The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-08-07
THE BANKS.
WHY THEY OPPOSE SILVER.
Efforts to Control the Currency
The Final Results.
(Phil adelphia American.)


Whatever their motive, it is an in
disputable fact that the great major
ity of our bank managers join Justify
in the hue and cry against silver and
give wide currency to the catch
prases of ''dishonest'' and "5O-cent''
dollar. There are indeed some nota-
BILE exceptions among bank officers, es-
pecially in the country banks of the
South West, who, foreseeing the dis
asters that the single gold standard
must bring in it's wake,s boldly advo-
cate the prompt restoration Of silver
to it's place as money. But as the
bankers Of the large cities are almost
unit in support of goldmonometal-
lism it is not surprising that the, i'm
preston should have taken root in
many quarters that the interests of
the banking classes are antagonistic
to the interests of the public, and it
is not unnatural that they should be
regarded as standing especially and
distinctly as the champions of the ap-
preciating gold standard.
1t is significant that in joining the
crusade against silver, the banks
while vehemently demanding that sill
yer should be discarded as a money
metal, urge with great earnestness
that it's place be filled by the issue of
bank urrency-currency not based
on either gold or silver, but on the
capital of the respective banks.
Under the plea that the silver dol
lar is ''dishonest'' and '50-cent dol.
lar" they propose to drive it from cir
culation and replace it by bank cur
rency resting only on the credit of the
banks, and they have the effrontery
to declare that the silver dollar that
has value in itself is dishonest and
must be discarded, while the bank dol
lar that rests on credit and is worth
nothing in itself is not only honest
but desirable.
Banks are great power for evil OF
for good. Well directed they facili-
tate circul alton, economise the use of
the precious metals, aid the distribu-
tion Of the products Of labor and tend
to that regularity Of movement and
production which is conclusive to de-
velopment and progress. III directed
they tend, by the arbitrary expansion
and contraction of credits, to the pro-
duction of irregularity of prices, thus
stimulating the gambling propensi-
ties Of ,and by making the reward
of industry uncertain retard prOduc-
tion and check enterprise and pro-
gress.
Unfortunately bank officers are
prone to yield to tempta tions of illegit-
innate profit. short-lived it is true, and
losing sight of their true interests
and of their duty to the public, all too
readily follow the dictates Of short
sighted selfishness. They should do all
in their power, by the proper eXpan-
sion and contraction of credits in re-
sponse to the demands of trade, to in
sure stability Of prices and make vio-
lent fluctuations in prices impossible,
thus aiding greatly in the just distri-
button of wealth and encouraging
productions; but they have been too
ready to abandon this, their true
function, and to turn the banks into
great speculative agents. Thus we
have seen prices fluctuate in response
to arbitrary expansion and contrac-
tion of credits, to the ruin of pro-
ducers but to the profit Of those who
engineered the expansion to be fol
lowed by contraction. With this self
ish end in view the banks seek to con-
troll the power over the currency
which should be exercised by the ma
tional government, thus redoubling
their power, and securing themselves
against any possible storm arising out
of their manipulations Of the mar
ketS.
But it is a mistake to confound the
banks with the purely money-lending
classes. They are not simply loaners
of money, but dealers in money.
They are borrowers as we'll as lenders:
debtors as we'll as creditors. An ap-
preciating gold standard would, then.
hurt them by increasing the burden
Of their debts as we'll as benefit them
by increasing the value OF their