Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-09-05
WALL STREET PHILANTHROPY,

that it was Roosevelt's foolishness tina
had precipitated such panic on Wal
street it is refreshing to discover II
/ Fridays New York dispatches that the
crash was deliberately planned and
manipulated by certain very powerful
| interests" who, in their omniscience
concluded that it was time for some jul
tiicious blood letting in order TO save
| the speculative public from greater dis
aster should the craze be allowed tc
| run its course unchecked. 1t is also in.
teresting to learn that enc (Rockefel-
| ier) stood aloof from the coterie who
had to remove their props from the
market structure and scooped in all the
real good bargains that poor devils
could not hold on to when the banks
refused them renewals on their loans
OF course, this was al. done for the
good Of the public and to preserve proc
perity for general business. The good
oe the public has always been the ul-
Tina thule of Standard OIL methods. ID
one has any doubts on this point lie,
! him read Ida NJ. Tarbel's history OF
| Rockefeller in recent numbers of Nc
| Cures.
/ But, while we are quick to believe
the New York story that the depression
/ of values was all done in pure public
spirit and that Rockefeiier's assimila-
| ton OF the property of the frozen out
| gamblers was pure philanthropy, we
can't understand so readily how ii was
all done. In this connection it will be
| interesting 10 read what Mr.. Charles J
Bullock, writing in the Atlantic Month
| ~, has to say. Mr.. Bullock calls atten-
ton 10 the concentration of banking in
terests in New York, inquiring into the
dangers of such concentration of pow
er. He says:
The first great sphere of influence
Is dominated by the Standard Oil in
taresss. Thru the National City Bank.
q chain of institutions is iinked together,
the whole having a capital and surplus
OF ss2,oo0,0o0, and, deposits OF s3T7,-
c3e,too. a second Rockefeller chain Of
i:as II tons IS that headed by the
Tanover National Bank, with an aggre-
gate capital OF $4,000 0oo and deposits
OF ss1,oeo.Q0o. These figures. too, take
TO ;.eeoun, of the control exercised over
banks located outside of New York.
The second great sphere CT influence
in banking is controlled by ]. p. Nor
gan 4 Co. and two of The largest in-
surance companies. This Morgan
sphere includes the First National Bank
and a group of institutions possessing
an aggregate banking capital of $685.
100000. with deposits of $149,000,000
The Morgan sphere, like the Rockefel-
Ter, includes, too. second chain of
banks. The group led by the National
Bank cf Commerce brings the total
banking capital In the Morgan sphere
OF influence to $97,000,0G0, and deposits
to- $472, 000,0 00 A third, tho smaller.
group is the Morse chain of institutions.
with an aggregate capital of $23,000,-
600; and the National Park Bank group.
with a capital of $13.O00,000. is a
fourth. Thus, the Morgan and Stand
ard Oil alliances control not less than
s205. Oo0, 900 OF the S451,000,000 of bank
ing capital invested in the city of New
York
Thus Is II made apparent that Mr..
Rockefeller and Mr.. Morgan control
s205, 600. 900 of banking capital or near
ly half of ali the banding capital in the
city CT New York, and nearly billion
dollars of other peoples money deros-
tied in these banks. Mr.. Morgan and
Mr.. Rockefeller get together and con-
clude that the public Is buying too fast,
so all at once the banks become ex
ceedingly conservative. Poor devils who,
are specializing on borrowed money.
find their loans called IN and no one to
give them another loan. Mr.. Morgan.
refuses to use the money of his banks
to buy in and sustain the price of the
stocks of his companies. There is 4
crash and hundreds are ruined. Il
shrinkage of over two billions of dollars
in stock values ensues and very natu-
Taliy tne panic uSIriSSsS Soou aAsAASANA
paying securities, whereupon Mr.. Rookie
Teller, controlling half a billion OF
funds in his chain of banks, steps ia
and buys UP the good things sacrificed
by men who went in because they had
confidence in Morgans leadership. We
are not told whether Rockefeller bought
on his own account or fer Morgan and
himself.
Mr. Bullock, in his magazine article,
observes:
However. the new situation is not
free from unpleasant features. 1t
would be difficult to finance a corpO-
rate enterprise of the largest size now
without the consent of the Morgan or
the Rockefeller interests. Then, again,
It is unfortunate to have the largest
banks and their affiliate institutions so
closely identified with particular cor
porate interests. This gives to the
great captains of industry almost un-
limited control over other peoples cap
ital, and enables them to tie UP in their
own enterprises banking resources that
community at large. Especially unoe-
sirable is it to have life Insurance and
trust companies drawn go largely Into
the domain Of speculative finance.
Such tremendous power in the hards
OF one man can not fail to be danger