Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1920-12-06

fore been questioned, DuC aICefAa tHOf-
|ough investigation of the plan / am
convinced it does not possess the merit
Iclaimed for it,
In speaking of the interests of the
state and saying they, should not suf-
fer from the holding of state tax money
in the counties where collected, the
|Freeman-J Journal meant the state
should not suffer for want of funds to
meet necessary expenses. The ques-
|tion of interest to the state on such
funds was not thought of. However,
|if the state would suffer from the loss
IOf such interest the counties would
gain in just the proportion the state
lost, as law that would require state
money to be held in the counties where
collected would surely require that the
local banks pay at least as much inter-
est for the money, (either to the sew
eral counties or to the state,) as the
Des Moines banks now pay. Hence the
people would lose nothing from that
source.
The Freeman-Journal has no quarrel
with the banks of Des Moines. Nobody
can criticize them for accepting all
the money the state treasurer offers
them if they pay the interest specified,
and there is no question but they do
that
1915, the amount of money paid the
state treasurer for the various funds
for the year 1914 amounted to $4,73S,-
)3O4.O7. Now then, all that money was
sent to the state treasurer and he de-
posted it in the Des Moines banks.
Just how much the Banks would have
at any one time the Freeman-JOurnal
doesn't know, but when the remit
tances were made by the county
treasurer in the spring and fall it is
likely that the amounts for short peri
DDS would reach at least $2,O0OO0O.
That, of course, is fine thing for the
Des Moines banks and for the bust
ness interests Of the capital city, and
so far as it serves those interests the
Feerman-Journal is not complaining.
They are legitimate interests and de-
serve all merited success. The reason
this writer objects to this system is
this: This money belongs to the people
of the state who paid it into the coun-
| ty treasures. 1t should be retained
! in the counties where collected until
the state treasurer needed it to defray
the expenses Of the state.
In 1914 Hamilton county paid into
the state treasury, according to the
census figures of 1915, $43, 116O4. Ow-
ing to the large increase in values and
the large increase in expenditures it is
likely the county will pay the state
from 100000 to $4,000 the coming
year. The Freeman-Journal can see
no good reason why the -DoOple of
Hamilton county should not have the
advantage of the use of this money un-
til the state treasurer needs 1t. 1t
should be kept in the banks Of the
county and loaned to the people of the
county. Under such plan all the
earnings of the money would remain
among the people who created the
values it represents instead of being
sent down to Des MOines and used for
the benfit of the people Of that COM
munity.
Here is the way it works: The Des
Moines banks, we believe, pay two per
cent OH daily balances, but the exact
would pay the same. Then if the
banks of Hamilton county want to bOr-
row any of this money from the Des
MOines banks an interest charge of at
least six per cent is eXacted and the
banks here loan it to their customers
at. Land S per cent. This writer is not
personally interested in any bank in
Webster City Or Hamilton county, but
is interested in the general prosperity
of all of them and Of the peoples whom
they serve. Tile two per cent interest
paid by the banks would remain in the
community and so would the or s per
cent the borrower paid the bank for
the use of the money.
The Freeman-Journal has not charg-
led that the Des MOines banks or any
|other interests have used money to pre-
vent the enactment Of such Il law as the
one under consideration. 1t does
charge, however, that strong pressure is
brought to bear upon the legislature
to defeat such laws whenever they
are being considered.
JOHN D'S BIG GIFTS.