The midland journal., 1892-10-07
Cleveland and the Purchase
of Bonds.


SPEECH OF GENERAL WEAVER IN THE
HOUSE. FEB IA, 1888.
CONCLUDED
Then we have also the Third Nation.
al Bank of Buffalo, N. Y. Whose bank
as that It is a bank controlled by
gentlemen prominent in the Standard
Oil Trust. Yes, the Standard Oil
Company has its hand in the Treasury
also, through this and other banks.
Think of the burning shame and dis
grace of such transaction. No won
der the people are losing confidence in
the Government.
Mr.. Weber-May l ask the gentle
Mr.. Weaver-T can not yield to the
gentleman.
A Member Con the Republican side)
We will extend your time.
Mr.. Weaver-No, you will not, fear
The Chairman-The gentleman frcm
Iowa declines to yield.
Mr.. Weaver-The Standard Oil
bank, the Third National Bank of
Buffalo, has $165,c00 of Government
money; and the Seaboard National
Bank of New York, in which Daniel
O'Day, the general manager of the
Standard Oil Pipe Line, and j. j.
Vandergrift, the president of the Stan.
dard Oil Pipe Line. are prominent
stockholders, has $5l5,0o0 of Govern
meut money.
The president and treasurer of the
American Bankers Association are
presiding over national banks which
have been designated as repositories,
and twelve out of twenty-one members
of the executive council of that 'trust"
are also connected with banks that are
repositories and are using Government
money.
Mr.. Chairman, it is true that one
and all Of these "trus 81 that are to day
choking the very life out of the people
of this country are, through their
national banks, using to greater or
less extent the Government money,
and are using it to oppress the people.
I say this is public outrage and yil-
famous shame. Here Congress has been
sitting for nearly three months and not
a half dozen voices have been raised
against it, not move has been made to
remedy the evil or to rebuke the crime.
On the contrary, efforts have been made
to extend the privileges of the banks.
1 denonnce 1t, and 1 trust 1 shall be
pardoned by my Democratic brethren
for my Jeffersonian and Jacksonian
eccentricities on this subject. I think
we have reached a time when the
Democratic party can afford to be
Democratic.
Now, Mr.. Chairman, l have already
indicated that this money is not in the
Treasury, but in the banks. The banks
are simply the lenses through which,
like radiation, this money reached
the people. 1t is now in circulation
and the business of the country has
adjusted itself to it.
Now, l repeat the question, Why was
this money placed in the banks in the
first place l know the answer, and
the only answer which can be given.
1t was done to avoid panic which
was then impending. Let US grant
that to be true. assert here and now
that if yon recall that money, as this
bill is intended to do, you will newt
able precipitate panic, and nothing
can prevent it. You can not take it
from circulation again through the
banks without serious embarrassment.
This bill will not have the effect
desired, nor will the Secretary of the
Treasury undertake to carry it out. He
dare not. He may undertake to buy a
few bonds with the surplus actually in
the Treasury and not in the bank, or
which may hereafter accumulate. He
will not take the responsibility of call
ing the money into the Treasury in the
present stringency in the money mar
ket. The banks, sir, are the masters
of the situation, and not the Secretary;
but, you will answer, We can demand
the money of the banks or compel them
to sell their bonds held for deposits
You can do nothing of the kind. They
will say to you: sour bonds are val
liable, and we do not want to sell. If
you want your money we will call in
our loans and paw, but you, Mr.. Secre-
tary, must take the responsibility OF a
panic, which is likely to follow" That