First Fireside Chat 3-12-33-1

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. My friends, I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking. To talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you, who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks.

I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, and why it was done and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from state capitals and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations and so forth, couched for the most part in banking and legal terms,

ought to be explained for the benefit of the average citizen. I owe this in particular because of the fortitude and the good temper, which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and the hardships of the banking holiday.

And I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about, I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and your help during the past week.

First of all, let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank, the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit in bonds and commercial paper and mortgages and in many other kinds of loans.

In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and of agriculture turning around. A comparatively small part of the money that you put into the bank is kept in currency.