Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-27
MONEY TRUST" HIT
House Rules Committee to Au-
thorize Inquiry.
DISCUSSION OF SUBJECT
Mr.. Lindbergh Says Wall Street Can
Bring About Panics.
WANTS A THOROUGH PROBE
Representative Weeks Denies Exist
ence Of Combination to Con-
troll Banking Matters.
DISCUSSION OF SUBJECT
WANTS A THOROUGH PROBE

ITo1 BANKING matters.
| The money trust of Wall street is to
be probed by Congress- In order to 6e-
termine whether there Is a great bank
ing combination which has the power to
control credit. exchanges and deposits
and to bring on business depression and
panics, as charged by Representative
1dndbergh before the House committee
on rules today. the committee at it's next
meeting will report a resolution direct
| Ing an exhaustive investigation OF the
subject to be made
| No decision has been reached as yet
as to whether the inquiry shall be con-
Quoted by the monetary commission or
by the House committee on banking and
currency. Mr. Lindbergh doesn't care
who makes the investigation, as long
as 1t Is thorough and goes to the very
bottom Of the subject
Representative Weeks of Massachu-
sets, who Is q member Of the monetary
commission, and a banker, also appeared
before the rules committee today on
! tho Lindbergh resolution. While 1t did
not oppose the inquiry. and. indeed,
rather urged that the monetary COM
| mission be instructed to make it, he
scoffed at the idea that there was such
q thing as money trust"
If had the time" he said, II could
show this committee that such a thing
as an efficient combination of capital in
banking matters could not exist"
Could Affect Banking.
but" suggested Representative Nelson
OF Wisconsin, member Of the rules
committee. could such q money trust
not go beyond banking and yet affect
banking7'
Mr.. Weeks admitted that this might be
the case.
Mr.. Lindbergh. in arguing for a favor
able report on his resolution, which re-
cites that ''our present system Of money,
exchange and credit entails on the peo-
pie enormous losses, due presumably to
speculation, gambling and manipulation, -
and declares that these practices ARE
directed through well defined centers, the
greatest Of which, 1t is believed, does not
actually have the power Of controlling
credit. exchanges and deposits, to the
| extent Of being actually able to bring
on business depressions and even bust
ness disaster" insisted that the i'm
portance Of the subject could not be
overestimated-
Representative Hardwick of Georgia,
member of the committee. suggested that
the monetary commission had compiled
a vast amount of useful Information on
the general subject of finance, and that
passage Of the Lindbergh resolution
would entail a duplication OF this work.
1.-The only new proposition brought up
by the Lindbergh resolution" said Mr..
Hardwick, us whether or not there Is a
real money trust"
Reserve System Menace.
But that commission" replied Mr.
Lindbergh. has not gone so far as
| have seen, into the reserve system. Our
reserve system Is q menace to the coun-
try. We are In danger Of a financial
panic at any time. And under the pro-
posed Aldrch financial system it would
| be impossible to keep the forty-fve di-
rectors of the reserve association outside
of Wall street influence"
Mr.. Lindbergh then referred to tho re-
| cent organization Of the National City
| Company" a subsidiary corporation OF
the National City Bank of New York.
with the avowed intent of making the
| National City Company a holding con-
Germ. This he thought was most signi-
cant. and indicated that the subsidiary
corporation might traffic in the stocks Of
| other banks
| do you think that is in violation of the
| Sherman antitrust law?' Mr.. Hardwick
| incurred.
land yet that National City Company is
| a state corporation and nothing has come
/ out as yet in an official way to indicate
| that it win operate In other states"
Discussing the evils Of the present
| financial system. Mr.. Iindbergh charged
| 1t was now possible for a group of men
to organize bank pay in % per cent Of
| its capital. and then borrow sufficient
| money from the deposits to start another
bank. This process could be repeated
| indefinitely. he said. and he knew OF
cases where it had been done.
Amounts to Fraud.
Representative Weeks interrupted to
suggest that II Mr.. Lndbergh had infor-
nation Of this sort in his possession he
should not delay a minute in bringing it
to the attention of the controller Of the
| currency.
why. that amounts to fraud" he de-
clared. land should be looked into at once
by the proper authorities
but how about paying back the money
borrowed from one bank to start an
other?" asked Representative Dalzell of
Pennsylvania
''Oh, that comes later" responded Mr..
Lindbergh with q smile, land illustrates
the evils Of the present system"
Mr.. Weeks said he appeared before the
rules committee as a member of the mon
etary commission, but without authority
from that body, which had not held a
meeting since the introduction of the
Idndbergh resolution. He thought, how
ever. there had been some misapprehen-
sion as to the scope of the work of the
commission. and he wanted to tell the
committee that the commissions work
covered everything in the Lndbergh reso-
luton, with the possible exception of the
proposed inquiry to determine the ex-
| tstence Of q money trust.
Mr.. Weeks said the commission certain
| ly would look into the creation Of the
SIC, OOO,O 900 subsidiary corporation by the
National City Bank
In reply to q question by Mr.. Hardwick
concerning the alleged money trust"
Mr.. Weeks said that the trouble was that
| the banks Of the country did not CO.
operate They acted individually and in
dependently until panic times, and then
had to get together for protection. There
was no money trust, he was sure. but