The herald., 1896-08-09

4
nature of his business, his association.
or his anything else, be better qualified
to judge of the merits of q financial sys.
tenn than a grocer, manufacturer or 6
real estate man of equal intelligence:
| The question before the country today is
one that man might grow gray work
ing in a bank Gas some have) and learn
nothing rational about 1t. 1t is in its
nature an abstract question, possessing
historical. economic, statistical. COM
mercial and political aspects. There is
nothing connected with the business OF
banking that imparts instruction in or
! conveys even empirical knowledge of
these collateral subjects. 1t would be
as fair to expect man who has gradu-
ated from the forecastle and is prac-
tical navigator to understand the math-
ematics of astronomy as to assume that
because a man handles coin or bills in
| bank as a daily occupation he there
| fore must know more about money as a
science than another person equally
studious who works in a blacksmith
shop. The money question has a large
and to a novice somewhat difficult lit
erature and unless person go to the
literature of the subject he may spend
all his days as an actual banker-even
as the head of big monetary institu-
tion-and never know thing about it.
l wish to impress this fact upon the
| reader, for in the campaign for silver
the banker, as in the instance under
notice, will claim a superior right to be
heard. Let the reader think of the
bankers whom he knows and endeavor
to recall whether any one of them has
ever shown larger grasp or greater
| knowledge of the subject than might be
expected from man IN any other line
| of life possessing equal intelligence. Has
| the keeper of a bookstore necessarily
l@,-N Nl.af 60
literature? Carara, in Italy, which for
| centuries has produced the marble out
| of which has been hewn the great mas
| terpieces of Italian art. has never de-
| veloped but one sculptor whose fame
has extended beyond the local commun-
ity.
The disposition of bankers to assume
an ex-cathedra attitude on this great
question has been noted by many
writer's on the opposing side. Thus in
his splendid exposition of the principles
of bimetallism John p. Young says:
"A bankers relation to money, as
rule, are the same as those of a grocer to
sugar. The grocer in buying and selling
the commodity referred to keeps well in
formed concerning the markets and is
prepared to take advantage of them,
but it rarely happens that he makes an
accurate study, or any other study at
all, of the causes operating, or which may
affect prices in the remote future
This author devotes an entire chapter
to the alleged better understanding of
the money question by bankers as a re-
suit of the business they are in, showing
very conclusively that nearly all the
authorities on the subject are men who
never had any connection whatever
with moneyed institutions. Occasional
ly a man in the money business comes
forward who has something to say and
is not afraid to say it. Wharton Barker
of Philadelphia is one of these. and this
is what he makes bold to declare of the
class to which he belongs, when speak
ing. on page 219 of his book on Bimetal-
lsm. of the scheme of the moneyed in
terests to perpetuate the gold standard,
retire the greenbacks and treasury
notes and confer upon the banks the
privilege of issuing currency:
THE speculative cliques controlling
the banks could then contract and ex-
pand the volume of money and thus
raise and depress prices at will. Con-
sequently the producing classes would
be at their mercy. All wealth would be |
rapidly concentrated in their hands. |
They would hold the producing classes |
in abject dependence. and would reap |
the reward of the industry and labor OF
others. This is what llind persistence
in the gold standard will inevitably lead |
to-"
Such is the testimony Of one of the big
bankers of Philadelphia. Nevertheless
the bankers of California tell us in their
pamphlet that they are absolutely un-1
biased" and also that they are "one of
thS dWihagrs as thePPt thePt9r 9 Of m6N
of dollars to their depositors.'
WHAT A DEBT REALLY Is.
It is not pleasant TO have to question
the motive of gentlemen who are at the
head of the money concerns of the state,
but when it is seriously as Ssrted that the
obligation of the banks Nyheir deposi-
the same are commonly Recognized, or
as it is fair to account sudh business un-
dertakings among men, We have rlSht
to say that those who make the asser-
ton are either insinceresor ignosant,
and it is not likely that any member OF
the California Bankers association is
uninformed as to what debt, properly
So-called, is.
If you are keeping thing for man
YOU don't owe it to him. 1t is his all the
time you have it, A debt on the other
hand. results from transaction IN
which consideration passes. The obli-
gation of the farmer to the bank Is
d obt. The greater 1t is.the harder it is
to bear Those farmers are best off who
carry no such burden. a debt Is always
a burden.
Can we say, then, that what he banks
owe their depositors is a burden to the
banks? If there We're no depositors
there would be no banks. The debts
which the farmer owes eat him up. The
8-called debts owed by the banks
to their depositors are what the banks
feed upon. 1t almost looks as though
the bankers We're trying to fool some
| body.
| 1t is true the banks are in debt, but
| the obligation is Of another kind. The
| smallest are beholding to those in the
| scale above and these to the others still
| farther UP, the apex of the system and
| source of supreme monetary power be-
| ing Wall street. This is especially true
! of the national bank, the object appar-
| emily having been to make New York
! and certain other cities financial centers
| to which the western provinces would
| have to yield obedience. The east is at
present using the financial whip thus
put in her hand. She is endeaVorinS
to coerce the west through the subordi
nate banks. The effort has been in pro-
| gress for some months. and to this is no
| doubt due the appeal of the California
| Bankers association to the people to
rally to the support of the gold standard.
AS to the commanding influence Of
! Wall street over the banking institu-
! tions of the country, we have the testi
mony of Banker Barker of Philadel-
phia, who says:
Looking more and more to the banks
of New York for guidance. becoming
| subservient to their policies. contract
ing and expanding their loans in obedi-