The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 8, NO. 7
Lincoln, Nebraska, February 28, 1908
Whole Number 371
CONTENTS
"MAKE ALL BANKS EQUALLY GOOD"
INHERITANCE TAX
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS NOT TRUSTS
INSTRUCT
"BIX IS DEAD"
DEMOCRATIC LOVE FEASTS
CONGRESSMAN HITCHCOCK PRODUCES
THE RECORD
WORKING HARD FOR THE "MILLION
ARMY"
ATTENTION STANDARD OIL
SOME MAPS THE NEW YORK WORLD HAS
NOT PUBLISHED
WASHINGTON LETTER
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
PROMISING INDEPENDENCE
Governor Hughes, in his announcement
epeech, thus expresses himself on the Philippine
question:
"In justice to them (the Filipinos) and in
justice to ourselves, wo must omit no effort to
prepare them for self government. When they
are able to govern themselves, and are "in a
position to maintain their independence the
American people will not deny them the boon
.which we ourselves have so highly prized."
There is a distinct promise of independence
but it ignores the fact that the Filipinos are
now able to govern themselves and only need
to have the governmental machinery set in
motion.
As for their maintaining their independence
it will be easier for us to protect their inde
pendence than to protect the islands under a
colonial policy, for under independence they
would be fighting for their own liberty with
arms furnished by us. Under colonialism we
are afraid to trust them with arms.
oooo
' NOW FOR THE REAL CONFESSION
The Omaha World-Herald, referring to the
anti-Bryan literature now being circulated by
the New York World, asked the World, "Who
is paying for it?" In an editorial entitled, "Wo
Confess," the World says "the World is paying
for the pamphlet."
Having disposed of this weighty problem
perhaps the World will take the time to answer
The Commoner's question: "To what extent is
Joseph Pulitzer, the owner of the World and
the man who fixes the policy of that newspaper,
financially interested in railroad corporations
and other concerns commonly known as trusts?"
I
Jf &y t- W$?5?S5S! WSJ " -2
: : : :
VIGILANCE!
Watch the personnel of the delega
tions to Denver. Money is being used
in some of the states of the Mississippi
valley to secure delegations who will be
obedient to the predatory interests. Vig
ilance is necessary. Put none but the
trustworthy on guard. Tho democratic
masses are aroused and they must not be
betrayed by representatives of "The
System."
: : :
.
V
THE ALDRICIl BILL IN A NUTSHELL
"Make All Banks Equally Good"
Hamilton, O., February 20. Mr. James B.
Forgan, First National Bank, Chicago, Illinois:
Dear Sir: Being absent from home, I have not
yet received tho letter which you addressed to
me at Lincoln, Neb., but having read it in the
Chicago Record-Herald, I hasten to reply.
The language which I attributed to you, I
quoted word for word from one of the Chicago
papers. I have no way of ascertaining just now
from which paper I quoted it, but that is imma
terial, for I am perfectly willing to accept your
correction, and to argue the proposition upon the
language which you use in your letter.
You were quoted by one of the papers as
saying that the guarantee of deposits "would
make all banks safe," whereas what you really
said was that it would "make all banks equally
good." I accept the correction, although the
distinction which you draw is, I think, a very
fine one. But desiring to do you full justice, I
will hereafter be careful to use your exact lan
guage and not trust to paraphrasing even when
the paraphrase closely follows your language.
You object to the government's guarantee
because it puts all banks on an equality and
makes all banks equally good, and you object
to it for two reasons: First, because it would
deprive banks like your own of the advantage
which they have won by "conservatism and good
management." You intimate that it is not
selfish for you to defend yourself and your bank
against a policy that would "despoil" you or it
"of vested rights and property," and are willing
to admit your selfishness if that can be con
sidered selfish.
Let me make the charge so directly that
there can be no question about what I mean.
I charge, that you put the interests of your
stockholders above tho interests of your deposi
tors and that you put the interests of the big
bank above the interests of tho various com
munities and of tho public at large. You admit
this when you insist that tho guarantee of all
banks would deprive your stockholders of a
value which has come from wise management.
Let mo remind you that that which you
regard as "good will" is largely an advantage
created by law. The good will which you meas
ure in dollars and cents is not entirely due to
good management. It is due, in the first place,
to the fact that you are a National bank, and
you are a national bank because tho repre
sentatives of the people enacted a law that per
mitted you to organize as a national bank. It
is due in part to the fact that national banks
are inspected and regulated by law, and these
laws are made by the representatives of tho
people. It is due in part to the fact that many
people believe that deposits in national banks
are in some way guaranteed by tho government
as the bank noto is. The people who deposit
money in your bank do not, as a rule, know
" anything about the management of the bank.
They do not know anything about your methods
of doing business. They dp not know whether
the directors are ULing the deposits for their
own enterprises or carefully guarding them.
They do not know any more about the interior
workings of your bank than they did about Mr.
Walsh's bank or than they knew about other
banks that have failed. They take it for grant
ed that your bank Is safe because they trust
the government and have confidence in the reg
ulation, restriction and inspection of banks. If
you had rented a room and announced that
James B. Forgan vould accept money on de-
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