The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-01-31
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| From their standpoint, l believe their
climactic appearance as witnesses was
quite fitting. The committee that had
started out with bales and bales Of
records from which the investigators
were going to prove how terrible was
the House of Morgan had found it was
| giving them a rather clean bill of
health. They found that the commit
tee, instead of proving that they had
brought on the war, was proving for
the House of Morgan that it had served
the United States government; that its
policies were of more value to this
country than they ever had been pub
| licly shown to be before and that in
the end they had enabled the govern
ments of Great Britain and France to
maintain their strength and fight off
the Central Powers until the men and
money from the United States were
brought into play.
Through the long years that ]. P.
Morgan and company has operated in
New York, the name has been synOny-
nous with Wall Street because dema-
gogues and those politicians who profit
| by batting big business as a popular
sport had created that impression. AL
ways when it was profitable for rep
resentative or senator to conjure up
picture to win votes for himself you
could find illusions to the mighty
power of Morgan"
1t will be recalled how in recent
years two former senators, Brookhart,
Republican of Iowa, and Helm, Demo-
crat of Alabama, made mince meat Of
the money changers of Wall Street."
Always, the money changers" were
headed up by the house of Morgan. I
mention these two former senators be-
cause their attacks are typical. There
are those in the senate today who do
the same thing and for exactly the
same purposes.
The committee investigation of the
House of Morgan showed that the in
stitution had profited by acting as COM
mercial agents for the allies and that
in handling about three billion dollars
in purchases of wheat, cotton, coal, oil,
shells and other munitions of war for
the allies q commission of l per cent
had been paid to the House of Nor
gan. The inquiry also revealed the eX-
tent to which Morgan and company
had taken bonds of the French and
British governments and had sold
them here. Evidence showed that aft
er the United States entered the war,
the United States government took
over the job of financing those nations
whose business and financial transac-
tions had been handled by the House
OF Morgan prior to April 6, 1917.
So. the munitions investigation, in
stead of smearing the House of Nor
gan, apparently has told for the first
time the details of how it functioned
during a period when the United
States government could do nothing,
period when the vast majority of our
citizens were proved to have been SYM
pathetic with the allies against the
central powers.
At the outset I said this investiga-
ton had fiared back on its sponsors.
Time alone will tell
| Senatorial how significant this
Eno,,iries explosion has been,
and time alone dis
close whether it will have the effect Of
reducing the number of senatorial eX-
cursons into the affairs of private
business.
The senate has vast powers and they
are susceptible to abuse. There are
MANY unbiased students of government
who hold the conviction that there
have been unwarranted investigations
by the senate and that these investi-
cations amount to persecution of pri-
yate business. Obviously. some in
oufries have turned up real dirt. Take
the oil scandal that came out Of the
Harding administration, for example.
The facts in that conspiracy probably
never would have been disclosed ex-
cent for the vigorous job done by the
late Senator Walsh, Montana Demo-
crat. There are other illustrations OF
the truth of the statement that some
investigations are valuable. On the
other hand, it seems to me that head
line hunting as such, represents game
somewhat outside of the rules of fair
play.
If the bitter feeling that was devel-
oped from the situation centering
around President Wilson's wartime ac-
lions serves as a lesson for the future,
feel sure that there will be fewer SEN
! atorial inquiries. 1t shows. or ought to
show. that there should be some basis
established before senate committee
goes whole hog after the hides of any
business men, whether they be great
or small.
@ Western Newspaper Union.
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