The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-02-17
COUNTRY IN DANGER.
CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH A
GRAVE MENACE.
sanks Of the Country Rapidly Beino
mereed Into One Great Trust-Re.
publican Administration Owned bv
me Financial interests.

S financial interests,
me concentration of wealth in few
dands is obvious to everyone. The
@normous and fast increasing wealth
81 the Rockefellers, Morgans. Wander.
oilts' Goulds, and others. is a con.
scant exhibition of it. But few. how.
eFcF' appreciate the extraordinary ten
uency towards the concentration or
the banks of the country in few hands
wnlcn is the most striking feature Of
-ene financial situation and shows the
enormous power that two interests
possess over the money of the country.
lhe most important of these interests
Is tue Rockefeller, or Standard Oil
group; and the other, the so-called
Morgan-Life Insurance group. This
combination of fnanciers virtuallv
controlled oy two men, has command
ol one-half OF all the banking bust.
ness included in the report of the as.
'sociate banks.
Inc Rockefeller interest owns the
Natlonal City bank, with deposits of
'qzUl' Sz2,00O and cash on hand of $685.
'4zS'S0o; also the Hanover bank with
deposits of $63, 401 200 and cash in its
vaults OF $16,697,30O The loans Of
these two banks aggregate $235 5000.
000 O'ON''
Inc Morgan-Life Insurance group
controls the First National, the First
national, the Bank of Commerce and
Nne chase National banks, with depos-
its aggregating $33,632,O0O with cash
ION hand $9S,973,O00, and deposits
ts314,S11, 900
Inc National Park bank is not in.
Gluded In either of these groups, but
is allied with them, and if its re-
sources are added these six banks &C.
count for over 60 per cent of the loans.
700 per cent OF the deposits and 60 per
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!
Ihese great f1nanciers are not con-
tent with the control of the New York
banks, but also have acquired control
'or banks in the other large cities of
the United States. Through their
power to loan money to the stock
brokers, their vast holdings of bonds
and stocks of railroads and the indus
trial trusts, they have power to infu-
'ence the stock market and can often
make or break at will those who deal
in stocks.
The qualifications of t'sese financiers
with their allied corporations 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
arrayed against the Democrats. How
great this political influence is may
be judged when the total mileage of
the Morgan group of railroads is At
20e miles and the Rockefeller group
has 28,157 miles. These railroads en-
tend into every doubtful state and
have attorneys and agents at nearly
every county seat watching their
financial and political interests
This concentration of power in the
hands of a few men is one of the
great dangers to popular government,
and the defeat of the Republican ma
chine would go great way toward
arresting the further development of
such combinations. The Republican
administration has taken no real steps
to arrest this concentration, though
there are laws on the statute book and
the common law is ample to prevent
it, if rigidly enforced. The so-called
Merger" trust suit, which Attorney
General Knox instituted, is worthless
unless followed by more drastic meas
ures, and the fact that J. P. Morgan
has declared for President Roosevelt
and the New York Sun. which he con-
trolls, is now advocating his election
though formerly denouncing him,
shows that the merger interests do
not fear further legal prosecutions by
Mr. Roosevelt If he is elected. Any
voters who have been led to believe
that Mr.. Roosevelt Is fighting the
trusts, especially the railroad and
financial combinations, should remem-
Der that he Is directly under obliga-
lions to the great railroad corpora
lions for thousands of miles of travel |
in special trains, and that the Repub-
lican campaign fund is largely fur.
nished by the same interests.