Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

PAGE TWO Public Opinion Throughout the Union THE MONEY TRUST. When LaFollette was out on the Chautau qua circuit nothing would raise his ire sooner than to have some man in the audience ques tion his statement that a money trust had been formed in Wall street. He would instantly dive for his satchel and draw out a pile of documents to prove the statement true. The other day a banker said to the Inves tigator : “I used to think that your statement that there was a bankers’ trust was the wildest folly. But it is true —just as true as the Bi ble. There is no such thing as an independent banker. I have found that out withili the last few weeks. I thought I was an independ ent banker, but I found out very suddenly that I was not. lam simply a cog in the ‘sys tem.’ I am under just as absolute control as a slave ever was on a southern plantation.” There are hundreds of bankers in the west who tried to do a legitimate, honest banking business. They had not engaged in promo tion schemes, their banks had not been or ganized for the purpose of furnishing their officers loans to do business with. They were prepared to cash all drafts drawn upon them, but when Wall street said to them “suspend payments,” though they rebelled at the order for a day or two, a great majority of them found that they had to obey or go out of business. A few banks here and there were able to defy that order and continue cash payments, but they will be attended to hereafter. Sever al western cities have resumed cash payments, but they dare not announce the fact. If they did, checks drawn on them would immediately go to a premium, for they would be equal to cash and the premium on cash is running from 3 to 5 per cent. Wall Street banks that have the deposits of western banks and refuse to pay them, would immediately draw drafts on them and sell them at a premium. Wall Street bankers have actually done that thing in some cases. Think of such a crime! A Wall Street bank has actual money belonging to a western banker and refuses to pay it back. Then the Wall Street bank learns that the western banker, notwithstanding the hand icap put upon him, is making cash payments. Then it sells a draft on the western banker at a premium, puts the amount of the robbery in the vaults and draws out what money the western banker has. Under such conditions as that the western banker soon learns that to disobey an order from Wall street is a mighty dangerous thing. Did any other trust, aside from the money trust, ever have a power like that? The statement that the money trust is the greatest of all trusts is true. Os course such a power as that could not be exercised if Wall Street did not control the government. If the attorney general should say, “I will enforce the laws against bankers in the same way they are enforced against all other citizens,” it would put a stop to it THE JEFFERSONIAN. instantly. The law, if enforced, w r ould send every national banker to the penitentiary from one to fifteen years who “pays out” anything to be used as money except national bank notes, greenbacks, gold and silver. It would force any state banker to pay a 10 per cent tax on all such paper. But as long as Wall Street holds the government there can be no such thing as an independent banker. They must obey the Wall Street orders with the servility of a slave. —Weekly Investigator. THE OKLAHOMA IDEA—BANK DEPOS ITS TO BE INSURED BY THE STATE. Oklahoma is losing no time in making her self useful in charting the channels and reefs of advanced legislation. There is no such word as fear in her dictionary, and in the tumbling rush of her experiments there can hardly fail to be some discoveries of value. Mr. Bryan suggested that the United States Government should guarantee the deposits of national banks, and it is understood that this idea at first struck President Roosevelt rather favorably. But with all its attractions the plan had possibilities of danger, which, on second thoughts, made it seem a thing to be handled gingerly. It looked as if it might be putting a premium on reckless banking. If there were two banks in the same town, one taking risks for large profits, and the other doing a safe and conservative business, but both equally guaranteed by the Government, the reckless one would stand to win high stakes if it had luck, and if it did not the Government would make good its losses to its depositors. Under such conditions it could make a better bid for business than its cau tious rival. But such thoughts do not terrify Oklahoma. Where Mr. Bryan merely speculates and sug gests, she acts. By a law which is to go into effect on the 15th of February, every State bank will have to contribute to a depositors’ guaranty fund a sum equal to one per cent of the average daily amount of its deposits. Na tional banks may take part in the guaranty arrangements at their option, provided they secure the permission of the Federal author ities, which they have not yet been able to do. If a bank fails, its depositors are forthwith to be paid off in full from the guaranty fund, and the State is to take possession of the assets and replenish the fund from their proceeds as far as possible. If the fund at any time should prove insufficient to meet the demands upon it, additional assessments may be levied upon the banks. Os course, this makes an extremely attract ive prospect for the depositors of the Okla homa banks as long as the system works. If the national banks are not allowed to get the benefits of the guaranty, they will lose their deposits to the State banks. Moreover, a drain of deposits from the Kansas banks has already begun, and it is predicted that Kan sas will have to adopt a similar system to pro- tect her own banking business. That will put the matter up to Missouri, which will see her deposits threatened by Kansas, and there is no apparent stopping place for the movement short of the two oceans. Oklahoma thinks she has found the way to bring out the nation’s hoarded cash, and experience will soon show whether she is right.—Collier’s Weekly. THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. Our battleship fleet is now on its way to the straits of Magellan, through which it must pass to enter the Pacific ocean. Except the name little is known to laymen about these straits, and as much has been said about them lately, concerning the danger of their passage and the plot of anarchists to attempt the de struction of our fleet in this channel, it is a point of interest upon which public attention is now centered. The straits of Magellan separate the main land of South America from the large island of Terra del Fuega. The chain of the Cor dilleras mountains, which stretches all the way down the South American continent near its west coast, from Central America to its Southern point, is here broken by a deep chasm, which constitutes the straits. This re markable waterway is some 300 miles long and from five to thirty miles wide, of great depth in most parts and with a rocky bottom. This affords no anchorage for ships, and naturally there are many places where the rocks are • (Continued on Page Fifteen.) ANNOUNCEMENT. To the Voters of the Northern Judicial Cir cuit: I announce my candidacy for the office of Solicitor-General of the Northern Judicial Circuit, subject to the primary to be held for that purpose. I assure you that I will appre ciate your support. L. D. M’GREGOR. Taylor-Trotwood Magazine and Watson's Weekly Jeffersonian. Both one year $2.00 Taylor-Trotwood Magazine and Watson’s Jef fersonian Magazine. Both one year $2.25 World’s Events and Watson’s Weekly Jeffer sonian. Both ©no year sl.7s World’s Events and Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine. Both one year $2.00 The Travel Magazine and Watson’s Weekly Jeffersonian. Both one year $2.00 The Travel Magazine and Watson’s Jefferso nion Magazine. Both one year $2.25 Holland’s Magazine and Watson’s Weekly Jes fersonian. Both one year $2.00 Holland’s Magazine and Watson’s Jefferso nian Magazine. Both one year $2.25 The Metropolitan Magazine and Watson’s Weekly Jeffersonian. Both one year $2.00 The Metropolitan Magazine and Watson’s Jef fersonian Magazine. Both one year $2.25 Odum Clark’s magazine and Watson’s Weekly both one year $1.35 Odum Clark’s magazine and Watson’s Jefferso nian Magazine, both one year $1.85 Address THE JEFFERSONIAN, Thomson, Ge.