The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-10-06
DIR. I. I. LADDIS
| III sst f.s
WEEKLY LETTER
Continued from last week.

tried to fix arbitrary relations OF val
ue bat neither group touched the bas'
ic issue Of the money prOblem-the
power to control the volume and use
of the nations credits.
.tIn 1871, the. surrender of Corn
wallis ended the Revolutionary War
In 1881 the Continental Congress, in
stead Of creating a National Bank
authorized the incorporation Of the
Bank Of North America and gave to
it charter with power to issue mon
ey. The bank opened for business in
January 1882. The ending of the Rev
olutionary War was one Of the SUI
preme events of world history. 1t was
followed by monstrous anti-climax.
"A nation sercures liverty and SOW
ereignty for it's people by heroic sac
rifice and long suffering-only to
hand over its greatest treasure, its
national credit, to private agencies, to
do with as they wish. This was the
issue in Jackson's time). :.
""The same scene follows the Civil
War. That war was fought with cred
it bills issued by the general govern
ment; after the banks of the country
had closed their doors and gone into
bankruptcy; this in December 1861.
When The war was ended, these same
bankers demanded that the credit bills
that carried the nation through four
wears Of war must be retired, and that
Congress turn over to them the pow
err to issue their own notes as the ma
tion's money; in place of the green
backs that had won the war. Congress
again failed in it's duty to the people.
Tt issued no more national credit bllls.
It once more gave over to private ag-
encies control of the nations credit TO
do with as they might wish. Abuses
of this power became so oppressive
as to threaten the system. In l9Oo,
not satisfied with the power to control
national credits and in order to prop
up a tottering structure OF railroad
and industrial monopoly finance, an
attempt was made by the more power
full banks to legalize these monopolles
and to institutionalize their private
finance by making their stocks and
bonds the legal basis for enlarged
bank credit and circulation, notwlth-
standing and probably because these
stocks and bonds were merely the cap
italized values of the monopolles tney
possessed. For the time being, this Ell
fort failed. The lesser banks We're
unwilling to surrender their powers to
q. gigantic monopoly Of monopoi1sts,
the credit masters OF the natlon,
"In 1913 after campaign OF edu-
cational moral suasion. a measure i
substantially identical in FORM, con-
tent and purpose became the law.
Both of the historic political parties
claim credit for this legislation; dem
onstratinp the invisible differences be.
tween them, when the interests OF
the oliparch conflict with the inter
ests of the people. The Federal ne.
serve Act was so drawn as to permit
an unlimited expansion of credit Tor
an unlimited time, for which, at that
time. there was no visible necessity. Is
& possible that American financlers
anticipated the demand for credit that
must follow the entry of America IN
to World War and foreseen only py
themselves?
Under this law, the Federal Reserve
Act of 1913, credit control is SO cen
tralized that less than dozen men
hold autocratic dominion over every
industry in the land. -.
"The making of bank credit is
very simple process: It is called mon,
ev on account; shadow money, and
is matter of absolute discretion with
the banker. A would-be borrower
wishes to purchase 100000 Of bank
credit and applies to the banker for
q loan r. his standing in the CONNER
rial world is o. k. and his collateral
IS satisfactory, the borrower turns u
over to the banker with q power OF at
.tornev. He also signs note statlng
the amount and promising to pay OH
tha, loan whenever the banker de-
mands The power of attorney author.
ives the banker to sell the collateral
il for any reason the borrower falls y 70
fulfill every letter Of his contrace.
Considering the bank system as uh-
It. the borrower puts nothing INTO tne
bank, nor does he take anything out
Of the bank; yet he walks out with q
credit balance of 500, 900 that he has
houpht. and the bank calls this cred.
Il an asset. When he comes to pay OH
his loan, he pays interest and other
charges for credit, an intangible mon
.ev of account-for the use Of money
that was never printed and never ex-
listed, except in imagination. There is
over $50, 600, ,OOO, 900 Of this phantom
money outstanding in the American
business world today and drawing M
terest for bankers, the private agen-
cies to which our Congress turned ov-
eli the control Of the money functions
Of our government.
Continued next week.
-.