Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1882-09-28
PROFITS OF BANKING.
The Power TO Expand and Contract the
Currency is Fraught with Evil.

= Between the railroad and the ban
E corporations the property produced b
the masses of the people is being al
sorbcd at rapid rate. They levy cor
tributions upon the currency an
transportation of the products Of tn
country that absorb the largest shar
OF the wealth produced, and yet the
are taxed the least. But the enorts be
ing made to remove the tax from banl
circulation and deposits are not becaus
they want restrictions to the incrcas
of their currency removed. If the ia,
was removed from their circulation
they could double the volume of thci
notes and suffer no loss, even IL tn,
money lay idle in their safes. Bu
with q tax Of 3l or ! per cent, rs state,
| BY the comptroller, it is not prOltabl,
to increase their circulation mles
| they can find active use for their mon
cy. 1t is the power to initiate and con
,rac, the volume OF currency free from
taxes they care the nest for. TIL,
bankers, many Of them, make nor,
money outside of their banks than they
do insiE. This is done by controlling
the volume of currency. and thus rcG.
uIaling tae prices Of property, of which
they take due advantage. But the
profits inside are far greater than the
officers OF the banks or Comptroller
Knox wouhl have the people think they
are.
The comptroller informs rs that the
surplus nov accumulated under the
| law, rcquirmr "a certain norton oi
their earning" To he laida,idc as a .rr-
plus is Sl2S.1lOGlS. And what is tba,
"certan portion" us defined by the
law. that is to be thus usrd9Lct tie ne,
itself state.
Section 33 of thn act ornarizipr the
national banks read, as follows:
".hm b, il tUrLic1, ,,l1cicd, That the
directors of any association may. semi.
annually, each wear declare 4 dividend
/ If 50 much of ihr no, profit of l,r as
>priatiOn nS they shall mdor cyucliont.
| but each association shall. before the
declaration Of n dividend. carry one
tenth part Of IFS NET profits of thr prr-
/ Ctulnn nan wear To the surplus fund
until thc same shall amount to 20
prr cent Of It's capilal stock"
Now if al2SIiO.GlS is ten per cent
of their net profits. the entire profits
would be ten times that. or 81. PSI .lOG.-
$50. If we allow an annual average
Of $40, ,OOO,OOO for eighteen wears for
their capital we find they have made
about l6 per cent on their entire capital
according to their own showing. But
they have laid aside a surplus of more
than 20 per cent of their capital stock
from one tenth Of their earnings, which
is IN evidence that 3l2S, S,lIO,GlS is far
less than onc-tcnth Of their net earn
ings.
The annual reports prepared for the
public by the banks, giving state
ment of their dividends, etc, are many
Of them cooked up for the occasion.
The facts cannot be denied that the
bankers are, rs class the richest mon
in the nation, and are only exceeded
in the enormous worth by q few rail
road managers. That the banks would
flood the country with their note, and
resort to extensive initiation and con-
traction is clearly indicated by state
mcntS made both by Comptroller Knox
and by United States Treasurer Gil
iillan Nh Knov. on page 81 Of hi,
/ last report. says;
The amount OF circulation issued
to national banks for the year ending
/ November /. 1881. was S3O.979, $50, in
cluding %j.233, $50 issued to banks or
gauizcd during the ycu The amount
rwircd during the wear was Sll.O7j,-
0jl. and the actual increase for the
same period was. therefor, 2lG,gOLj7G,
making the total on November /, $780,
ig2. .73S. which is the largest amount
outstanding at any one time.
Simon Nav 1891 ,bnrt tlron mil
linn dollars moro hnvc Lren added to
tbn ci,cnlotion of ,Lr bonks Now. if
tIc hanks viii inG",o thrir rn,rrncy
SIG. .9Ol j7G in one wear. when they nav
fax. rs the comptrollcr states. of +
pcr cent ON their circulation. what
would they moi do in thp way of inlla-
ton. provided the tax was taken Off?
| We are not left in doubt as towhat they
would do, for United States Treasurer
Gnfllan, in the financial reports for
1850. tells MS lust how the banks now
MANAGE in thi, rrcord. He soys:
.rn T,r,or, md T,hr,,,r. 1874 g,
oor,nir g homI r5,;,oJ U ~ ciro'iaiion % fron, ~
SgnS , iG0 1I tn ak Hoo @ NV W, Jnno.it. of isg"i
toodcr nntos RntwGon Sonlombpr 81
! -,