Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-10-27
BRYAN PLAN IS EXPERIMENT
Well to Let it Prove It's Worth Where
in Effect.
LET OKLAHOMA SHOW NATION
IL Found TO He Good Thing, There
VIII He Plenty of Time TO
Try IL on Uncle
Snm.
LET OKLAHOMA SHOW NATION


TO guarantee each others deposits than
about any other plank in the democratic
platform, II not all the other planks com
bined. Being a plain farmer, / naturally
look at this from a farmers standpoint
When this scheme was first proposed II
looked mighty plausible to me and said
| to myself that 1t would certainly be fine
thing for the people to feel they could
walk into a bank-no matter how big or
how llttlc-and plump their money into It
with the comfortable certainty that. to
all practical purposes. Uncle Sam was
standing right there at the receiving tel
ler's window, counting in the money and
saying: II am back Of this proposition
and you have my pledge this money will
/ be paid hIck to you when YOU want It,"
Proposition Attractive at First.
This is just the kind Of vision that
comes before your eyes when you read the
democratic platform and read or hear the
! speeches of Mr.. Bryan. Senator Gore of
| Oklahoma and the rest OF the silver
| tongued- spelbinders Of the democratic
ranks. And by talking with my neighbors
and friends and listening to the discus
sions ON the streets and in the stores OF
our town I have discovered that am not
| the only republican who felt. at first blush.
that this scheme for guaranteeing bank
deposits was about the most plausible and
persuasive thing that tho. political plat
form makers, have sprung on us for a
long time.
But the only thing that troubled me
right at the start, before I settled down
to think the thing out for myself. was the
source from which the proposition comes
While It looked mighty good to me, could
! not help but remember 1t was offered by
the same man who had tried to work off
| on the American people a whole lot of
other sllver-plated political novelties, like
the 16 toll automatic cash coiner and the
simple little device for the regulation and
control of railroads whereby Uncle Sam
was to be the greatest superintendent Of
the big trunk lines and all the small roads
were to be parceled out to be run by the
various states.
Recalls Bryan's Former FaIIacIes.
1t has been rpeatedly said that Mr..
Bryan possesses a marvelously simple and
childlike nature and that he will never
grow old. When I think Of his proposition
to parcel out the control OF the great rail-
road properties of this country along the
lines laid down In that big speech of his
which ne made In New York after his re-
turn from Europe am ready to believe
too much cannot be said on the score of his
simplicity his childlikeness. and his In
ability to grow up
So, say. even at the outset and while
I liked the looks of this scheme to guaran-
tee bank deposits by an act of congress.
could not get away from the fact that ia
a good deal rather have the proposition
handed out to me by some persons who had
not stood on the street corners. under a
gasoline torch doing sleight-of tricks
and selling political novelties that were run
in less than twelve months from the time
of offering.
This unusual feeling about the source OF
the suggestion forced me to sit down and
hold session with myself TO see IL this
offering from Mr.. Bryan was the real thing
this time or just another silver plated po-
litical novelty that looks mighty fascinat-
ing under the flare of gasoline torch, but
has the same incompetent insides under
meath the plating that Mr.. Bryan's other
dream packages have contained
! Biggest Failures Political Banks.
! The first thing that came to me out OF
my cogitatons was the fact that 1t is a
mighty big and ticklish proposition to
Jump right In and put political saddle on
the back of every national bank in the
! country. 1t occurred to me. offhand, that
the biggest banks that have gone to smash
of late years have been what the newspa-
pers have called the political banks-thost
whose officers have close political associa.
: tions and have mixed politics with bank
: ing.
some instances Of wrecked banks Of this
kind that come to my mind on the spur Of
the moment are the Walsh banks in Chi
cago, the Dougherty bank in Peoria anC
the Allegheny National bank If this II
a fair sample of the kind of mess whict
comes from mixing politics with banking
want to keep my own money as far away
from the bank that is travelling under
political saddle as I can, and 1t seems 4
E me there is no use denying the plan pro
posed by Mr.. Bryan and his followers will
!, put the banks under the political saddi
to a much greater extent than they nov
are.
Proposition Merits Careful study.
Again, when you come to think of /
:, soberly, this scheme TO jump in and compe
!, the banks OF the country to guarantee eacl
, !, others deposits is fooling with a might!
, big proposition; for the deposits in nationa
= banks alone averaged last year A,Sls OSS .OOOC
% It is the bigness OF the thing itself and tn
consequences involved In any kind Of a plal
= to tinker with it that should make ever,
% sane man i'm the country stop short an
. ever been tried out7
1t was that question which brought me u
J. standing. Right then and there l began {
&c do a little thinking and little investigat
ing. For one thing. ! found out that tn
II average annual percentage Of loss of de
posits In national banks, from 1865 to 1914
'e compared with the average annual deposits
'e is only one-twentieth OF per cent.
Now, that looks to me II the nations
banks are doing pretty well Just as the
Z stand, and that their depositors are no
entitled TO do much kicking on the score @
- security When you compare this with tn
percentage of loss which men have to suffe
in business and other investments in whic
they put their money. 1t looks decided
ne small.
ed But the kernel OF the whole bushes
u seems TO me TO be that 10 endorse NJ
I'd Bryan's plan is TO run contrary to ever
10 rule and law OF common sense and ord
Sc nary business prudence and put our Who'll
n capital. so TO speak, into something whic
rn has not been tried out first and about whic
Is no one knows anything from actual exper
vi ence. II farmer went ahead and put
~ his crops and kept his live stock on th