St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-26
WHAT is THE 1!sIoNEY POWER .7z

81 tell you" said Democrat whose
intelligence is above the average and
whose sincerity could not be doubt
ed, 1.-The people of this country are
the slaves of the money power"
Asked who holds this money power,
of whom is it composed, he replied:
why, the bankers and money lend
ers, of course" One hears OCCASION
al talk like this, not so much as a
few months ago, but still once in a
while; oftener from demagogues, but
now and then from just such aman as
was the one who made to the G 10 b
the above surprising assertion. Now
the G. l o b is heart and soul Demo-
cratic. 1t believes in the people, and
its lot is with what Abe Lincoln
called the plain, everyday people of
the country. Because it stands with
them it does not want to see them
put themselves in the wrong, for
their cause has enough to fight
against without having to contend
with any inherent weakness. 1t be-
lieVes that there are influences.
backed by wealth, that are the dead
ly foes Of the country and which it
is the duty of every citizen to resist
and fight. They are numerous and
strong enough to demand all the
strength that can be mustered, and
not blow should be wasted on mere
bogies.
AND the blow aimed by our friend
above is spent on thin air. His
statement will not bear the least
scrutiny. Let us apply to this a
little common sense and simple,
truthful honesty. What is bank
ing? 1t is the business of a man or
company of men engaged in causing
money to do work. 1t gathers in
the money of the community that its
owners cannot Immediately employ
and lends it to men who have less
Than they need to conduct their bust
hess. This, candoT must admit. is a.
useful function; answering to the
grocer. the merchant and dealers in
other commodities. The banker pays
the owner Of the idle money some
thlng for its use, and. charges the
borrower a higher rate, and the diff
ference is his profit Just SO the
grocer buys of the various manufac-
turers and sells to the consumer. and
the difference between what he paws
and gets is his profit. The banker
owes the men who deposit their mon
ey with him. Some of this is paw
able on demand. and some. as in the
savings banks, is due at a certain
time after payment is demanded. To
pay demands the banker relies
ordinarily on his reserve kept to
meet them; and, if this is not enough.
on those to whom he has loaned the
money. AS the reserve is never a
large percentage OF the debts due de-
posltors, it is plain that the bankers
chief reliance is on men owing him.
If they can't pay, the bank fails. So
the strongest possible interest of the
banker is to have times good, bust
ness lively and men prospering.
| such conditions call for loans, and
render men able to repay them. If
something happens, as it did in 1898,
and men can't get the money to pay
the bank, then the banks are in a
very bad way, and the banker is
about the unhappiest man in the
country. For at the moment when
he cannot pay his depositors, he must
close his doors. ~ ISL
Now let us look at the reports OF
these men, and see what an enor.
mously Indebted class they are; how
much they owe, how vitality they are
interested in having people prosper
and how little they are interested in
having them hard up. There are
three kinds of banks, savings. ma.
tional and so-called state banks: The
whole business of the first two is
accessible in the reports they. have
to make. We find in the Statistical
Abstract, published by the fedora
treasury. that in. 1894 the savings
banks owed their depositors, S1,747,.
961, $50, and the national bsnks
| owed their depositors 1881, STA 272
/. to which must be added $780,