Willmar tribune., 1908-10-28
GEORGE FRED
WILLIAMS
Massachusetts Statesman Pre-
diets the Triumphant Elec-
tion Of Vim. J. Bryan.

from the speech of George Fred
Williams Of Massachusetts,, which
was delivered at Duluth last Satur-
day. Mr.. Williams is known thru
out the country as an uncompromis-
ing political reformer. We believe
his words will be read with inter-
est by our readers generally, re-
gart. .ess of how they expect to vote
next Tuesday.
"Mr. Taft finally concluded that
it would be good thing to publish
the campaign subscriptions, but not
until after the election. What was
the explanation given by the Sage
of Oyster Bay, who was the only
man who had the courage to tackle
the problem Of giving an explana-
tion? He said that he was afraid
that the Democrats might misrep-
resent the purpose of some of the
contributions. Now, l appreciate
Mr.. Roosevelt's feelings. [believe
|, for instance, might be able to
create a prejudice in the minds of
some voters if | should read off the
names of some of the contributors.
can understand how, if l should
read off the names of Mr.. Morgan,
Mr.. Hill, Mr.. Vanderbilt, Mr.. Still
man, and others, l might distort
the meaning of those subscriptions
so as to affect the minds Of some
unthinking Repub lean voters.
(Laughter.) Mr.. Roosevelt knows
that if the Republican voters ever
got their eyes on that list that Mr..
Taft would never be elected presi-
dent.
After this incident. l did not
think anybody would attempt to
criticise the sources of some of the
contributions to our fund, but Mr..
Taft himself has done so. This is
a question of honesty or dishonesty.
If the Republican managers are
ashamed of the contributions to
their campaign fund, let them con-
fess it.
"A new issue has been raised in
this campaign. 1t is the banking
question. Our present system of
banking is a pipe line from the
country banks to Wall street. Two
great privileges are accorded to
our banks. the issuance Of paper
money and credit. Of these, the
latter is by far the most important.
All the money used for loans and
discounts, amounting to SIS, 5,OO0,-
100000, is supplied by the deposit
ors. We had a panic recently.
What was the cause of it? You
who read the Republican newspa-
pers didn't get it. They have been
telling their readers for twenty-five
years that the only thing that could
cause a panic was the removal of
the tariff. And when a panic came
in a Republican administration they
either had to admit they were
wrong or shut up, and most OF
them shut up.
"The trouble was that the banks
kept piling up a line Of credit on
the watered securities they had in
their vaults. Henry Clews, an
eminent authority on banking, once
admitted on the same platform with
me that the conservative banks car
ried line Of credit of $4O0, 900 fol
every 100000 in cash they had
The New York banks ran this line
of credit up to seven, eight anC
yes, even nine hundred Thousand
dollars. The country bankers be-
gan to get nervous and demanded
some of their money back. The!
took few grains from the slender
foundation, and the whole struc
ture collapsed. The bankers O.
New York did the business. You
bankers were not to blame. Wha
happened to you'?
"Cashiers' checks" shouted on
of the audience.
''rhat's what you called then
here, was it? Out in Californi
they called them scrip. At an
rate, you discovered that you wer
not putting your money into tn
banks on trust, but simply lendin
it to them, with the privilege o
returning it when they got ready
They had six weeks of holidays ou
in California to keep the bank
from failing. Why didn't the Ne,
York bankers send back the money
They were using it.
''They called the cash boy, Secre
tary Cortelyou, and he came dow
with $43, 900, 900 Of your taxes fro1
the United States treasury. VIII
got it? Did you get it? No; MI
Morgan's banks got $12,000,000 {
it, and Mr.. Rockefeller's banks ge
SIS, 100000 of it,. Mr.. Morgan
seeing the peoples distress, ser
this money out thru the country
No. This was not Mr.. Morgan
idea of it. He wandered dow
Wall Street and found some Of tt
choicest wreckage ever cast up G
the shore of the Hudson river. ]
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