The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-04-20

/ prosperity. Our whole national life
was as one busy work shop, every.
1body having more of life than they
had ever had before; Mr.. Average Cit
izen consuming and producing more
than he had ever produced, good cheer
and happiness was on every hand
Then the crash! The fields were ripe
unto harvest. There was much to be
gathered. The reapers possessed the
greatest machinery in their history.
| They reaped, and garnered into their
own barns and they groaned under the
fruits Of their harvest. In some in
stances, the gold reserve ascended
until it exceeded 10 per cent. ~ ~.
The Cause of Depression
There are doubtless many important
factors that enter into the causes for
the present depression, there is, how
ever, but one basic and fundamental
cause and that is our money problem.
1t has been truly said that the love Of
money is the root of all evil and when
we find a concentrated control of
money, which control is exercised for
the benefit Of the few as against the
many, there we find concentrated evil.
Such control means power and that
power is always oppressive power. As
the book Of Ecclesiastes says:
$50 I returned and considered all
the expressions that are done under
the sun; and beheld the tears of such
as were oppressed, and on the side
OF their oppressors there was power"
High Spot in Financial Legislation
Time will not permit me to give
you an analytical sketch of the his
tory of our money system. I can but.
touch upon some phases, but will, to
certain extent, particularize upon
the system under which we are now
working. There is one thing that
wish you to bear in mind at the out
set and that is-that under our pre-
sent system the issuance and control
of our money and credit is vested
largely in private banking institutions
Notwithstanding the fact that the
right tt issue and control money is
supposed to be a sovereign Govern.
ment function intrusted to Congress,
that power has largely been delegated
to the Federal Reserve Banks which
are now admitted to be private bank
ing institution which display a great
deal of opposition to Governmental in
reference. In fact, they have be-.
come SO arrogant in their power that
they virtually threaten members OF
Congress with defeat at the polls
should such members dare oppose in
Congress their plans. And what makes
them more arrogant and defiant in
their high-handed policies is the fact
that the Government has virtually
gone into partnership with them.
We have had three separate and dis
tinct experiences in this country with
banks along the idea of a Central
Bank. The first was the one brought
into existence as a result of the re-
port of Hamilton and began business
on the 18th day of December, 1891.
This was the First United States
Bank. Various charges were brought
against this bank. One of the prin-
cipal objections was that 3-4 of the
stock was held abroad by foreigners
Another charge was that the Act
creating the bank was unconstitutional
and still another charge was that it
constituted a money Trust" The
criticisms proved sufficient to defeat
the bill continuing it's charter and the
bank ceased to operate on the Bird
day of March, 1871. ~ - ~ =.
=, Then, for a while, the business
of the country was conducted through
State banks. All during the War Of
1872 the State banks were function
ing and carrying on business. How
ever, need for some National system
was apparent. aOn April 10, 1916,
law went into effect creating the End.
Bank of the United States. This Bank
was modelled closely after the First,
and was our second experience. First
it is ruputed to have lost quite heavily
and Langden Cheves was made Pres
ident. He was followed by Nicholas
Biddle. They adopted a policy of re-
trenchment and defation. The GUS
toners of the Bank naturally suffered
but H. Parker Willis, who was so
prominent in the PRONUNCIATION Of the
present Federal Reserve System, tells
us that the Bank became stthe most
powerful and best managed financial
institution the country had ever seen" !"
Just SO is the Federal Reserve System
today, that is, it is ttthe most power
full and best managed" but it is man
aged for the benefit Of the banks and
a few special privileged and the peo-.
pie suffer the results. Argument was
soon adduced that proved sufficient to-
defeat the attempt to recharter the
Second Bank of the United States
and it went out of existence in Pres
ident Jackson's administration.
Our third experience with banks
modelled along the Central Bank idea
is the system under which we are now
operating, the Federal Reserve Bank
sof New York, to all practicall effects,
being the Central Bank Of the United
States. There are great many things
to be said about. our present system,
things that will show the danger Of
granting to private banking institu-
tions the right to issue and control the
money and credit Of a nation. It is
true such powers make for powerful
and profitable banking institutions,
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