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fUAIlY 31, 1908
The Commoner.
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te your time asking the senate itself to pro-
for the submission of the necessary constl-
lonal amendment, but join with the state of
Fahoma, and other states, in demanding a
tvention of the states to formulate the neces-
amendment, and when the people do elect
ir senators, they will not be chosen on ac-
int of their ambition to perpetuate tariff rob-
r, trusts and monopolies.
Yes. our banking system is Insecure, and
currency insufficient, and our tariff law is
Pflbreeder of monopolies and results in robbery,
gftthe time to correct these conditions is now,
mer man wait until alter any tuture election.
THE PANIC OP 1907
I mention this unpleasant subject because
lfllllustrates the effect of a bad brand of gov-
Scnment, as administered to a more deserving
class of people, and condition of country, and
ipwticularly as it illustrates that in the future
,ti8y American people should not bo blinded and
de glad by fierce declarations unsupported by
jrictical knowledge or business experience.
I am not hero to question the good intent
the chief executive of our country. I can
dily understand that realizing that the great
companies, the great insurance companies,
the great transportation companies had cou
nted millions of their money to defeat the
Jocratic party, that it was certainly embaras-
:' to call them to account for improper con-
True democracy never did believe that cor
porate wealth should bo used to control human
w;iycfcions.
. HBjThe honest election can have no inspiring
H ""thought for the inanimate corporations; that
,V;crSature which has no pride of country, no mind
& tofelevate, and no heart to rejoice, can certainly
.!mtnn.ve no reason ior comriuuuug vast sums ui
wealth to influencing elections, except for the
fpSle; purpose of buying a substantial favor, and
grlth the assurance that the seller will deliver
theAgoods.
-iSound finances is one of the basic principles
tfjrosperity. In Oklahoma we believe we are
;ne jeuersonian slock oj. uemuuruuy, uuu
efore, when wo come to make a banking law,
built it on the foundation which declares that
s are semi-public institutions, and subject
rche control and regulation and examination
ir -m C - . tl ,- JJl f A II
oiiiawiui autnority; mat tne ngnis ol me peo-
A'& ployare the first consideration; that the banker
fetprotected when a fair law gives him reason
able earning opportunities, and in giving the
pSople protection, the banker himself is also
benefited, and an examination of banking sta-
juisLiub ior iiiuuy yeuis siiuw us liiuo iuo iuw ua
adopted in UKianoma luny protects tne people,
affd at the same time does not oppress the bank-
himself. And we are pleased to note that the
good people of our sister state of Kansas like
tlie Oklahoma law so well that they could not
ait ior a regular session ui uitur legisiuLure
gop adopt it. We feel complimented by this
atighborly approval, and we might add that
cianoma stanos reauy to avail ltseit oi any
ibd legislation that our sister states may de-
se.
We note that congress contemplates action
dGor the betterment of banking and currency
(tfhroughout the union, the needs for which, like
the tariff revision, are beyond controversy.
The Fowler bill, in my judgment, does not
cover the ground from the standpoint of the
eneral public, and it cannot be made to cover
jhe ground properly without destroying the
tructure and replacing the foundations. Its
asic principle is that the bankers themselves
should regulate the business, and control the
grolume of currency; and even its features of
regulations, for example, that the managing
board of each district should be composed of
jankers, selected by bankers, would destroy
fcvery possibility of beneficial effect. The result
ould be that the different classes of bankers
would be dominated by a very few of the more
owerful Interests. Human selfishness would
guide the hand that dictated the policy, and the
little banker, as well as the general public would
pnly realize that what was Hamiltonism a cen
tury ago, had become intensified in greater con
centration of power today.
A banking or currency law, based on the
proposition that those who profit by the business
shall regulate it, can not succeed. The time
has come in this great United States when all
elements of business, financial, industrial and
labor, should find some cause in behalf of good
government, and good government must be ad
ministered by law, and without fear or favor;
and you cannot expect such an administration
of law unless those who create the law in our
national congress, and those who administer tho
law as our executives, are imbuod with the spirit
of equal and exact justice.
.. There is another consideration connected
with the sufficiency of currency and you can safe
ly say that so long as the great financial centor of
our country Js dominated by a stock exchange,
as It now exists, that no volume of currency,
hbwever great, would bo adequate at all times
to the needs of the public. It would be impos
sible for the wealth of the nation to build a vol
ume of currency greater than the frenzied finan
ciers could absorb by their unlimited powers of
capitalization, and tho shortest road for im
mediate relief and sounder business conditions
is involved in these principles:
First, currency should first respond to tho
demands of legitimate business. Crops cannot
become a part of the commerce of the world,
except as they are transported and delivered to
the consumer, and If the capital necessarv to
conduct this transfer is only available when tho
stock gamblers can spare it, our country will al
ways be subject to unnecessary agitation and
distress.
A stock exchange is a business necessity,
but the state wherein it Is located should put it
under official control. No securities should bo
listed upon It except those legally issued, and
backed by substantial values, and after issued
they should be accompanied by a true inven
tory of those assets.
Tangible, as well as Intangible, assets
should bo truthfully shown.
If the assets are property, or cash, or good
will, or tariff favoritism, give the public fair
notice.
In the conduct of such exchange, wash sales
should never be permitted.
Short selling should not bo permitted.
Margin transactions are gambling, and
should be prohibited.
Vast volumes of call loans, which now often
exceed the whole circulating medium of the
United States, and subject to payment upon de
mand of half dozen men, is dangerous to the
business stability of the country and necessarily
concentrates capital at such exchange center to
the detriment of legitimate business'tn all other
localities; and this practice should be prohib
ited. Officers of a stock exchange should not bo
permitted to trade thereon.
Officers of corporations, whose securities are
listed, should not be permitted to trade thereon.
Lenders of money for stock exchange deal
ing, should not be permitted to trade directly,
or indirectly, thereon.
In short, a stock exchange should be limited
to bona fide purchases and sales of legitimate
securities.
But the stock exchange, as It has existed
for years, has features that will forever unsettle
the business of the country.
It absorbs capital;
Inspires gambling;
Cripples legitimate commerce;
It is the home of false pretenses and spur
ious goods;
And while the states have their dutv to
perform in regulating and limiting the practices
as heretofore mentioned, the federal govern
ment itself is lax in its duties. The United
States government, which says to the fake medi
cine man that he shall not spread his frauds
throughout the country by utilizing the United
States mail, has slept upon his duties in a far
wider and more disastrous field. It should say
that if advertising matter, or certificates of stock
of such inflated concerns as some of our Indus
tries, are to reach the public through the mail,
that they must conspicuously stamp across the
face of each certificate the words, "This stock
was issued for water only, and has no value
back of it, except the hope that an unjust tariff
law will continue to favor the company which
issued It."
You can lay down one proposition that
growth of the real wealth of a country does- not
sugerest a collapse, but should mean greater
stability, and greater safety.
The calamity Is only tho result of expan
sion when that expansion is not measured by
real values.
Had the light been turned on a few years
earlier, it would have disclosed these corrupt
financial conditions in their beginning. Let me
illustrate: In the last six years the New York
stock exchange has listed slightly over ten bil
lion dollars worth of stocks and bonds, largely
the outgrowth of frenzied finance, chiefly in the
manufacturing world. This ten billion dollars
of capitalization represents less than three bil
lion dollars. of actual values, and seven billion
dollars of ordinary water, and thin inflation of
Boveral billion dollars in thono few yearn, wan
but that much addition to a much more pumped
into the finances of tho country in tho five pro
coding years. Thou whoro do wo find our
selves? (Continued on Pago 11)
Washington Letter
Washington, D. C, January 27. One dis
tinguished naval officer, Admiral W. II. Brown
son has been violently reprimanded for having
crossed the path of tho Commander-in-Chiof and
has retired voluntarily from the navy. Three
other admirals of I ng and distinguished aervlco
are now threatened with court-martial and will
probably have to undergo it because of having
expressed mild criticism concerning tho manage
ment of the navy under a civilian subhead and
a presidential hot head. Tho last ofllcor to bo
threatened with the dire ongoanoe of tho navy
department and the prosid nt is tho president's
own naval aldo, Captain Sims, who is charged
with having entertained ns IiIh guest on a man-of-war
a magazine writer who afterwards ex
pressed some criticism of tho architecture and
the armament of rUr battleships.
The growth of precedent under tho present
administration is something marvelous. Nowa
days to bo a general in tho army or a captain in
tho navy, it would sem better to havo graduated
from tho collogo of physicians and surgeons than
from either West Point or Annapolis. It is al
so sinful to resign, unless you happen to bo on
terms of perfect amity with the Whito House.
Willie the good old practico of criticizing your
superiors put into such magnificent play by
one Col. Theodore Roosevelt, commanding a
Rough Rider regimont which did not rido, In
Cuba, when ho drew the famous round robin
addressed to tho president, Is forgotton now.
There must bo no more freedom of speech In
either army or navy, however free and flam-
boyant it may be in the White llouwe.
Some newspapers have been polling tho
house of representatives on tho question of presi
dential candidacies. Tuesday something hap
pened there that was bettor than a poll. Champ
Clark of Missouri, one of tho real old war horses
of democracy got tho floor for only a moment or
two. But what he did in those few minutes
counted. It was charged by Mr. Payne of Now
York that Missouri had ceasod to bo democratic.
Mr. Clark rose to respond. Ho explained that
at the last election seventy-flve thousand demo
crats stayed home "because they did not like a
certain telegram sent from Esopus to tho St. '
Louis convention." Ho declared that those
democrats were not dead, that they had not
moved away, and "they didn't join the republi
can party because Roosevelt got only seven
thousand more votes that McKinley in 1900."
Following this Mr. Clark declared on behalf
of his party that "on the 8th of July next wo
intend to nominate William J. Bryan for presi
dent." The scene in the house at this moment
has seldom been paralleled. The democratic
Bide rose as one cheering mass, handkerchiefs
were waved, members dashed up and down tho
aisles cheering and shaking hands, desk covers
were banged, and even on the republican sldo
expressions of admiration for the democratic
enthusiasm were shown. As for the galleries,
had Uncle Joe been In the chair ho would prob
ably havo pretended to clear them, for they vio
lated every rule of order in the house of rep
resentatives. When Representative Clark challenged the
republicans to say who they were for, he could
get no answer. There was no unity on that
side. The name of Speaker Cannon was cheered,
but there was no appearance of any combination
in behalf of either Cannon, Taft, Foraker or any
other well-known candidate. It was a case of
absolute democratic unanimity opposed to re
publican indecision and dissension.
WILLIS J. ABBOT.
CAN IT BE?
A Washington correspondent recently said
that "never In the history of the republican party
has a convention approached that has been left
so free in the hands of tho masses."
Commenting upon this statement the St.
Louis Globe Democrat (rep.) says: "But there -are
several politicians scheming to get their nip
pers on delegates before the masses can say a
word."
Is it possible there is any such thing as
scheming in the "party of God and morality?"
