The labor world., 1898-08-27


not failed.
Think of national bank failing!
What does the word national moan?
It is word coined and fastened on the
window of bank to convey the i'm
preston that the bank belongs to the
nation. It is nothing of the kind. This
so. called national bank is an institution
run for private profit by private indivi-
duals, who scheme to get as much
interest and money as possible out OF
the public. The unreliability OF said
national" banks was shown when Y
80 called national banks failed in the
month of July, 1898. and 80 nationals
failed in the first week of that month.
The Capitol National was one of the
nationals that had not yet closed it's
doors. It was consequently the de-
pository of monies OF numerous indivi-
duals who were compelled to use q bank
in order to transact business.
We say numerous individuals" but
that does not include many people in
the community. The vast majority Of
people never use bank They have no
confidence in banks. They, or their
friends, or the people they have known.
lost their deposits at some time in the
past in banks, and they have resolved to
avoid them; and so they simply hide
their money in safety deposit drawers,
about their persons or on their premises,
making a constant temptation to the
footpad to assault the pedestrian after
dark or to burglarize the premises and
murder the family who =resists the
robbery. ss5's.7s .@
The manager Of the Capitol National
took one hundred thousand dollars Of
the deposits, bought one hundred thous.
and dollars worth Of United States
bonds, clearing him three per cent per
annum interest. He was thus $4,000
ahead on interest on money that cost
him nothing. He then loft the 800, 600
in bonds with the United States
treasurer and the government gave him
$4,000 in National Bank currency,
charging him one per cent commission.
He was then empowered to give this
money or loan it to whomsoever he might
choose and so manipulate it as to make
all he could with it. &.. :sS. 4: 5.. ~.
It is singular that the government ~ =
we, the people shall make private
individuals the custodianso of the peoples
money. We determine what shall be
money. We make it, but we do not
know enough to distribute the money
after it is made. Instead, we give it to
private individuals to deal out to such
favorites as they may choose. We thus
make the banker an autocrat. Heis the
great II Am" of the locality. He handles
the money. It is for. him to determine
who shall have money and who not.
It may be proper to remark here that
Gage, the banker United States Secre-
tary of the Treasury, advised Mckinley
to recommend that the government
give the banker 100000 when he de-
posted that amount OF bonds instead OF
800 600 and that we should not charge
the banker any commission. Thus,
after getting his three per cent on bonds
he may have national bank currency OF
same amount as the bonds for nothing,
which money thus obtained for nothing
he may loan to borrowers as he gets a
chance at 10 per cent or sixty per cent
per annum through chattel mortgage
partners as he can find customers
The manager of the Capitol National
came back to his home town where
several banks had failed. where the
people were panic stricken and had all
hidden their money at that time; where
factories we're consequently closed;
where stores were bankrupted, and no
money being in circulation then, it was
scarce, interest was exhorbitant and the
times we're hard.
It was at this juncture that Jones,
formerly head clerk in the bankrupt
hardware store, was compelled to
borrow money to support his family,
consisting of wife, four children and his
father and mother, whom he was duti-
fully supporting in their old age. Jones
was considered we'll to do. He owned a
ten thousand dollar house and lot, with
furniture worth $1,000, and owed only
an $500 mortgage on the whole. His
we'll dressed children were among the
brightest in school. He was himself a
public spirited man and his wife was
always foremost in good works. But
the family was getting short of money;