Remedies and Preventives of Panic 253 
point out the advantages of the option agreement to 
them individually. But if this idea should gain 
favor, we might hope to see agencies develop which 
would handle this class of paper. They could prob- 
ably simplify the type of agreement, work out the 
risks attached, and charge a rate which would 
absorb these risks and yield a profit. 
The panic has shown this credit difficulty in our 
banking system. The option agreement is offered 
as one available solution of the problem. Should 
it be found not satisfactory, I hope that other econ- 
omists and bankers will continue to put forward 
suggestions until some method is found which will 
make impossible transfers by losses in such huge 
totals of the country's invested funds. 
Resolution of American Bankers’ Association 
for Inquiry 
Perhaps all these proposals, as well as other sug- 
gestions for a permanent control against the recur- 
rence of panic, might properly await the inquiry 
planned in the resolution passed by the American 
Bankers’ Association in San Francisco, October 3, 
1929. This inquiry would go into the whole subject 
of brokers’ loans by the Federal Reserve Board, 
in cobperation with Stock Exchange authorities and 
bankers. It would investigate all underlying facts 
in connection with brokers’ loans, study the possi- 
bility of effecting greater stabilization of the money 
rate, and then recommend such changes in procedure 
as might be found advisable. Such an investigation