Sprague's Resignation Comes After Six-Day Postponement

Ignored for many weeks by the White House, Dr. Oliver M. W. Sprague '94, Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Banking and Finance, bolted his anomalous position of sound-money advocate and special adviser to the Treasury yesterday in a statement denouncing the Roosevelt monetary policy.

Sprague's resignation follows less than six months' service in Washington during which the Harvard professor has been given "no opportunities whatever," to discuss fundamental questions with the President.

Sprague has been outspoken in his criticism of the administration, reputedly characterizing the President as politically minded instead of economically minded. He is said to have rated Professor Warren, the gold program spon- sor, as a "good agricultural economist."

Six days ago, -when William H. Woodin and Dean G. Acheson left their posts, Sprague, realizing the President's-determination to give the price-raising plan a free trial, went to the White House determined to have it out with Mr. Roosevelt. Among Dr. Sprague's friends it was remarked that it would take a good deal to delay his contemplated move. A twenty-minute interview, however, resulted in no immediate announcement of the sound-money man's-withdrawal.

Mr. Roosevelt felt last April that he was outmaneuvering the British it taking Dr. Sprague from his $25,000 post as adviser to the Bank of England his salary at Washington being $6,000. At their second and third meetings, fellow economists say, the President and Professor Sprague found themselves diametrically opposed. The stabilization plan formulated by Governor Harrison of the New York Federal Reserve and Dr. Sprague was later repudiated sharply by the President during the London Economic Conference.

Only yesterday, preceding his resignation, Sprague advocated a housing and slum-clearance program which he said he had discussed with President Roosevelt