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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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VOL. 8, NO, 3
Lincoln, Nebraska, January 31, 1908
Whole Number 367
CONTENTS
"MAKE ALL BANKS SAFE"
THE KENTUCKY SITUATION
MR. BRYAN'S POSITION
LET THE PEOPLE RULE
SECRETARY TAFT, TAKE NOTICE!
i "THE GREAT EVIL OF OUR TIME"
OREGON DEMOCRATS
GOVERNOR HASKELL'S SPEECH AT THE
NEBRASKA DINNER
WASHINGTON LETTER
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
"TO WHAT BASE USES WE MAY RETURN"
WHY OBJECT TO BRISTOW?
Former Assistant Postmaster General Bris-
"tow made an investigation of the Panama rail
ed and it was proposed by members of tho
fijjjtnate committee on inter-oceanic canals to in-
nte Mr. uristow to give testimony Detoro tne
committee. An Associated Press dispatch from
Washington says: "Senator Flint of California
ind Senator Hopkins of Illinois have expressed
item opposition to Mr. Bristow appearing at all
Tlnd they seem to have carried tho committee."
What objection can there bo on the part of
distinguished republicans to tho proposition that
r. Bristow tell what he happens to know about
Panama railroad affairs. What has become of
the republican party's far-famed boast that its
leaders are in favor of publicity? It has all
along been a mystery why the republican ad
ministration permitted Mr. Bristow to retire
from the public service. His record was a good
one, yet he resigned and went to his Kansas
home and although he has, plainly, tho confi
dence of the American people he seems to bo
put of touch with republican leadership.
oooo
"ANYBODY BUT"
The Philadelphia Press says: "The Johns
town Democrat is of the opinion there will be
a fading of the reactionary interest in Johnson,
of Minnesota, since it is discovered that he is
willing to experiment with the single tax and is
otherwise too much of a democrat to suit their
purposes. But there is no reason to suppose
the reactionary interests are going to be very
particular about the candidate; anybody but
Bryan will do."
"Anybody" but a particular individual!
Yet the element represented by the Philadelphia
Press pretends to possess a monopoly on the
patriotism and the intelligence of the country!
When superior mentality and extraordinary
devotion to the public interests prompt these
people to protest vigorously against the selec
tion of a certain man, it would seem that they
would not descend to the "anybody but" class.
ORGANIZED EFFORT
Whitfield Tuck, secretary of tho Bryan
club of Massachusetts, Winchester, Mass.,
writes: "I have disposed of the one hun
dred 'million membership certificates'
and would like two hundred more. I in
clude a certificate in every letter to mem
bers of our club and urge them to active
work in the army.
The famous pail in action in the indu-tri! centers of the east
MAKE ALL BANKS SAFE"
6
Mr. James B. Forgan, the prominent Chi
cago banker, has unintentionally given the ad
vocates of the guaranteed bank a slogan which
they will be quick to utilize. Ho says that ho
is opposed to the guarantee of bank deposits
because "it would make all banks safe, one just
as good as another and for that reason a man
would go to any bank with his money." Ho
claims that it would reduce all bankers to tho
same level and there would bo absolutely no
reason why anyone should not drop into tho
first bank he came to to deposit his money.
Why should not all banks be safe? Is it more
important that tho big banks should have an
advantage over the little ones than that the
depositors and the business community should
be protected from the bank failures? It is
difficult to conceive of a more selfish argument
than that which Mr. Forgan presents, and no
one can be expected to endorse his argument
without putting the interest of tho big banker
above tho welfare of the community and the
country at large. The time is a little inoppor
tune for Mr. Forgan ,to speak so lightly of the
interests of the depositor. It is only a little
while ago that the big banks as well as tho
smaller ones had to suspend payment on checks,
and the Chicago banks even were issuing
cashiers' checks. Why not look at tho question
from the standpoint of tho depositor for awhile
and give him a voice in tho determination of
our banking policy. Mr. Forgan says that tho
stockholders who supply the capital are liable
for double tho amount of the capital subscribed
and that "they have been accustomed to get for
supplying this guaranty to depositors all the
profits that can be made in the business."
Sometimes, however, the hundred per cent lia
bility is not sufficient to protect depositors, and
after the stockholders have secured "all the
profits that can be made in the business" they
leave tho depositors to hold tho bag, but the
end of this one-sided bank policy is near at
hand. Tho bankers did more than they ex
pected to do when they stopped payment on
checks they taught depositors the need of bet
ter guarantees, and now the depositors In the
various states and in the nation are insisting
that banks shall be made so good that a man
will not have to spend his time watching tho
officials or lose sleep for fear his deposit may
disappear.
"Make all banks safe," Is a good campaign
cry, and it will prove an effective one if the
republican leaders prefer to follow the advice
of tho big banks and ignore tho interests of
depositors.
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