Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-09-12

iety to discover issues on which cam
palgns may be won than in formulat
ing policies for their guidance after
they shall have won the campaigns
The only condition they seem to scru
tlnize, he said, is the condition of the
public mind. They make careful
study of sentiment, of prejudice, even
OF Whim, and promise anything and
everything to meet these ever chang
ing prejudices and whims. That, he
said, is not craftsmanship. Those who
change their course every time the
weather shifts, are not sailors.
Mr.. Shaw referred to the demand
for currency legislation at the last
session of congress and the opposi.
ton of the Democrats to this legisla-
ton. They voted against the appoint
ment of non-partisan commission to
investigate and report more mature
bill. What use had they for investi-
cation and research?" said Shaw.
Their PLATFORM was to be written at
Lincoln. Definite information, there
fore, on any subject likely to be COW
cred by the platform was more than
likely to cause embarrassment"
ASiA ASiS1i iiEo w Nul. III OIL plan
for guaranteeing bank deposits and
what would have happened if such a
plan had been in operation during
last falls panic, Mr.. Shaw said:
But Mr.. Bryan again studied senti-
ment and popular prejudice instead of
conditions and rushing in where
statesmen feared to tread, promised in
his platform the creation of fund to
be raised by assessments upon all ma
tional banks, and such state banking
concerns as may elect to avail them
selves Of the privilege, the same to
be used for the relief Of depositors
in failed and failing institutions. This
proposed garment may possibly
square with ill-considered popular SEN
timent- though l doubt it = but it
will never fit conditions.
THE trust companies Of New York
alone lost in deposits $32o,O0O,0O0 In
forty days, yet no depositor has or
will lose penny and no stockholder
will realize less than par for his
stock. Other banking institutions.
though exempt from these severe
strains which, for certain reasons
fell upon trust companies, are also
able to pay their depositors in full
though in few instances the stock
holders may suffer some loss.
"It follows, therefore, that a fund
for the relief Of depositors to be Of
any value, must be available when the
panic IS at its height Those in
charge of such a fund would find it
advisable to respond in some measure
before a bank actually closed it's
doors, or it would be compelled to re-
spond in full measure and pay all de-
positors Immediately following sus-
pension.
From the best information I can
get, it would have required at least
to have safe-guarded the
banks of New York city during the
panic of last year. For with a fund ere
ated by assessment and under gov
eminent control, directors would new
er make the sacrifices they did make
to save their institutions. They would
throw the responsibility of suspension
and widespread disaster upon the gov
eminent. Let the government assume
such responsibility, and the govern
ment will have to make good. Either
keep. out OF the banking business or
face the consequences Of banking.
ITO have met the requirements of
the fall and winter of 1907 east and
west. north and south, would have
required a fund Of at least $500,000,
900. The emergency currency bill
provides relief to the extent of $780,
100000, and no one thinks the pro-
vision excessive Does the Democratic
~ Nv, D,.1-o io1, So
thing, intend to withdraw that much
money from the channels of trade
and lock it up against the day of dis
aster, which comes only once In ten
Dr. fifteen years? Or does he propose
that this guarantee fund shall be in
vested in high grade securities to be
sold In the hour of calamity? If so,
to whom shall they be sold? Their
very sale would create demand upon
the banks exactly equal to the relief
The sudden sale of a large
volume, even of government bonds,
Turing a period of depression, would
lrive the price so low that the loss
sustained would far excel any posi-
Ole interest that might have previous
" accrued, and whoever should buy
hem would, of course, withdraw the
paid therefor from some bank.
and that in itself would very likely
BRING other institutions to the verge
If ruin and cause them all to require
aid. You can never help yourself out
If financial strait by changing the
insufficient money you have from one
pocket to another.
Nor is this all Banks never fail ex-
,ept when unable to realize on loans
hey have made. If the banks of the
could have collected their
oans, and realized on their securities
here would have been no panic.'
Another argument advanced by Mr.
Shaw against the Bryan plan was that
t would place a premium on dishon-
esty, and would rob the people of
heir self-reliance AS to this he said:
*Defalcations have sometimes re-
suited in bank suspensions and loss
o stockholders, but depositors have
seldom, if ever, suffered except be-
cause of poor loans. Poor loans is
he one rock on which banks break.
f the Democratic -arty. he or they,
will promise the creation Of fund
With which to guarantee the loans
md investments made by banks we