The evening times., 1900-10-03

~ NSNS-y otSSiOil VI TIE COuNtuiiOA VI
the American Bankers Association was
the address OF Ellis H Roberts, Treasurer
of the United States. Mr.. Roberts by way
of introduction said that the association
represented in resources ten billion dol
lars, which was more .han double the
banking power OF any other country in the
world He said that the members of the
association are the guardians and the
administrators &c this enormous capital.
Mr., Roberts proceeded to a discussion of
the relations between the Treasury and
the banks. He said in part:
1.-THE attitude of governments to the
money market las been, in all lands, in
the large majority OF cases. that of the
borrower often the needy borrower,
whose effrontery and persistence have on
occasion become bold beggary, and more
than once arrant robbery
Isaac of York. in IVanl oe. is the type
of the money market in England in the
days of Richard Lion Heart. with eXtor-
ton by the lender enforced by torture by
the borrower. English Edward l, in 1275,
according to hume, was not content TO
borrow. but seized the whole property OF
the Jews. save enough to enable them to
leave the country By 1897 the stress OF
war with France led him to treat the pro-
ducers of his kingdom as he had treated
the Jew mcney-ienders, and 10 levy on
and sell for his own use all their wool and
leather and much other property. When
the Lombards mastered the money mar
ket Edward III fell in debt 900. .G0o forms
to two houses which became bankrupt on
that account.
Under the Stuarts the goldsmlths de-
posted their moneys for safe keeping in
IL
seize there their balance of goo 900.
which he then called loan His sen.
Charles II improved on his example. and
in 1872 laid royal hands OH nearly 81. &c.,
eco so in trust and refused to pay at all.
Aft II while he was driven TO admit the
interest. The principal was cut down
nearly 80 per cent. and has become petrt-
fed as the first item in tire national debt
a monument of kingly finance. Those CEN
turies illustrate the temper and bearing
of governments toward bankers, as even
worse than the popular preiudtces of our
own times.
Modern Methods of Finance
Modern methods of finance begin at the
close of the, seventeenth century. during
the activity of Louis XIV. which stirred
the world. To curb his ambition the Brit
ish Government was piIing up a debt at
the thrifty King William sought better
way, and in 1854 the Bank of England was
devised to unity the pressing public loans
and 10 handle them. They were only G1,-
zoo 000, and against that sum the bank put
out its own notes and paid coo for
the privilege. AS with other borrowers.
this first transaction was only the enter
ing wedge. The Government ran up its
debt and in its exIgencies made hard bar
o;.,s pE IN hH cjrueTrIG
against the French Revolution, Pitt forced
leans against the protests Of the Govern
ors. and when asked to pay Elise, AS, he
drove the bank to suspend payment The
process has gone on until the bank holds
securities OF the Government for so, ,03S,-
000, and in return enjoys its monopoly and
pays annual charges OF Sis, 500 In its
issue department it has been styled ''an
office of the administration" in finance II
is above the ministry, like a permanent
official, a genuine Warwick
The story is akin in all of Europe The
Bank Of France is creation OF Napoleon
in 1886, under the Directory. Now tie
only source Of paper money in that coun-
try, it has carried on its back successive
governments in their loans. Without
rival in its sphere, it's burden in recent
loans has been maGe light by the --.T==el-
Gus response which the French people al
ways give to the calls Of thstg Govern
ment for money. TIE Bank IF Germany IS
the steward of the Empire - it. 1rrew-
ing and general finance a Strla- hungary
uses its national bank IL the saTIe iy for
a monopoly of note issue. In ~ @is. the
Imperial Bank, colossal iikJ RI p ion is
really branch OF TIE &o.c o. =. .oE, its
fiscal agent for borrowing :. So, land
ling the debt, and for creasi & .rretseg
for both purposes.
I'm all the Old World the - = rents
touch the money markets Hrat ss cor
rowers. and use the banks 10 secure
funds for the exchequer- Thsy -et@:
privileges and i1nmunities. BY tn -se F4o-
nopolies interest is put UP tor down tSr
eign exchange is controlled, trs,,@ $ ssf-
fected, every industry feels ths PR -s,4-s.
The Bank of England is the model CT I'll
these financial engines, master ot the
national funds dictator CT the money
markets of Britain, of Europe, ami until
recently of the world Lcng fetch III
finance, British criticism of it's priuci-
pies, its conduct, and its effects has
become sharp, aggressive, unsperng
Roberts Defends Jackson.
Finance has no devices which cur
country has not tried. The floCd Of con-
tinental currency was the beginning of
our evils. To fund the Revolutionary
debt, to create a currency, to provide a.
way for collecting taxes. Hamilton call
ed into being the Bank OF the United
States. His first aim was to frame the
most effoctual instrument CT loans" The
institution served the Treasury well, but
soon became a political force and was
permitted to die in 1911. With a new
charter in 1916 Jackson found in it
monster threatening the Government,
seeking to concentrate the whole mon
eyed power His removal OF the public
deposits from it was chief factor in
politics for decade. The discussions
in Congress and Jaeksons state papers
exhibit the prejudice aud frenzy of PAR
ties The chronicles of panic and dis
aster are lurid enough to the fall CT the
bank in 1886. Yet the public moneys it
held were never more than $4,000, eco,
standing at SO ,5S4. .S6S In October, 1SSa
General Jackson is often represented
as waging war on banks He Gid no such
thing. He only transferred the deposits
from one central bank, with branches,
to several banks. Outside of politics it
was simply a conflict between banks. of
several institutions against monopoly
The larger number won.
''But the many banks were met by an
unexpected competition. The sales of the
public lands Increased rapidly from S.
GEO. GOO in 1884 to S24, Coo, 000 in 1896,
Banks to the number CT 7S9 were started.
in large part to furnish currency ID paw
for the lands. SO that between 1884 and