The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-03-11
H|)N MONEY TRUST
As Told By
Morgan, StilIman and Baker
Are Said to Compose
Inner Group.
4s*.ss..ss + \ -. . <~%%s~-
A FINANCIAL combination approx

ludIluS w nat Is popularity NSilA !
"a ed a money trust" but not
formed in consequence of any
definite agreement is asserted by the
Democratic majority of the PujO COM
mittee to be in actual existence in the
United States.
In an exhaustive report presented to
the house of representatives few
days ago, the seven Democratic mem
bers of the committee summarized and
discussed the evidence presented be-
fore the body al its many sessions dur
ing the winter.
They hold that the most active
agents" in bringing about the concen-
tration of money and credit, alleged to |
have been disclosed, are J. P. Morgan !
& Co. the First National bank of New |
York. the National City bank of New !
York, Lee. Higginson & Co, Kidder, |
Peabody & Co. of Boston and Kuhn. |
Loeb & Co. of New York.
What the report describes as the in |
ner group in this combination con-
ssts Of j. p. Morgan & Co, the recog-
| nized leaders, and George #. Baker
and James Stillman in their individual
capacities and in their joint admins
tration and control of the First Nation
al bank, the National City bank, the
National Bank Of Commerce, the Chase
National bank, the Guaranty Trust
company and the Bankers Trust COM
pany. with total known resources in
these corporations alone in excess of
| 81, 3O0,O00O00."
The firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co, is de-
scribed as being "only qualifedly allied
| with the inner group"
How the Combination Controls.
The report. after asserting that the
money trust existed, said that it had
come about largely as.follows:
'First.-Through consultations of
competitive or potentially competitive
| banks and trust companies, which con-
solicitations. in turn, have recently been
brought under sympathetic manage
| ment
Second.-Through the same powerful
interests becoming large stockholders
In potentially competitive banks and
| trust companies,
"Third.-Through the confederation
of potentially competitive banks and
| trust companies by means Of the sys-
tenn of interlocking directories.
Fourth. Through the influence
which the more powerful banking
houses, banks and trust companies
| have secured in the management of
| insurance companies, railroads. pro-
ducing and trading corporations and
public utility corporations. by means
of stOckholdings, voting trusts, fiscal
agency and contracts or representation
upon their boards of directors or
through supplying the money required.
Fifth. Through partnership or
joint account arrangements between a
few of the leading banking houses
banks and trust companies in the pur
chase of security issues of the great
interstate corporations. accompanied
by understandings of recent growth
sometimes called banking ethics
which have had the effect Of effactual-
~ destroying competition"
Two Reform Bills Proposed.
In order to carry out some OF the
many reforms suggested by the ma
jority to end the alleged evils, the ma
jority presents two bills. One pro-
poses changes in the national banking
laws for the regulation and restraint
OF concentration and control Of money
and credit.
The committee urges legislation af-
fecting bank consolidation, interlock-
Ing directorates, interlocking stock
holdings among banks, voting trusts,
security companies as adjuncts to
banks, fiscal agency agreements, bank
investments in bonds, reform Of rail-
road reorganization. limitation of Dor
! rowings by officers from their own
banks, publicity Of assets and similar
| matters.
The committee advises that clearing
houses be incorporated and seeks to &C
complish this by prohibiting national
banks from affiliation with an unincOr-
porated clearing house or any clearing
house association that adopts rules
$ that infringe on the rights of national
banks under their charters
The report also recommends that
national banks be barred from engag
ing in undertakings and that the in
terstate commerce commission receive
: power to supervise the reorganization
OF interstate railroads and control the
security issues of such lines.
The other undertakes to compel the
incorporation of stock exchanges By
forcing them to make certain reforms
before allowing them to use the mails
This is an indirect attempt to regulate
= the New York Stock Exchange. TIL,
committee does not recommend direc
regulation of the affairs of the ex
= change except through the application
OF a mail embargo.
None OF the Republican member
signed the majority report. Three o
them-Hayes of California. Guernse,
- Of Maine and Head Of Delaware-file,