The Alaska citizen., 1913-06-30

never yet have succeeded in over riding economic law; and further that such an achievement is i'm possible. even though one were will ing to attribute sinister motive 10 the leading business men iH the chic cities Of this country
 AN uTTERANCE ALARMING TO
 THE PUBLIC.
 Stirl dwelling upon this subject. We refer to the language of the preamble which reads Whereas it has been further charged and is generally believed that these same group f financiers are ea- abled to regulate the interest rates for money; 10 create. avert and compose panics etc" Here is a specific suggestion of novel econo- mic theory. the publication of which cannot fail 10 create prejudice throughout the country among many citizens, who fail to reflect that the factors which determine interest rates are not local in their source but are worldwide. being determined and-owing to the free dom Of international eXrhauEe-be- ing regulated by the average demand for credit throughout the worlds money markets. If any one man or group of men had the ability and re. sourCes-whiCh they have not to withhold credits in any one market Ike New York. the situation would the automatic inflow of credits from some altogether foreign force. The factor which intensified the distress
 ul conditions in OcfoSer, 19a7. was 1 that all the worlds markets were and during a year preyiOuS-had l been suffering from an excessive shortage of money which as has many times been pointed out by economic observers here and abroad vas because Of extraordinary busi
 ness blooms in this country. Great Britain and Germany. as well as ad- Yentitious and enormous wastes of capital such as had been caused by the San Francisco fire and the Russo-Japanese war In countries other than the United States, the stress of October. 1a07 due 10 high money rates and financial disturb ance. was relieved by the operation of banking systems devised by eX- perience to cope with precisely such conditions; whereas in this country. owing to it's weak banking system, acute disturbance was greatly pro longed and caused infinite distress
 THE PANIC OF 1907. Our hesitation 10 describe in such detail those obvious causes for the Fanie of 19o7 has been overcome only by reason of the extraordinary statement in the congressional reso- lutiOn above quoted. and by the re port to Us that an appreeiable DOT ton of the community has come to believe. from this statement, from the authorized interview given out by one of yonr associate counsel upon his retirement from your ser vice. and from other similar state hot l,s panic of 1907 was actually due to the machinations of certain powerful
 men. We regret that belief so incredible, so abhorrent and so harm lul to the country should for a mo ment have found Judgment any where. And We welcome your invi- tation as an opportunity for us to state that, 10 the extent of our obSer- yation and experience, there is not even a vestige of truth in the idea that, in whole or in part the fnan- cial convulsion of 1907 was brought or men.
 No one will deny that men ire quently are selfish, ambitious and reckless, but in order to sustain the theory that the panic of 1907 was engineered" one must attribute 10 the engineers" not only the power. but some motive for their assumed achievements. And by no process of reasoning can such mo- tive be imagined, because of the fact that the men possessing even fraction of the influence and resourc- es attributed to them always are the ones holding the largest amounts of fixed investments which, by dis turbed financial conditions. always suffer most severely. It is fact that those individuals, private bank ly, by the language of the preamble, is attributed the power to create avert and compose panics," were the ones to suffer most by the severe shrnkage in security values such losses-as the public records will in many cases running into many million doliiars. It is impossible therefore, to imagine a motive on the part of such persons as would lead to campaign of self-destruc- tion.