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The Commoner
VOL. 13, NO. 30
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The Commoner
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
lot mo say to you tliat I have arranged with Mr.
Harper, of Washington, who was kind enough
to como down with mo, to secure enough copies
of Congressman Glass' speech, delivered in pre
senting tho pending bill to congress, to send to
all tho delegates in attendance here. He will
secure your addresses, if that is possible, and
mail you, as soon as tho speeches can be secured,
copies, that you may have in your possession a
clear, plain, explicit interpretation of the law
that is now under consideration (applause.) This
speech raado by Mr. Glass contains so much more
information than I can possibly present to you
on this occasion, and gives you so much better
understanding of this bill, which is quite certain
to become a law, than I could givo you in tho
time at my disposal, that I felt that if I could
givo you tho benefit of his speech it would not
matter much whether my speech was valuablo
to you or not. In my speech I shall only call
attention to what I regard as the most important
features of this bill.
Tho first thing to which I invito your attention
is the fact that it carries out the declaration of
tho people so far as their wishes can be ascer
tained from their political action. In the plat
form adopted at Baltimoro you will find, in
addition to the plank which I read you, this
plank: "We oppose tho so-called Aldrich bill
for the establishment of a central bank, and wo
believe the people of tho country will be largely
freed from panics and consequent unemployment
and business depression by such a systematic re
vision of our banking laws as will render tem
porary relief in such localities where such re
lief is needed, with protection from control or
domination by what is known as the money
trust." That is tho plank of tho platform which
is being interpreted by tho legislation, and I
venture to say that when you have read tho
platform and compared the bill with it, you will
agree with me that this bill embodies the spirit
of the platform and correctly carries out tho
wishes of the people so far as they can be dis
covered frbm the vote that was cast last fall.
The platform denounces the so-called Aldrich
bill and tho establishment of a central bank.
This bill does not establish a central bank. This
bill takes tho best features of the Aldrich bill,
but leaves out tho things that made the Aldrich
bill objectionable. One of tho best features of
the Aldrich bill was the regional bank, and this
bill provides that there shall bo twelve or more
regional banks, and those banks will be so situ
ated as to bring them in close and immediate
association with the neighborhoods which they
represent. Through thesewelve regional banks
the relief that the federal government is will
ing to furnish can bo distributed.
I believe that these regional banks are a stop
in advance and I was quick to adopt the idea
that thoy embodied as soon as it was presented
in the report of that commission. It is to my
mind the feature of that report that has most
merit in it. It is tho association of tho banks of
a section, so that they can act together. The
bill now under consideration takes these twelve
regional banks and connects them" with each
other through a board which will sit in Washing
ton. We have not taken the Idea of a central
bank, and tho government will not take the idea
of a central bank. The object of this bill is not
to concentrate the money power of tho nation;
that has already been too much concentrated.
Tho effect of this bill will be to disintegrate
the money power of tho nation. It will put the
federal government into contact with all tho
banks through these regional banks, and save
them from the despotic domination of a few
financiers in Wall street who have attempted to
dictate the policy of the whole country.
When you are told that bankers are opposed
to this bill, I beg you to make a distinction
between bankers, for you will find a distinction
between bankers as between other people. You
must not assume that because this bill is an
tagonistic to the interests of a few bankers who
desiro to use the power of wealth to enhance
their own welfare you must not assume that
because this, bill is opposed to their selfish in
terests, it is opposed to the welfare of all the
bankers of the country. I believe that when this
bill goes into operation you will find that a great
majority of the banks, the smaller banks that
como in close touch with our communities, the
banks whose prosperity depends upon the pros
perity of the people with whom they deal, the
banks that are in sympathy with their depositors
and not with their correspondents in Wall street
If I am not mistaken you will find that this
bill in operation will bring large benefits to the
great majority of those banks and no injustice
to the big banks, for there is no injustice in
denying to a man that which he ought not to
have.
One of the features of this bill that has been
criticised is that which provides that the govern
ment shall issue the money. Well, there is a
difference of opinion. I remember that back
twenty years ago the two schools of thought on
this subject were described like this: some
thought that the issue of money was a function
of the banks and that the government ought to
go out of the banking business, while others
thought that the issue of money was a function
of government and that the banks ought to go
out of the governing business. Now the question
is, who should issue the money of a country?
You never discuss this question except in time
of peace. In time of war there is no doubt as
to who should issue the money of a country; the
government generally issues the money of a
country in time of war. No government would
ever surrender the right to issue money in .time
of emergency; and if the government must have
that right in time of peril, why should it barter
it away in time of peace and encourage private
corporations to believe that they have a vested
Tight to issue the nation's money?
This bill provides that the money shall be
issued by the government, and, I may add, it is
the first great victory of a generation for the
sovereign right of the nation, speaking through
its government, to regulate its money for itself.
The second question is, who should control the
issue of this money? The answer to that ques
tion is very simple, when you have answered the
first one. If the issue of money is a function of
government, and the money is to be issued by
the government, it would bo a fruitless victory
for the people to secure for them the right to
issue the money if you surrender the right to
control that issue.
And I ask you to remember this, that when
tho financiers demand the right to control tho
board that controls the money of the country,
and the banking regulation of tho nations, they
demand what is not demanded by any other class
in this country. Are not the railroads important?
Do they not employ a very large number of
people? Are they not capitalized at an, enor
mous sum, and are they not absolutely essential
to our business development? And yet who says
that the railroad companies should select the
members of the interstate commerce commis
sion? Who says that the railroad companies
should select one single member of the interstate
commerce commission? You can not find any
people in .any part of the land, even in a rail
road meeting, that would demand the right of
railroads to control the board that controls them
And tho more you think about it, the less you
will bo inclined to think out loud if you think
that the bankers should control tho board that
controls them.
Are you afraid to trust this government to
control your banks? Why should you make an
exception of banking? What is there about your
business that takes it out from other kinds of
business? Do not tho officials of this govern
ment control all other Interests connected with
our people's welfare? Do not the nconl
through the government make the laws th5
affect all kinds of property? Are not tho life
the liberty and the happiness of our people hi
the hands of these trustees, selected by thn
people to make their laws? Will you trust tho
legislature to make a law by which a man can
be hung, and yet not trust it to make a law
that will regulate a bank? Are you willing to
intrust your legislature with power to mako
laws to regulate your domestic affairs, laws to
regulate marriage and divorce, laws to regulate
descent of property, and yet not trust these
people who act for you to control the banks or
to fix the terms upon which they shall serve the
people?
When congress says and I am glad that the
president is in harmony with congress in say
ing it when congress says that the banks of
this country shall be controlled by a board com
posed of public officials, it says what everybody
admits is proper unless he has a pecuniary
reason for not being able to think clearly on
this question. Do you tell me that the banks
can be trusted to regulate their business in the
interests of the people? Who told you that a
"banker so differed from everybody else? Who
told you that he is more unselfish than a judge?
Do you know of any judge who is permitted to
decide his own case? Why do we not permit a
good judge to decide his own case? Do you
know of any citizen so good that you let him
be one in a jury of twelve to decide his own
case? Then why do you want the bankers to
be twelve in twelve or even one in twelve to de
cide their own case?
Young men, let me give you a safe proposi
tion. The presumption is a tremendous thing.
If it is on your side, your way is ,asy; if it is
against you, your way is hard. Let me give you
a presumption. Let us presume -hat bankers
are just as good as anybody else, and no better.
It saves you an awful lot of trouble to get be
hind the presumption that you are as good as
other people. If you had to prove it, it might
take away time needed in your banking busi
ness. If any man had to prove that he was as
good as other people, he might have trouble;
but when you assume that the bankers are as
good as other people, you are standing on solid
ground, because they are. If, however, you
assert that they are better than other people,
you have a hard task before you. When you try
to prove that any class of people is better than
the rest of the people, you will be in trouble.
You can prove that some particular man is bet
ter than those about him if you ca- have a jury
made up of his friends; but it is very hard to
prove even that before an impartial jury. We
are so much alike in our inspirations, in our in
clinations and even our strength to resist temp
tation, that it is not a safe thing to attempt to
prove that even an individual is much above his
fellows. But if you attempt to prove that any
class is better, you will be confronted by excep
tions so quickly that you will be confused and
confounded.
Now I present this proposition to you, because
it is a very material one. You can sometimes
find judges who might be trusted to decide their
own cases, but we do not say it of fudges gener
ally, and we do not allow the law to make any
exceptions. I havo no doubt that you could find
a man so upright and bo honest that if you
trusted him to decide his own case he might do
it justly; but he is an exception and wo do not
make rules for him. We allow no man to
furnish proof that he is an exception.
And, so, when the bankers say that they can
be trusted to legislate for themselves and claim
that they will do it in the interests or tho
people, I doubt it. But I can tell you how you
can prove to me that you can be trusted, as a
class, to legislate for tlie people. Show me a
usury law that was ever enacted by money
lenders. Do you know of any? Do you ever
expect to have any? The country would wau
until doomsday for a usury law if it had w
wait until such a law was enacted at the sug
gestion of those who lend money. And so tue
laws which have come for the protection of Dan
depositors have come not at the request or uw
banks themselves, but at the demand of those
who have suffered because the banks bae uui
been entirely safe. . .
You may rest assured that the control of this
central reserve association will bo in the nam"
of the government, and that whatever a uanKw
may lead himself to believe, the people J'"1 ut.
lieve that public servants, acting under oatu an
in the daylight, are .safer custodians of tne
(Continued on Pago 29.)
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