claim H. B. 3436

Elben C. Folkes requests help for his son; lawsuit J. G. Ferneyhough; Senator Couzens; and Florence Adams nomination for AppleBlossom Princess

Edwin Anderson Alderman letter advocating for a hospital in Charlottesville

Memorial Bridge approach bill; H. R. 796; furlough and shorter work week; claims; capital punishment for kidnappers H. R. 96; transportation of persons or property in commerce by motor carrier S. 2793; opposition to income tax;Montgomery county Civic Federation special meeting; Tariff Act of 1930 to import science books for teaching purposes; stamp tax on bank checks (banking); Public Works Program; equal protection of voters in Puerto Rico S. 4691; unemployment relief bills; Railroad pension bill H. R. 10023 and S. 3892, H. R. 9891; Hatfield Bill; Keller Bill 4646; S. 4161; Boulder Dam; Home Loan Bank S. 2959; Emergency Industries Preservation Act; Stuart Junior High School; Albemarle County Medical Society S. 3090 and H. R. 8077; prohibit experiments on living dogs in District of Columbia S. 2146; night work pay H. R. 11267; District of Columbia appropriation bill H. R. 11361; Brookhart Bill censorship of moving pictures; vocational rehabilitation S. 3818; opposition to abolishment of Army Transports and Panama Railroad Steamship Line; Federal relief for unemployed; Capper-Kelly bill to relief excise taxes on druggist; patenting of original designs of silk patterns; Georgetown Branch Library Building and District of Columbia appropriation bill; radio lottery advertising H. R. 7716; Injunction measure S. 936; strengthen immigration laws H. B. 1967; crime to advocate overthrow of government H. B. 8549; issue two or three billions in bonds of small denominations for soldiers bonus or as currency;intrinsic property values vs market values in depression times; and President Hoover's Bankers-Industrialists Committee of Twelve for Credit Expansion

Ernie Adamson

immigration; Tangiers Island; and Colgate W. Darden, Jr.

Harry Flood Byrd

Frances Perkins

Robert F. Wagner

Kenneth McKellar; and Astor case

See also Political correspondence

See also Political correspondence

See also Legislative correspondence 1921

Colgate Darden Jr.

Schuyler O. Bland

"Pump Priming Bill" Harry Flood Byrd; Public Works Administration; Equal Rights Bill; and Industrial Profits Tax

Biographical / historical:

Carter Glass (January 4, 1858 – May 28, 1946) was born on January 4, 1858, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to Robert Henry Glass and Augusta Elizabeth Christian. He became a newspaper publisher (like his father)and after hearing a speech by William Jenning Bryan in 1896, entered politics in 1902 as a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives and was re-elected to eight terms. He was a United States Senator from Lynchburg, Virginia from 1920 until his death in 1946. In 1913, he became Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, where he worked with President Woodrow Wilson to pass the Glass-Owen Federal Reserve Act and he went on to pass the Glass-Steagall Act in 1932 and the Banking Act in 1933 that made banking more stable in the United States. In 1918, President Wilson appointed him Secretary of the Treasury, where he marketed Victory Liberty Loans for World War I debts. At the 1920 Democratic National Convention Glass was nominated for President of the United States. Many of his supporters have said that at 5'4 inches tall, his speeches and political prowess made him seem larger than life.

Carter Glass became an apprentice printer to his father when he was 13 years old, and continued his education through reading literature in his father's library. At the age of 22, Glass became a reporter, a job he had long sought, for the "Lynchburg News". He rose to become the morning newspaper's editor by 1887. After acquiring the afternoon "Daily Advance", the competing "Daily Republican", he became Lynchburg's sole newspaper publisher. The "Lynchburg News and Advance" is the successor publication to his newspapers.

Carter Glass played a major role in the establishment of the U.S. financial regulatory system, helping to establish the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He co-sponsored the 1933 Banking Act, also known as the Glass–Steagall Act, which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and enforced the separation of investment banking firms and commercial banks. His banking reforms (Banking Act of 1913, Glass Steagall Act 1932, Banking Act of 1933) earned him gratitude across the country, landing him on the cover of Time Magazine twice, and honoring him with many degrees from universities. Prior to Glass's reforms, the country's banking system was chaotic and regulated by bankers. The Glass-Steagall bill restricted banks from engaging in invesment banking. The country had suffered eight recessions between 1890 and 1914. Portions of the Glass-Steagall bill were repealed in 1999, allowing banks to combine their own investment activity with commercial banking and possibly contributing to the recession in 2008.

Not as well-publicized was Carter Glass's lifelong opposition to voting rights for African Americans. One of Glass's first political exploits was helping craft the revised 1902 Virginia Constitution to bar [African American] citizens from voting. The 1902 Constitution instituted a poll tax and required bulk payment after a voter missed elections, making voting a luxury. The Constitution also required that voters pass a literacy test with their performance graded by the registrar. When questioned as to whether these measures were potentially discriminatory, Glass exclaimed, "Discrimination! Why that is exactly what we propose. To remove every [African American] voter who can be gotten rid of, legally, without materially impairing the numerical strength of the white electorate." Indeed, the number of African Americans qualified to vote dropped from 147,000 to 21,000 immediately. More than 50 years after it was ratified, the Lynchburg senator remained opposed to the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted African Americans the right to vote. He said in the 1920's it "constituted an attempt to destroy white civilization in nearly one-third of the nation and to erect on its ruins an Ethiopian state ignorant, profligate, corrupt, controlled by manumitted slaves." Glass was in step with his white constituents in Virginia, where African Americans did not receive equal voting rights until the 1960s. In 1928, during a debate involving prohibition, Glass said, "people of the original thirteen Southern States curse and deride and spit upon the Fifteenth Amendment — and have no intention of letting the [African American] vote" all the while maintaining Virginia was complying with the law.

Carter Glass remained one of the strongest advocates of segregation and continued to dedicate much of his political career to the perpetuation of Jim Crow laws in the South. He sponsored massive resistance legislation along with Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd of Winchester, another Virginia newspaperman who shared many of Glass's political views. Both Glass and Byrd were opposed to Roosevelt's New Deal policies. Each was a strong supporter of fiscal conservatism and states' rights. Carter Glass supported President Roosevelt but later criticized his policies, including the New Deal, attempts to pack the Supreme Court, third term presidency, and nominations for Federal Judgeships.

Glass had suffered from ill health throughout his life, and usually walked on tip toes because he believed that would help with his indigestion. He kept his seat in his final term in the Senate even though he was not able to be in attendance. He died in his hotel apartment in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 1946. His funeral in Lynchburg was attended by the Chief Justice, the Secretary of State, 11 Senators, 11 House members, and other notables. History remembers Carter Glass as the Father of the Federal Reserve Act but today history also considers his role in the 1902 Constitution that disenfranchised virtually every black voter in the state. The reduction in African American votes helped him politically and put him in a postion to create the banking reform legislation. Nationally, Glass might have been the architect of financial reform that stabilized the nation's banking system, but at home, historian J. Douglas Smith calls him, "the architect of disenfranchisement in the Old Dominion." Harvard University named their business school, Glass House, after Carter Glass achievements in banking, but they have now changed the name to Cash House, for James Cash, the first African American tenured professor at Harvard.

Sources: Wikipedia Joe Stinnett, retired editor of The News & Advance and The Roanoke Times. The Roanoke Times

Acquisition information:
This collection was a gift from the Glass family to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia in 1948.
Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four series: Series 1. Banking: Subseries banking correspondence, banking printed, Series 2. Correspondence: Subseries legislative, military, political, topical, greeting cards, business and related cards, honors, constituent (patronage, praise),veterans claim (restricted), and veterinary (farming), Series 3. Manuscripts and miscellaneous, Series 4. Printed and miscellaneous: Subseries newspaper clippings, articles, bills, reports and photographs, speeches, and election tickets.

Due to the large size of this collection these categories are meant as general guidelines and some cross over of subjects can be expected throughout the series. Similarly,further searching may be necessary if an area of research is not found in the identified series of the guide, for example military correspondence is located chronologically throughout the collection and as a subseries.

Series 1 Banking Correspondence is in boxes 1-43, 171-177; Banking Printed is in boxes 44-47; Series 2 Correspondence: Legislative Correspondence is in boxes 47-105, 178-180; Military Correspondence is in boxes 105-109; Political Correspondence is in boxes 109-143, 180-183; Topical Correspondence is in boxes 143-169; 183-193; Greeting Cards are in boxes 169-170; Honors are in box 170; Constituent Correspondence is in boxes 194-220; Patronage Correspondence is in boxes 220-249; Praise for Carter Glass is in boxes 250-258; Invitations are in boxes 259-264; Veteran's Claims (restricted) are in boxes 265-268; Veterinarian and farming (cows) are in box 269; Series 3 Manuscripts and Miscellaneous are in box 270; Series 4 Printed(including newspaper articles, photographs, and speeches) are in boxes 271-279; Letterbooks for 1918-1919 are in boxes 281-282.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard