Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-10-29
Mr.. Bryan Shows Why the In
diyidual Favors Protection
of Bank Deposits.
a MATTER OF INTELLIGENCE
Banks Should Attend to the Banking
Business and Not the
Government.

so clearly to the people of the nation.
In recent speech Mr.. Bryan pre-
Bented this issue in a simple and most
convincing way. He said:
"Of the many policies proposed in
our platform, the protection of bank
depositors is the simplest and most
easily understood. Why, my friends,
this question is SO easily understood
that | suppose there is not a person
in this audience who is not able to
understand it. | do not mean that
every one, everywhere, can understand
1t. l draw the line here: When every
person reaches the period of intel
lectuaI development, where he is able
80 see that when a man puts mis- money
In the bank he ought to be able to get
it again, he ought to have intelligence
enough to understand this subject; but
until he gets to this point l do not
know how to reach him. | take it for
granted, however, that you are all
sufficiently advanced to be able to
understand that when you put your
money in a bank you ought to be able
to get it out again. Now, my friends,
there are just two questions to be con-
sidered in this matter, One Of these
l have given you. The other question
is, who must make it secure? Our
position is that as the banks make
their profits out of the peoples money,
the bankers ought to give the insur-
ance the people require. Now, | had
supposed that that was a self evident
truth and that it would not be denied.
II have made no speech without dis
cussing the guaranty of bank deposits
in all parts of the country. After |
had made my speech in Baltimore, eX-
planning our system and presenting our
| arguments in support of it, my atten-
ton was called to an advertisement in
one of the papers. In my speech | had
said that you could insure your house,
you could insure your life, you could
insure your buggy or your barn, but
that you could not insure syOur money
And in this advertisement my Ian
guage was quoted and the ADVERTISE
ment went on to say that | was mis-
| taken, for a certain fidelity company
was prepared to insure deposits. And
then | found out how they do it down
there. You put your money in bank,
and then go and get somebody to in
sure it SO that you can get it out of the
bank again. l believe the time has
come to compel all the banks to stand
back Of the banks and make good the
| presumption upon which you deposit
! your money in the bank
NOW, my friends, you may ask If
the banks are not now sufficiently Sc
cured. That is what the bankers say.
They will even tell you that only occa-
sionally a bank fails, but the trouble
&c, hot Ill
! bank is going to fail Look at the no
tice they hang up. Does it say, this
bank will fail?' No, the notice says
this bank is closed and if bankers
! follow out this plan I will agree not to
urge this insuring of deposits. Let
| the bank give notice three months in
| advance of failure SO the people can
! get their money out before the failure.
| DO you think the banks are suffi-
GENTLY secure now? The postmaster
| general says, in his report in favor
of the postal savings bank, that we are
sending millions of dollars to Europe
! to be deposited in government say
| tngs banks there, and the people who
send their money there would rather
send it across an ocean three thousand
| miles wide than to risk the banks of
| this country. I say to you that we
| ought to make our banks here so Sc
cure that money will not be driven out
| of the United States to find a safe
! place of deposit. That money which is
driven to Europe ought to be kept here
and used in the business of this cOun-
! try. Not only does money go to Eu-
rope, but money goes into hiding, and
! this is about the time of year when we
! discover some of it. You will see in
| the paper every once in while that
Mrs. So and So for the first time this
! fall made fire and was mortified to
| find that her husband, without her
| knowledge, had been using it as a
| bank. A man in New York said last
| fall, when the panic was on, that a
! billion dollars was in hiding under car
| pets. | do not know whether that
| estimate is too high or too low, but I
| know this, that if l were a banker ]
| would be ashamed to have an old rag
| carpet running rivalry with me as a
| safety deposit vault, in time Of danger.
| : IF any man says that the banks are
| sufficiently secure | will remind him
| that there is not national bank in
! the United States that can get dollar
| of Uncle Sans money without putting
up security. The state demands Sc
| curity; the county demands security;
the city demands security; and each
| village demands security; and the fra
| ternal orders are now demanding Sc
curity, and l believe the time has come
when the farmer, the merchant and
the laboring man should have security
when they put their money in a bank
I'm Oklahoma they have had this
plan IN operation for now some six
months. learned of one failure there
and in forty-two minutes after the
bank suspended the man in charge
had an order from the government to
pay every depOsitor in full. and the
business went on without interruption
And when he telephoned out to the
| farmers and said to them, The bank
has suspended, come in and get your
| money they answered, We are busy
with the crops now, We will be in III q
| few days Is it the way you do here
In your state when a bank gets shak!?
It the way you do when a bank sus-
bends? No, the very rumor that
tank is little uncertain makes
sush of depositors, and they make 1t
nsolvent whether il was insolvent or
aot
This plan protects the depositors;
Il protects the community. and II IS
food for the bank as we'll
"a would rather see the banks attend
20 the banking business than to have
/ transferred to the government, and
because | prefer to have the banking
BUSINESS done by the banks rather than