The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-09-14
PROTECT SAVINGS.
SMALL DEPoslToRs ARE REALLY CAP
lTALISTS.

Disaster That Would Accrue to
Them From a silver Standard.
Mortgages Would BE Called.
The actual status of the savings
bank depositor has never been explain
ed better than by Mr.. John Harsen
Rhodes, president of the Greenwich
Savings bank of New York city, in a
recent communication to the New York
Press. Mr.. Rhodes says:
"a man who has a deposit in saw
ings bank is a member of the most
colossal syndicate in this country. He
is directly and vitality interested in
maintaining a sound currency and the
standard of value which now prevails,
for deprecated currency means that
his money will not earn the interest
it now brings and that his savings will
not have the purchasing power that
they now have.
ANY man who has one dollar or
more deposited in a savings bank is
bound by every selfish interest to want
sound and stable currency and no
change in our monetary system such
as proposed by Mr.. Bryan.
A Deposition "a Capitalist.
ga depositor in a savings bank is not
only a capitalist; he is a conservative
investor, and his loans are relied upon
to carry on the operations of the state,
the city, the county, the town, the vii
lage and the school district in which he
lives. He Is the biggest money lender
in this country. The savings of the
thrifty working classes are lent on
bond and mortgage in this state to the
extent Of more than 400,000,0O0. They
are doing more than any other class
for the development of property inter-
ests. Their money is being loaned to
the builder, and it may happen, and
does frequently, that the man carrying
hod of bricks to the top of building
is the creditor of his employer who is
erecting the house on money borrowed
from savings bank in which the hod
carrier has his few dollars.
Everything that tends to sound cur
rency, the maintenance of a standard
which Is not going to affect values, is
going to help this hod carrier. He
knows that he is going to get his inter-
est ON his deposit in gold, and he
knows what the purchasing power of
gold is. The thrifty workingman is
getting all there is in it now when his
money is invested. If the silver stand
ard Is established, he is getting one
half of his present interest, with just
of its purchasing power.
Change Would Be Disastrous.
"a disturbance in the money stand
ard would be particularly unfortunate
and disastrous at this time, when
America has reached at last the posi-
ton of controlling the iron markets of
the world and is fast reaching the
point where she will control the coal
of the world. AS a result our
exports are increasing enormously, and
It is great thing now to keep the la
boring men employed and to furnish
these supplies of coal and iron to every
other country in the world. How pre-
all this and to allow the foreigner to
come over here with his marks and
francs and pounds and other money to
change 1t all into silver, which in turn
would be re-exchanged into gold and
the gold hurried back across the ocean
where it's purchasing power is twice as
great as that of the deprecated cur
rency that Mr.. Bryan proposes to foist
upon this nation"