New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-12

my surprise a great deal to my satisfaction
and wholly to my amusement, that my re-
marks in this column Of one week ago on the
enormous profits of national banks and trust
companies have aroused objection, not to say
open criticism and resentment In certain
quarters.
Friends of mine identified with financial es-
adjustments have assumed grave expression
and said to me sOlemnly that should not at
tack such solid and venerable institutions.
while many letters have reached my office adj
vising me that something awful would hap
pen to me-that the COLLINS would certainly
get to me If l did not look out.
Some good, kind, bald-headed gentlemen with
shares of bank stock hid away in private vaults,
perhaps issued in fictitious names to avoid the
tax collector, have explained to me that the
sort of information which am printing broad
cast is calculated to destroy public confidence.
Well, all of this hue and cry is amusing to
me- If l have made an attack on banks or
trust companies, 1 am thoroughly unaware OF
the fact. / did not know that had attacked
ANYBODY or anything. | merely printed In my
column some figures which dug out OF thor
oughly trustworthy books Of authority at the
expense of a great deal of labor and research.
1 merely threw out some facts In connection
with the enormous profits which are made for
a few people in the banking business, while the
countless thousands who furnish the money for
the banks to do the business with receive only
a small percentage of the whole.
And while the publication of these facts and
ug1FeS has Drought ABOUT my uSdu NISOEOuS
protests from interested quarters, nobody has
disputed a single statement made-nObody
has pretended to deny that certain banks IN
this country pay their stockholders from ZOdo
to 1909 in annual dividends, while paying
only go to 80 to their depOsitOrs for the use
of the money which makes these enormous
dividends possible.
Somehow or other cannot help but feel that
If the truth cannot be spoken about our great
and glorious system of banks and bank1ng-n
Il II collar of 70
confidence to print in clear type the profits
made and being made by these institutions,
then something must be wrong with the syS-
tenn and it ought to be aired day and night
until the complete story becomes an open book
And I give notice now to the ultra-conSerVa-
tive who have squirmed and filed objections to
my little curtain raiser Of week ago-I serve
notice now that the half has not yet been TOLD
[ shall in the future, have much to say
about banking in general-abOut national banks,
about trust companies, about savings banks,
and their picayuneish treatment OF the men
and women who lug deposits to their vaults.
1 have asserted and shall keep on asserting
that there are securities Of industrial corpora
tons as sound as any savings bank ever
formed, paying in honestly earned DIVIDENDS
rates varying from so to 1870 against the SO,
31bo6 and 4T allowed for deposits by savings
banks throughout the country.
shall not abandon my purpose, or in any
manner weaken in my efforts to show the public
how it should be paid for the use of its money.
I shall go on with more energy and heardness
than before. I am all the more eager because,
better than anyone else, realize that my WORK
has only just begun. 1 have barely scratched
the surface of financial facts, and l promise
that when I dig deep the harvest will be some
thing worth talking about The savings to
the people in better rates for their money will
be great while the profits to the few who
handle the peoples money will be less, and that
will be as it should be.
In the language of the President Of the
United States, l shall plead for "a square
deal" for the masses Of the people when IL
comes to reaping the reward OF their frugallty
and honesty. 1 am not yet done with draw
inc COMPARISONS between their meager returns
and those of the men who handle their funds.
I have said that there are many forms OF
Juggling with the peoples money In Whlcn the
people get the small end of the deal. Banking
is only one of them. In due time shall give
attention to the system OF our great insurance
companies, with their insignificant capitaliza-
ton and their colossal business enterprises,
with their enormously high rates Of insurance
and their small returns to those who make
their existence possible shall give attention
to the fabulous salaries which insurance COM
panies pay their officials. I shall examine care
fully some of the intricate machinery, and
point out how 1t has been possible for twenty
shreWd business men to gather within their
control the wealth of an empire in the short
space Of forty years. I shall point out the fact
that the stock of dozen or more big insurance
companies with q combined capitalization OF
little more than S1,O00000 but with total assets
of nearly S7OOOO0O00. which were subscribed
and paid for originally at 500, or less, per
share. are now worth from $1,000 to $4,000
per share and l shall explain in my plain, I'M
couth manner just how the peoples money has
made this insurance stock so valuable
l am now looking into the matter with all
the thOroughness l can bring to bear upon the
subject and when 1 get my facts lined up in
battle array am of the opinion that what
shall have to say will be of interest to every
man, woman and child in the land.
And that is not ALL There are yet other
ways and forms of Juggling with the peoples
money I shall take up in due time certain
great corporations, with their enormous issues
of preferred stock and tremendous bonded in
debtedness and their millions of common stock
which in many cases Is nothing but water. and
muddy water at that. / shall show how certain
great corporations inveigle the public into in
vesting untold millions in stock which never
did and never viii pay dividends, and the real
intrinsic value of which is represented only by
the quality of the paper upon which the GER
tiicates are printed. | shall show that GER
tain great corporations issue millions of dol
lars worth of stock, which they have the
brazen effrontery 10 designate cumulative
preferred" when all the time they know that
there is nothing to accumulate. and the prefer
ence, therefore. can amount to nothing.
am gcing 10 print all these things because
l believe it will do good. l never knew truth
telling TO hurt a real meritOriOus and square
proposition. and do not believe il can. | am
going To put forth the best argument there is in
me i'm behalf of the men and women of this
country with only few hundred or few thou
sand dollars 10 invest, and am going 10 in
sist that they are entitled TO a great deal more
in interest and dividends than they have been
getting. | am going TO continue TO show up my
side of the subject-the peoples side-and I
ask the cooperation Of. and solicit correspond
oil Ill