Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1908-09-03
BRYAN ON BANKING.
\RM GREETING FOR THE. DEMOCRATIC
CANDIDATE IN TOPEKA.
ret If Secret There Be, of the Prmacy of
our Party In Matters of Reform.

protected, for he uses a checking ac-
count instead of a savings account;
but no one can doubt that the success
full operation of a government savings
bsnk would. ultimately lead to an ex-
tensi on of the plan until the govern
ment bank would include the ordinary
checking account and be open to de-
pesits without limit. 1t would mean q
long contest between the depositors
and the bankers, but a contest which
must in the end be decided on the side
of the depositors. The banker must
decide, therefore, whether he will IA or
a postal savings bank which, in the
absence of the guaranty bank, will
grew until it absorbs the banking bus1-
ness, or preserve the present system of
banking by giving to the people,
through a guaranty law, the protection
which they must otherwise find in a
government bank.
The Democratic plan, therefore, con-
templates lssss radical change than
the Republican plan. In his notif1ea-
tion speech Mr.. Taft charged the Dem
ocrats with being socialistic in some
of their remedies. The charge was not
we'll founded, but I might reply by
charging him with advocating an un-
necessary extension of the govern
ment's sphere Of activity in the estab-
llshment of the postal savings bank,
when the guaranteed bank would an
swer the same purpose without any
considerable increase in the number of
government employees. Iwou1d rather
see the banks attend to the banking
business than to have it transferred to
the government and because I prefer
to have the banking business done by
the banks rather than by the govern
ment, urge the guaranty of deposits
as the easiest solution Of our difficult
ties.
There are only 10000 banks, while
there are 1. 500, 900 depogitors, and I do
not hesitate to declare that in con-
diet between the two the depositors
| have a prior claim to consideration.
IT We estimate the average number Of
| stockholders Of each bank at seventy
I fve-and that is a liberal estimate
the total mum her Of stockholders would
| only be q m illion and half, or enc
| tsnth as many as there are depositers.
The stoekholder is not compelled to
buy stock, while the deposition Is COM
pslled to use the banks, both for his
own sake and for the sake of the COM
unity, for only by using the banks
circulating medium. The guaranty
law. therefore. brings the greatest good
to the greatest number, as we'll as to
those who have the greater equity upon
their side.
There is another reason why the
claim Of the depositor is superior to
the claim of the stookholdsr. The
| stockholdsr has a voice in the selection
of the bank officials the depositor has
net. If any one must lose. therefore,
as the result of bad management, it
ought to be the stockhold d er rather than
the deposition. And, venture to ask,
if the bankers will not trust each other
why should they expect the dspositors
to trust the banks?
| We are fortunate, howsver, in that
we are not compelled to choose between
justice to the depesitor and justice to
the stockholder, for as has been shown
before, the plan which we propose net
only does Justice to both, but brings
ad vantage to both. Mere than that,
the plan which we propose protects the
banker-and it is his only protsctien
against the establishment of a gov
ernment bank, with indefinite en-
croachments upon the bankers busi-
ness. With the guaranteed bank
esta blished, governmentsavings banks
would only be needed in the towns and
villages where there were fno guaran-
teed banks.
] IT we had to choose between the in
terests of the bank and the interest of
the community, we would be compelled
to protect the interest of the communi-
ty first; but here, toe, wsare fortunate,
for we are not driven to this alterna-
tive. That which protects the com-
munitylEprotects the bank also, for
when there ares several banks in the,
comm unity, the failure of one often
causes a run upon the others, and the