The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1908-01-21

then in a position to extend his line
Of influence, for he can borrow
money. perhaps. upon his
ank stock to purchase the control of
another financial institution. The
stock of the second bank may then,
), shrewd maneuvers, be used as the
basis of another loan and the pur-
chase of third bank. And so on, ad
infinitum A string of banks thus
falls under the control of the same
elique-mortgage indeed, but what
difference does that make, so long as
the direction Of the institutions is
p occurred.
To one who has ever had expert
erce in margin trading on stock ex-
changes the method is clear enough.
A person with limited means may
rake pretense of owning a large
quantity of stock, if his borrowings
are not known, but the margin sys-
tenn in Wall street is so highly de-
veloped that relatively few stock pur-
chases are unincumbered. Nay, even
the wealthiest use their shares as col
lateral to buy other snares, but their
purpose is somewhat more far-sight-
ed than that of the small dealer.
W it'll enough money to constitute a
proper margin, one can procure the
control of railroads and industrial
companies, provided the control is
s-r sale or he can shake it out" just
as Heinze and Morse procured con-
troll of a string of banks and trust
companies.
So long as the margin trader pos
scsses no control over the company
which his stock represents, the ele-
ment of evil in the transaction does
not go beyond the mere consequences
of credit imitation, unless the trader
degenerates into common gambler
BRIT once give to bloated debtor the
DE- minion of public institutions, such
as banks, railroads and industrial
corporations, and the immoral result
seems Inevitably very grave.
The evil of the system lies in this
that the controlling factor does not
justify himself, as such, by the ex-
tent of his real interest in the things
he controls. A man will not wreck
hi own property, but give him con.
troll of property that is either owned
bv Others or mortgaged to his credi
tors, and he lacks that responsibility
toward his trust that will insure min
against temptation. In the case OF
':ank control, he is. hedged about by
laws that in some measure protect the
depositof, but in the case of the cor.
poration, the laws are by no means
s,:fficient to prevent wreckings, if thai
is specifically desired, or other meth
| DDS of jugglery so~common in the con
troll of railroads and other large en-
lterprises. One advantage in possess
ing control of bank is in being able
Ito conceal ones borrowings from ad
verse scrutiny.
While the general public suffers
more directly and intensely from tn,
misuse OF a bank, it is affected quit,
as definitely by the juggling of cor
porations. The primary motive il
not to misuse the bank, but to grasl
! II for the aid it gives in the direction
of stock companies. Finance is thu
the servant of industrial combina
tions, and when we have said this
we have revealed the whole secret o
Wall street domination over our cur
reucy, on the one hand, and over oul
quasi-public enterprises. on the other
The bank is the stepping stone, ant
it is perhaps no wonder that the mel
of Wall street who really own bank.
were SO willing to tread upon tn,
Morse-H einze crowd, which only pre-
tended to own them.
STATE NOTES.