Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-09-02
Money in Hands of Few.

The concentration of wealth IN rev
hands is obvious to every one. The
enormous and fast Increasing wealth
of the RockeGellers, Morgans, Wander
bits, GouIds and others is q constant
exhibition Of it. But few, however, APP
preciate the extraordinary tendency to-
ward 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 pow
er that two interests possess over the
| money Of the country. The most i'm
portant of these interests is the Rookie
| Teller or Standard Oil group and the
other the so called Morgan life inSur-
ance group. This combination of tinan-
ciers. virtually controlled by two men,
| has command OF one-half of all the
| banking business included in the re-
port of the associate banks.
The Rockefeller interest owns the
National City bank, with deposits of
| S2Ol, So, 900 and cash on hand Of SG9,-
| 42S. 800; also the Hanover bank, with
deposits of ST.. 4O1 200 and cash in its
vaults of $1,000, 300. The loans of
| these two banks aggregate $4,000,
600.
The Morgan life insurance group
controls the First National, the Bank
| of Commerce and the Chase National
| bank. with deposits aggrcgating $685.
| 632 600, with cash on hand $0S9I3, 600
| and deposits S314.S11,0OO.
The National Park bank is not in
| Guided in either of these groups, but is
allied with them, and if its resources
are added these six banks account for
over GO per cent of the loans, 60 per
cent of the deposits and GO per cent of
| the cash of all the banks in the New
York clearing house. These banks also
account, according to the last state
ment made, for 40 per cent of the en-
tire surplus Of all the associated banks.
These great flnancierS are not con
tent with the control of the New York
banks, but also have acquired control
of banks in the other large cities of
| the United States. Through their pow
| er to loan money to the stock brokers,
| their vast holdings of bonds and stocks
| of railroads and the industrial trusts
| they have power to influence the stock
market and can often make or break
| Mt will those who deal in stocks.
The qualifications of these tinanciers
| with their allied corpora tons, extend
| into every state and city and almost
into every county in the United States
through their attorneys and agents.
This vast money power is part Of the
Republican political machine. for both
the groups above mentioned are ar
| rayed against the Democrats. How
great this political influence is may be
| Judged when the total mileage of the
Morgan group of railroads is 41,20t
| miles and the Rockefeller group has
| oS.15T miles. These railroads extend
| into every doubtful state and have at
| torneys and agents at nearly every
county seat watching their financial
and political interests.
This concentration of power in the
hands of n few men is one of the
| great dangers to popular government
and the defeat of the Republican ma
chine would go a great way toward
| arresting the further development OF
| such combinations. The Republican
| administration has taken no real step,
to arrest this concentration. in spite
of the laws on the statute books, anG
the common law is ample to prevent i
if rigidly enforced. The so called "mer
| GER trust suit, which Attorney Gen
craI Knox instituted. is worthless I'm
less followed by more drastic meas
ures, and the fact that J. L. Morgan
has declared for President Roosevelt
and the New York sun. which he con
trolls. is now advocating his election
| though formerly denouncing him
SLOWS that the merger interests do no
fear further legal prosecutions by Mr.
Roosevelt If he is elected. Any voter
who have been led 10 believe that Mr.
Roosevelt is fighting the trusts. espe
cially the railroad and financial cOmbi
nations. should remember that he i
directly under obligations TO the grea
railroad corporations for thousands o
miles of travel in special trains alC
that the Republican campaign fund i
largely furnished by the same inter
Tests