Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1904-09-08
COUNTRY IN DANGER.
CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH A
GRAVE MENACE.
Banks Of the Country Rapidly Being
Merged Into One Great Trust-Re-
publican Administration Owned by
the Financial interests.

The concentration of wealth in few
hands is obvious to everyone. The
enormous and fast increasing wealth
OF the Rockefellers, Morgans, Wander
bits, Goulds, and others, is a con-
slant exhibition of it But few, how
ever, appreciate the extraordinary ten
dency towards the concentration of
the banks of the country in few hands,
which is the most striking feature of
the financial situation and shows the
enormous power that two interests
possess over the money of the country.
The most important of these interests
is the Rockefeller. or Standard Oil,
group; and the other, the so-called
Morgan-Life Insurance group. This
combination of financiers virtually
controlled by two men, has command
of one-half of all the banking bust
ness included in the report of the as
sociate banks
The Rockefeller interest owns the
National City bank, with deposits of
$2O1, S22, 900 and cash on hand of $685.
428.SOO; also the Hanover bank with
deposits of s63,401,2O0 and cash in its
vaults of $16,697, 300. The loans of
these two banks aggregate S235, O00,-
900.
The Morgar-Life Insurance group
controls the First National, the First
National, the Bank of Commerce and
the Chase National banks, with depos-
its aggregating s33 900. with cash
on hand s9S,973,O00, and deposits
S314,S11,OO0
The National Park bank is not in
cluded in either of these groups, but
is allied with them, and if it's re
sources are added these six banks &C
count for over 60 per cent of the loans
65 per cent of the deposits and 60 pei
cent of the cash of all the banks in
the New York clearing house. These
banks also account, according to the
last statement made, for 70 per cent
of the entire surplus of all the asso
| ciated banks.
These great financiers are not con
| tent with the control of the New Yorl
banks, but also have acquired contro
of banks in the other large cities o.
the United States. Through theil
power to loan money to the stool
brokers, their vast holdings of bond:
and stocks of railroads and the indus
trial trusts, they have power to infiu
ence the stock market and can Otter
make or break at will those who dea
in stocks.
The ramifcations of these fnancier!
with their allied corporations extend
into every state and city and almos
| into every county, in the United
States, through their attorneys anC
agents.
This vast money power is part O.
the Republican political machine, fo
both the groups above mentioned ar,
arrayed against the Democrats. How
great this political influence is ma.
be judged when the total mileage O
the Morgan group of railroads is A.
206 miles and the Rockefeller groul
has 28,157 miles. These railroads ex
tend into every doubtful state an,
have attorneys and agents at nearl,
every county seat watching thei
financial and political interests.
This concentration of power in tn
hands of few men is one of tn
great dangers to popular government
and the defeat of the Republican ma
chine would go a great way towar
arresting the further development @
such combinations. The Republica
administration has taken no real step
to arrest this concentration, thong
there are laws on the statute book an
the common law is ample to proven
it, if rigidly enforced. The so-calle
Merger" trust suit, which Attorne
General Knox instituted, is WORTHLESS
unless followed by more drastic mea!
ures, and the fact that ]. P. Morga
has declared for President Roosevelt
and the New York Sun. which he col
trolls, is now advocating his election
though formerly denouncing hin
shows that the merger interests d
not fear further legal prosecutions b
MIR. Roosevelt if he is elected. An
voters who have been led to believ
that Mr.. Roosevelt is fighting tn
trusts, especially the railroad an
financial combinations, should remen
Der that he is directly under oblig;
tons to the great railroad corpora
lions for thousands of miles of trave
in special trains, and that the Repul
lican campaign fund is largely flu
lished by the same interests.