Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1909-12-15
The Central Bank

he pcOpIC nave dAOlhCl ASAI
ahead. The hnanciers have decid-
ed that they can coerce congress in
to creating a central bank to man
age the governments money mat
tiers, and they are going to make
the effort. Possibly the presidents
advocacy of it may explain the
sudden collapse of Wall Streets
opposition to Mr.. Taft's nomina-
ton. At any rate the Napoleons
of finance are not willing to risk
delay-the next congress may be
democratic. And then there will
be changes in the senate and these
are likely to lessen Wall Streets
control of that body. Now is the
time, they think, and the acquies-
cence of a majority of the republi-
cans in the Aldrich plan leads them
to believe that the rank and file Of
the republican party will tolerate
anything. But will they?
The Standard Oil trust lost its
tariff on oil and the steel trust
came near losing its tariff on iron
ore. The new telegraph telephone
merger is giving the people shock,
and the demand for ship subsidy
is making them sit up and take
notice. This may not, after all,
be an opportune time to launch a
gigantic bank monopoly.
Senator Aldrich has had his
swing around the circle and met
the local fnanciers who hope to
represent the bank in their respec-
tive communities, but what about
those who will be left out in the
cold?
A central bank does not fit into
our institutions; it is a foreign idea
and can not be brought into har-
mony with our instincts and bust
ness methods. 1t would destroy
all independence in the banking
world. In Canada they have
branch banks but they have mum
berIof them and competition still
exists, but even there the business
man suffers an inconvenience in
having to have his paper passed
upon by an outsider and the de-
posltor runs the risk of having his
money used to build up some other
community. With a great central
bank all competitors would be-
come timid lackeys, afraid to offend,
to say or do anything that would
displease the officials of the big
bank. With a great central bank
the money would be gathered up
at the extremities and poured into
the commercial centers. The de-
positors would soon find the inter.
est reduced on deposits and the
bank would increase its profits
from both depositor and borrower,
for there would be no competitor
who would dare to pay more or
charge less than the central bank.
Not only would such a central
bank dominate but it would con-
troll politics as we'll. Nick Bid
dell told President Jackson that it
could elect or defeat presidential
candidates and the hero of New
Orleans replied with an oath that
if it could it had more power than
it ought to have and more than he
was willing for it to retain:
If central bank is created it is
only a question of time when its
tyranny will become unbearable.
But why invite such a condition?
Now is the time to fight the cen
trail bank idea; every newspaper
should warn its readers; every vot-
er should write to his senators and
member of congress protesting
| against the whole scheme. The
smaller banks should array them.
selves against it. The advocates
of the central bank are using the
corporation papers to mislead the
reading public; it is high time that
the patriotic forces were aroused tc
the danger. The plans of the bank
monopoly must be defeated
COmmoner.