Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1910-02-18
IDEA, Is UNAMERICAN.

81 do not believe there can be any
doubt in the mind of any one who stu
dies the question in the light Of admit
ted conditions, that if acentral bank is
established in this country it will be
owned, or at least controlled, by the
Standard Oil Company" said Leslie
M. Shaw, former Secretary of the
Treasury, to-day at meeting of the
Pennsylvania Bankers Association in
this city. His topic was 'sThe Central
Bank
"There are two diseases prevalent in
this country, either of which is likely
to prove fatal, F" he continued. zone is
Wall Street mania, the other Wall
Street phobia. do not think that
have been badly inoculated with either,
but l am frank to say that it seems to
me quite un-American to place with
any group of men the power to con-
tract or expand our currency at will
and to grant or withhold credit to any
bank, to any merchant, and to any
corporation at pleasure.
THE COAL AND IRON CASE.
sit was charged and as vigorously
denied that the affiliated banks of New
York during the panic of 1907 simply
withdrew credit from the group of men
who controlled Tennessee Coal and
Iron, called their loans and finally adj
justed the matter by taking over the
property at fraction of its admitted
value, upwards of $5OO,OOO,OO0, and
paid for it in United States securities
without the exchange of a dollar in
money. Assuming the charge to be
hbelous, it still illustrates what could
be done were group of men possess
ing the requisite disposition to be in
control of the Central Bank.
81 thoroughly believe that the Stand
ard Oil Company and the United States
Steel Corporation could afford to pay
the national debt for such a charter,
and l say this Independent of whether
bank would be profitable or other
wise. The control of it would be valu-
able beyond the power Of man to con-
ceive to any group of men who had in
dependent financial interests large
enough to justify it and the ability nee
essary for its operation.
AN EXAMPLE IN FINANCE.
"We all remember that the control
of certain life insurance company
with capital of only 5000, 900 sold
few years ago for 100000 when the
maximum dividend was fixed in the
charter at per cent, or $4,000. Ger
tainly that vast sum was not invested
expecting returns of only $4,000 per
annum, when the same amount in
government bonds even would yield
$1SO,OO0. No, the company had
assets approximating $500, OO0, 900, and
the control of such volume of trust
funds, if honest and wise, is very pro-
ftable. 1t has recently changed hands
again and presumably at yet higher
price. Taking the price paid for the
control of that life insurance company
as measure or value. I do not think
1 overstate the fact when I say that
the two largest corporations in the
world, interested, as they are directly
or through their affiliations in nearly
every line of business, and owning or
controlling probably in excess of 100
of our largest financial institutions,
with, suppose, $4,000, OOO, 900 in assets
outside of their own capitalization, can
afford to pay the national debt for a
perpetual charter for central bank,
safeguard the smaller interests as you
may"