AUGUST 18, 1911
Ward, N. C; Chas. J. Mauror, Mo.; Geo. W.
Gerhart, Pa'.; "W. B. Bradford, Cal.; W. R.
Young, Wash.; G. H. Hosklns, 111.; W. T. Colo
man, 111.; J. E. Genlson, Conn.; T. A. Randell,
Tex.; W. H. Grant, 111.; K. S. Kennedy, Wash.;
A. L. Hardy, Mo.; Wm. A. Parr, Ariz.; Jno. A.
Harp, Fla.; J. T. Goodwin, S. D.; S. A. Gray,
Tex.; J. F. Smith, Okla.; S. P. White, Ky.; C. A.
Chamberlain, Mich.; F. D. Lamb, N. Y.; Martha
Weisanburg, 111.; W. C. Wilson, Tex.; B. S.
Gillespie, Neb.; JaB. A. Smith, Del.; J. B. Wal
lace, Kan.; G. B. Ballard, la.; Joe McCarville,
la.; Oscar Kerns, Mo.; J. E. Sprigg, Va.; Leon
Bartlett, la.; W. R. Smith, Ala.; J. H. Starkey,
Okla.; G. Clark, Mich.; J. F. Davenport, la.;
C. Wesenbach, O.; W. H. Lester, Okla'.; A. J.
Krutsenger, la.; J. A. Statler, Kan.; N. M.
Proctor, Tex.; S. E. Bethel, O.; A. J. Cleve
land, la.; G.eo. W. Hughes, la.; Lous. S. Malono,
Pa.; Jacob Schopp, O.; J. T. Zlmmer, 111.; C. K.
Hawley, La.; T. H. Kuhn, Ind.; Wm. D. Holi
day, D. C; L. A. Betzer, Neb.; W. Ballard, Mo.;
David M. Tice, Md.; Jno. Gresham, W. Va.; J.
C. Bigham, Mo.; Wm. P. Gregg, N. Y.; F. J.
Hanlon, N. J.; F. L. DaviB, Okla.; J. B. Mowery,
Wash.; F. D. Turner, W. Va.; W. 0. Thormiley,
O.; L. B. Ikard, Colo.; L. G. Loch, Pa.; Jno.
W. Crockett, Ark.; M. C. Hamilton, Tenn.;
G. H. Lillard, Cal., 5; F. A. Yindra, Wis., 10;
A. A. Piper, Maryland, 25; V. B. Weeks, 111., 5;
T. A. Willmore, Neb., 5; Mack Rittenbury, Ala.,
29; H. P. Wharton, Ariz., 5; B. B. Guilford,
111., 6.
Travis Sanders, Ariz.: Enclosed please find
money order for one dollar ($1.00) covering two
years' subscription to The Commoner, under
your recent agreement. A friend of mine here
has facetiously termed The Commoner my bible.
However I can, without scruple, read my politi
cal articles of faith from it. It may not be
amiss to suggest that in responding to my sub
scription you may find yourself in the peculiar
role of one who "casts pearls before swine." Not
so much in my particular instance but rather
collectively in the weekly pilgrmage of The
Commoner to your constituency in Arizona.
Since the unfortunate condition resulting from
congressional consideration of statehood for
4 Arizona-has unhappily fdrced us fntd the unenvi
able' position of beiiig considered "vandals, sav
ages, mobs, etc.," and wholly unfit for 3olf- gov
ernment. Such terms of opprobium, it seems to
me, to be palpably unfair to be applied to a great
community of people living in juxtaposition to
other cognate divisions of the union, living in
such felicitous enjoyment of a great nation's
favor. Withal it may be- that my dissenting
from the propriety 'of justness of the opinion
as held by such worthy men of the administra
tion as President Taft and Attorney-General
Wickersham and Senators Bailey and Root and
-others equally distinguished in our national
congress, is further specific evidence of the cor
rectness of the estimate placed upon the people
of Arizona. However, the particular averment
of the people of Arizona to the contrary, as ex
pressed in the ratification of their constitution,
seems to be void and of no effect. The judicial
recall, Mr. Bryan has been the innocent cause of
bringing down upon our too progressive, if not
too devoted heads, the tempestuous, fretful criti
cism of a nation, of course expressed through its
appropriate official mouthpieces. They have not
denied us the privilege of formally entering con
gress in the assertion of a constitutional right
but they have rendered that assertion nugatory
by denying us tho constitutional incident. Yes,
there is an immediate solution, Mr. Bryan, but
the acceptance of the pending condition Is tanta
mount to voluntarily submitting to political
emasculation.
A, M. Garrett, Iat Please find enclosed draft
for '$35,0.0 to pay for thirty-five two-year cam
paign subscriptions. Pretty fair is it not for
one small town in a' republican state and part
of these subscribers are republicans?
J. A. Relnbold, Pa. Enclosed pleased find
$7.00 for which you will send The Commoner
for two years to the following names and addresses.
Chairman Underwood accuses Congressman
Ja-mps of "talking to the galleries," because the
Utter objects to a fifty-year franchise to a power
company. Now will Mr. Underwood rise to a
Question of personal privilege and amid the
plaudits of tho house explain to what part of
the audience he was talking?
The Commoner. 7
What Happened to the New York World
A STORY OF THE GREAT MONEY MONOPOLY
The murk that arises from Wall street so colors tho business atmosphoro of New York that it
affects the vision of nearly everybody on Manhattan island.
To the Now Yorker, business is good or bad, according as tho stock ticker is actlvo or sluggish.
When the clique which control tho money trust and stock inarkot find things coming their way,
then New York believes that prosperity is hero. Whon Wall street finds it hard to fool tho people
into playing Its game. Now York says hard timoB are at hand.
With New York, business is Wall street and Wall strcot is business.
One notable exception to this view has been the Now York World. For years it has carried on
a campaign that rose almost to tho dignity of a crusade against tho monoy trust. It has repeatedly,
in news stories and in editorials, told of tho operations of tho monoy monopoly to control indus
trial activities and to crush out those who stood f or economic independence.
During the last few weeks tho World has boon particularly activo In this respect, showing how
the control of credit by the money trust had been used by tho Morgan interests to seizo the comont
business, to form the harvester trust, and to drivo tho Tennessee Coal and Iron company Into the
arms of the steel corporation.
But something has happened to tho World. It has seen a light, dazzling Indeed, blinding. The
change that has occurred Is shown by tho following:
Editorial, Now York World, July 31, 1911:
Editorial, Now York World, Juno 17, 1911:
Our neighbor, tho Times, confesses its in
ability to understand what Governor Woodrow
Wilson means by "the money monopoly." "If
he means a monopoly of tho various forms of
currency," says the Times, "whore does it exist,
how Is it acquired, how Is It exerted and what'
are the evils attending it?"
All of tho Times' questions are easily
answered. "Tho money monopoly" to which
Governor Wilson referred has Its headquarters
in Wall street, but Its Influence extends over the
entire country. It Is acquired through the con
trol of banks, trust companies and life insurance
companies. It is exerted through its power of
life and death over credit, a power which 13
given by Its control over those vast sums of
other people's money. Its evils are both
economic and political.
The same day the Times ingenuously asked
Governor Wilson what ho meant by "the money
monopoly," the newspapers announced that Mr.
Morgan's Bankers' Trust company had bought
from Mr. Morgan's Equitable Life Assurance
society Its holdings in the Mercantile Trust com
pany, and that by this transfer the aggregate
assets of the banks dominated by J. P. Morgan
& Co. exceeded $1,000,000,000. This $1,000,
000,000 is not Mr. Morgan's money, but it is
in the hands of the Morgan interests, which
say who can borrow it and who can not borrow
it, how it shall be used and how it shall not bo
used.
When Mr. Morgan took over the Equitable
from Thomas F. Ryan, he paid more than $2,
600,000 for stock that can legitimately earn
only $3,514 a year, but what ho really bought
was control over the Equitablo's $400,000,000
of assets and $80,000,000 of surplus. After this
control was acquired the statement was made
in one of the financial newspapers that no man
could borrow $1,000,000 In New York, whatever
the security, if Mr. Morgan objected to his hav
ing it. No doubt this is true, for there are few
Independent bankers anywhere who would care
to incur the hostility of the money trust that
has been built up by the Morgan-Standard Oil
interests and their allies.
The "money monopoly" controls more than
money and credit. It controls oil and steel and
railroads and all manner of corporations by
means of interlocking directorates and 'a well-defined
community of Interest. Its political activi
ties are as far reaching as Its financial activities,
working through railroad lawyers, corporation
lawyers, country bankers and political bosses.
In fact, there has been created in Wall street
what is practically a central bank, more for
midable than tho old United States bank ever
was or could be, wholly irresponsible in its use
of power except as restrained by the merely
technical provisions of the banking laws, and
more dangerous politically than a regime of Nick
Biddies such as Jackson crushed.
Governor Wilson, we think, could tell the
Times a great deal about this money monopoly
if it is really ignorant. Unless common report
Is mistaken, tho governor fs already on tho
monopoly's blacklist, and It has decided that he
would not be a proper candidate for president
Wo hold no brief for tho money magnates. Tho
World was tho first nowspaper to exposo and
oppose tho menaco of what is called tho monoy
power represented by Mr. Morgan and his
financial associates. Wo have denounced re
peatedly tho wrongful use of that power,
Wo print olsowhero an extract from Gover
nor Wilson's Harrlsburg speech concerning what
ho Is pleased to designate as "tho monoy
monopoly," with comment thereon by tho
Springfield Republican.
,Tho charge made by Governor Wilson, with
consummate phrasing, brovity and lucidity,
without regard for tho facts, is that "the groat
monopoly in this country is tho money
monopoly," and that its power is used for per
sonal ends by a fow men who "chill and check
and destroy genuine economic freedom." How
like Mr. Bryan's languago of sixteen years ago!
Tho Springfield Republican points out that
there aro In tho United States 20,000 banks in
dependently owned and operated and engaged
In actlvo competition for business.
Governor Wilson misrepresented tho money
situation. Ho has painted a vivid picture of
misused concentrated power not warrantod by
facts. Why has ho done this? Suroly so able
and intelligent a man would not presume to
teach tho people on a subject of which ho Is
ignorant. Can ho have any purpose save, tho
exposition of truth and tho direction of public
thought into safe channels?
Thinking men must deplore such unjustified
statements on the part of Governor Wilson. It
is especially regrettable because unquestionably
there is a general tendency toward exaggera
tion of any public wrong a tendency to yield or
appeal to public clamor instead of to public in
telligence. Some public men magnify existing
evils and create others. They affright tho un
thinking and unintelligent with visionary
wrongs. These hectic imaginings aro peculiarly
pernicious when tho public is excited over real
abuses. There is a popular prejudice against
great corporations and against men controlling
enormous financial resources who undertake
large capitalistic enterprises.
Why does Governor Wilson add to the clamor
with the baseless and preposterous claim of a
money trust of 20,000 banks spread through
forty-eight stages? Is this true statesmanship?
Is it tho part of a man of courage, conscience
and conviction? None realizes better than he
that false and futile agitation Incites passion.
Only demagogues foment unreasonable fears
and prejudices. Statesmen correct them with
candor.
Most of the American people aro busy. They
hayo neither tho time nor the Inclination to
gather and comprehend facts bearing upon
political and economic questions. They do not
analyze and correlate them. They take opinions
from men whom they trust. The responsibility
of wise, honest guidance rests upon gifted lead
ers like Governor Wilson. Tho trend toward
irrational leadership makes it Imperative that
ho disdain tho appeal to the unthinking and
prejudiced, and adhere rigidly to conscientious
thought and truthful speech. He can not afford
to mislead. He should speak to enlighten, never
to arouse passion or prejudice.
of the United States.
The day after Governor Wilson delivered his Harrisburg speech the World said in an editorial:
"Compared with tho profits of the money trust, tho earnings of industrial trusts on their In
vested capital appear paltry. It is not from oil, steel and tobacco that the greatest gains come,
but from money changing and the exploitations of the proceeds of Industry.
"As Woodrow Wilson said in his speech at Harrisburg last night, 'THE GREAT MONOPOLY IN
THIS COUNTRY IS THE MONEY MONOPOLY. ' "
The capitals are not ours. Nor yet are they Governor Wilson's. They are the New York World's.
It Is plainly ovident that since June 17 something has happened to tho World. What was it?
'Philadelphia North American.
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