The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-26
CIVIL WAR DIDN'T CLOSE
 STATE BANK JOHN SHARP WILLIAMS TELLS WHAT LOUISIANA INSTTTU-
 TTON DID. KEPT GOLD RESERVE
 OF B 1-S PER CENTUM ''JAIL FOR MORSE WHO FAILED; HEAVEN FOR MORGAN WHO
 SUCCEEDED"

Washington, Dec. 26-When it comes to digging up history and stat ing facts about remote incidents in the history of the United States or the civilized world it takes the Hon. John Sharp Williams from Mississippi to deliver the goods. He also holds the title for being the keenest debater up on the floor of the Senate and he is at his best when he is defending his party. How many people in this coun- try knew that there was one state bank in the country that kept its notes at par during the civil war while it was situated in the midst of the tur- moil and strife of the war. It has been the boast of men who have studied the banking of the world that the Bank of France kept it's doors open and transacted business while the German army was under the walls of Paris, and for this many have been heard to express admiration of the French banking system, but how many people in America knew about the American State bank in state settled by the French that kept it's notes at par while the tread of marching armies, and the din of battle stirred everyone in the Southern state where the bank was located. Senator Will Hams said in part while answering Senator Elihu Roots charge that the pending currency bill was going the result in a general imitation of the currency: Now then as to the re- serves of gold under this bill. The bill requires a reserve of 33 Is per cent (now 40 per cent.) This is a great restraint on imitation. Senators, l ask your attention to a few histori- cal facts. The old bank of Louisiana required reserve of 33 Ia per cent. against all demand liabilities; that is. whether notes or deposits. That bank maintained its notes at par while the notes of this great Federal govern ment were at a discount and when the notes of the Confederacy were at three times as much discount. Sol diers in both armies sought the Bank of Louisiana notes, and the sole pro- tection was a reserve of sS 1-3 per cent. against all demand liabilities It maintained it's notes at par in the midst of the Civil war, demora1izatfon, i industrial and of every sort, until General Ben Butler footed the bank. It was only a state bank, and neces- sarily of limited resources"
 Charles Spau1ding Thomas, senator from Colorado who says in his bio graphy that he. was born in Darien, 1 Georgia and afterwards placed in school at Bridgeport, Connecticut,
 
 the other evening in which quoted Senator Root as saying: .tIn the panic of 1907 there was a chain of five banks in the city of New York-a chain, five of them linked together that had been promoting enterprises | out of which the managers of the | banks looked for great profits. If they had kept on they would have be- | come mi11ionafres. There were ice | companies, steamship companies and | all sorts of speculative enterprises. If | they succeeded the owners of the banks would have made enormous | fortunes. They failed. The men who 1 had trusted them suffered the natural consequences which in this world fol- | low folly and failure to regard the law of probity and good sense" After reading the above Senator Thomas said: There is an instance of bad | banking given by theS Senator (Root1 | devoid of any guaranty feature what soever; in other words, the condition of which the senator now complains now exists. It does not need to be promoted or stimulated by any bank guaranty system. It is herA, and the senator cannot draw his illustrations from what is bred from the law which he comments in order to punctuate an evil which he prophecies. And, Mr. President, in addition to this chain of banks which failed there were and I are other chains of banks which did not fail; and failure or the want of it. seems to be the measure of deter mining it's legitimacy. Contempor- with the Heinze chain was a chain which the firm Of Morgan formed !" and controlled, consisting of the First bank, the Guaranty Trust Company, the Bankers Trust Go, The First Securities Co.,, the Equitable Life Assurance Co.,, and the New York Life Insurance Co.,, and doubtless many others. They also financed ice companies, and railroad companies, and steamship companies and a great many other companies. They sue ceeded- Their success has been tre- mendousj it has been phenomenal. There is no great difference in prin- ctple in the chain of banks used by the senator from New York as an i1- lustration and those chains of banks which exist everywhere. The Morse system of banks failed and Morse went to the penitentiary. The Nor gan system of banks succeeded and l. Morgan went to Heaven.''