The San Francisco call., 1903-12-27
LOCKING UP MONEY.

n HE Examiner has discovered intention the
part of the bankers Of the country to say to "the
people of the United States, either you shall buy
industrial securities which worthless. or we will
lock up the money OF the country and starve into
letting go of your legitimate holdings"
As Mr.. Hearst recently assured the wealth of the
country that he would be safe in the Presidency,
why does he make this buebosh appeal to the popular
prejudice against banks? 1t is fact that nothing is
easier than raise prejudice against banks They
reservoirs of the surplus capital of the country and
act trustees for its Whether they join the
junction Of banks of currency issue and commercial
business, banks of deposit and commerce only,
receive and loan deposits and pay interest them,
savings banks they trustees of the owners of the
money which they handle Even in the case OF savings
banks there are those who gnorantly regard them
guilty of keeping millions of money out of circulation,
when in reality they join the small capital of millions
of people and put it in circulation security that is
regulated by law:
Without banks the business of this country could not
be transacted because requires that the loan fund
of the country shall somewhere centered and reach
of those who require to their credit in business
The enterprise of the country is kept moving by bor
In this State every large enterprise from ship
building to ranching, requires the of credit and
borrowed capital. which would be impossible without
banks The slow and backward countries of the world
those that have the least banks none at all In
them money has little mobility, and its wealth
producing capacity is impaired is entirely lacking.
Enterprise borrows money of banks engages it in
struction production pays the of labor. and
thereby it enters the most active circulation and finds
way back the banks, begin again its round of
activity and promotion.
This circulation of money by the medium of banks may
be compared the restless activity of water governed
by the laws of gravity and evaporation Evaporated
from the bosom of the sea- the moisture is condensed
carried by the air to the land and precptated
upon the mountains whence gravity carries it back
the But its journey it has turned many wheels;
its power has lighted cities, streetcars lighted mines
pulled trains, impelled stamp mills crushed and
ground wheat 1t has irrigated many acres, produced
many crops, quenched the thirst of and brute
cleansed clothing sprinked Streets and in the spray of
fountains has delighted thousands has given the power
engines that pull market what it has produced and
yet not drop is destroyed lost, and it all finds its
way back to the great reservoir to begin again its end
less round of activity and service controlled by the laws
of evaporation, precipitation and gravity.
So it is with capital, with money. 1t flows in a
creative stream leaving behind railroads it has built
cities has erected land has cleared harbors it has
made accessible, docks it has built warehouses it has
constructed and filled fbers and food it has produced
churches, schools and banks and works of and
fort and splendor, and yet it has destroyed itself
by all this labor but flows in full tide into and of
its reservoirs, with its activity unmpaired long
mans confidence in his judgment and the future gives
him courage to it.
To say that the banks lock it UP and keep it
from the people is to utter and foolish
thing 1t does belong to the banks. They only
its custodians It's the people who deposit it,
have it always under control, and by simply writing
and presenting check each can take what is his
of the bank, and do with it as he pleases When
money is locked up the depostors turn the key. We
had that kind of sequesration of money in the
panic, and notably upon Bryan's nomination in 1906
Enormous checked of the banks all over
the country and either hidden at home by it's owners
put into the steel vaults of safe deposit companies
1t withdrawn efficiently from use until the scare
After the election confidence was restored
and this money, withdrawn by its frightened owners
of hiding, again the banks and thence
started its work of turning wheels and buying and
building and producing While it hidden the banks
powerless They could lock up for they did
not have it If money gets tight it is because its
owners frightened
Such vain and foolish talk that Of the Examiner is
one of the influences which the of money
1t is misrepresentation of the power of banks well
of the intentions of bankers. If many newspapers
indulge in such expressions confidence may decrease
and money begin to go into hiding Then enterprise
slows down, there is less work and less wages and the
circulation of money slower and labor suffers most
and longest No friend of the workngmen of the coun-
try tries to capital but the contrary seeks
to keep it buoyant and confident. No friend of labor
and enterprise seeks inlame prejudice against
banks, for without them business on scale beneficial
to ALL is impossible.
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