Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1913-11-20
The Currency Bill.

Inc currency DIN.
Norman Hapgood in last weeks
Harpers Weekly" under. the
caption 1.-THE Way They Do IT,
alleges a conspiracy to put the
borrowers of the smaller country
bankers under duress, in an at
tempt to manufacture sentiment
hostile to the pending Glass-Owen
Currency Bill. He charges
The expression Invisible Govern
ment" to denote the quiet but effective
methods of financial influence came in
to immediate favor because of It's ac-
curacy. The power Of the concentrat-
ed money interests is as great as it is
hidden and smooth. A hint is given
and all the forces work together. Take
an example In the recent attack Of Mr.
Aldrich on Mr.. Bryan and the Currency
Bill. Mr., Bryan has long been a red
rag to the large property interests, and
Mr.. Aldrich is an expert in giving the
signals. when his speech was made,
word was sent out at once by many of
the large financial institutions to small
banks everywhere to cut down credit
to the utmost. They were to give it to
merchants when they deemed it abso-
lutely necessary, but they were at the
same time to create stringency in
their neighborhood. Av.person would
come into country bank with abun-
dant security and the bank officials
would say: Eyes, your security is am
pie. Y es, we have plenty of money,
but we are not making loans. We are
afraid the Currency Bill is going to
plunge the country into ruin, and very
likely this bank itself may he destroy
ed" No wonder with this policy pur-
sued all over the county, congressman
and Senators were deluged with letters
Whether such suggestions were
made or not we are not in position
to know, but if they were, there
is every evidence that they we're
ignored by West Virginia bank
ers-who have shown a laudable
and broad minded disposition to
take care of those dependent on
them for loans in the conduct of
their business.
The best evidence of this is
furnished by the recent bank
statements, published in accord
anee with law, which show that
there has been no hoardiug of re-
sources but on the contrary as
liberal loaning of funds as is
consistent with good banking.
There is so muchsgood and so
little bad in the Currency Bill UNI
der consideration that it is incon-
ceivable that in face of the strong
ly favorable public sentiment, a
few recalcitrants will be able to
much longer delay its enactment.
Frank A. Vanderlip, President
of the National City Bank of New
York in very able article in
Col. George Harvey's North
American Review while criti-
Ching the measures bad features
from his view points big and
fair enough to give it this meas
ure of appoval.
There is in it far more to commend
than to deprecate. believe that with
such amendments as / have indicated a
measure would be created which would
be of incaluclable benefit to our COM,
merce and to our international financial.
position. This benefit would be felt
through the entire breadth of society,
Banks would no longer have to devote
large resources to stock. exchange cali
loans as they are now forced to do, and
there would be hundreds of millions of
dollars of new funds at the disposal of
sound commercial enterprise, Com
mercial paper would in time become as
liquid IS stock.exchange loans now nor,
mAlly are, and not subject to the dam
ger thGt We experience from the nom
self-iiquidating character of those loans
when we discover in crisis that the
only way they can be paidis to be shift
ed, ard there is no place to which eff
fectively to shift them. The measure
30 amended would tend to create q dis
count market which would not only
make available for commercial borrow
ers in one community a plethora of
bank funds that might exist in another
but would make available here a Pile
thora Of European banks funds in the
same way. The extreme danger that
We are always facing from our twenty