The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-08-09
What is Tourniquet What it
Its ITSnl


\ touriquet is a surgical instrument
to stop the circulation Of the blood in
the arm. leg. or in any accessible part
OF the body. BY its use, which is reg
ulated by Il screw. circulation may be |
arrested at will.
Mr. Buell., president of the Import
err and Traders National bank OF
New York, called the attention OF |
congress to this French invention and |
instrument in an argument before the |
committee of ways and means at
Washington. February /. 1877. to |
convince the committee and congress |
that the government was using the |
tourniquet to strangle the financial
system by taxation. That it had put
on the screws till the blood ceased to
circulate, and until the circulation OF
capital has become SO alarmlngly dis
turbed and disarranged that II con-
gress did not take off the screw the
banks poor thingsD would have TO
give up the ghost.
Mr.. George $. Coe, president OF the
American Exchange bank. made an
elaborate argument against bank tax
alton. He attributed 10 it the mlsfOr-
tunes OF the timeS-Want OF employ
ment, low wages, Stagnatlon III
| business, bankruptcies, and an utter
and total loss of confidence. lie says
| that. looking at ''contractlon AS IneV-
| liable and necessary, it resulted that
monied men discounted everything.
First, by buying as little as possible.
| selling us soon as possible, keeping
EMPLOYEES to the lowest measure Of
compensation possible, and pressing
| all kinds of commodities and commerce
to the leyal at which they originally
were. This is indefinite; but it means
depreciation to q standard OF gold val
uation. rs $3.50 900. 900 Of gold is to
81 200 900 900. our necessities Of cur
rency demand. The power of gold is
made four-fold-the prices Of labor
and of all commodities must be reduc
| ed in ithe exact ratio the amount
| gold bears to the amount of circula-
! ton required. This is contraction.
This is what ''tourniquet under the
screws has brought us to. 1t is Il faith
| full. graphic. and brief description of
arresting circulation. Mr.. Coe is I'M
doubted financial authority. lie says
1.-The taxes are goading us to the very
quick BY ..us' he means the banks.
Again: he says the '.agonies of the
stockholders compelled them to pay
dividends out Of their reserved profits.
Full Of the terrible wrong the govern
ment is infiicting upon the banks, his
lamentations become sublime us he
cries out in his appeal, 4 tell you that
on every hand the financial fabric is
falling into decay. The whole thing is
going 10 destruction, and on your decls-
ion depends the question whether that
destruction shall go on, OF whether it
shall be stayed. You are we'll aware
of their age. their Importance. and
| their stability. When all kinds of cor
porations are falling around us from
decentralization that is because the
tourniquet has put on its screws and
wrong doing, how few, how very few,
how small per centage of those bank
ing institutions are giving way for
that reasonf' He held it to be intol-
cradle and nonstrous that this nation
imposes the same taxes on banks now
Us in time of war.
But Mr.. Buell. admitted that the
stockholders who, Mr.. Coe said.
''goaded to the very quick in ''ago-
MES uncomfortable. were not aware of
the taxes. by reason of the fact that
they received their dividends regular
~ even though the banks had to pay
them out of their accumulated profits.
And among other things he insisted.
First. That bank taxation works
mischief to business men, because
business men rely on banks for money.
from week to week, to pay their en-
ployees. (men who get accommodation
at banks have to give such security
as will command money anywhere and
always.) Second. That their injured
workingmen, because if banks were
taxed they could not discount. If they
don't. others willy. How the astute
linancier reached this sequiter he did
not explain. except to insist that the
result of taxation would be to dimin-
ish bank capital, showing that the
taxes on deposits amounted to S3 ,5o5,-
100 ga in 1875; on circulation. to SO
09l. 1876; on capital, to S507 ,4l7.16.
Let us look for moment at the
,, other side. The amount of deposits
average $500 .906. $50. on which bank
ers make constant loans at compound
interest. In fact they make their dis
! counts largely to depend on Their
deposits. SO that. if the taxes increase
with their deposits their profits il
!, the precise ratio.
= Mr.. Z. A. Rollins, president of the
n Centennial National bank of Philadel
Y phia. took occasion to say that 1.-The
n rates of money. the hazards of it's use
4 and the burdens of taxation. have beer
such as to make the privilege of bank
= ing to generally be regarded as worth
+ less" Mr.. Rollins. when he uttere,
the assertion, knew that his statemen
a was not true. He had Just started
II the bank of which he was president
and he went into banking because h
!. knew it to be the safest and the mos
:. profitable of investments. He mad
- the statement not only in the face O
= known facts to the contrary, but i
!: the teeth of what Mr.. Coe had said a
4, hour before. Namely, that while a
a. kinds OF corporations are fallin
q q. around us, banks stand firm. Every