"Banking And Currency And The Money Trust" By Charles August Lindbergh - Part I Of V Parts
"In 1913, Congressman Charles August Lindbergh Sr. (father of the famed aviator) wrote: Banking, Currency, and the Money Trust, and in 1917 he wrote "Why is Your Country at War?," attributing high finance as America's involvement in World War I. According to Eustace Mullins, in his book, PUBLIC CENTRAL BANK - On Reclaiming Our Central Bank And Monetary Policy, plates of Congressman Lindbergh's second book were confiscated and destroyed by Government agents."
Editor's Note: The American people are in even graver danger from the Federal Reserve System in the modern day than they were in 1913, when Congressman Charles Lindbergh wrote Banking And Currency And The Money Trust, in efforts to warn the public of what the Rothschild Communist central bank would do to the U.S. economy - All the more reason for Americans to read this book for themselves, before the Federal Reserve can have it removed from the Internet.
The market prices of commodities vary from day to day and often several times a day. This occurs when there is no radical difference in the proportion of the supply and the natural demand. This fact is conclusive proof that our system is controlled by manipulators and fundamentally wrong. I have sought to elucidate this problem within this volume and have suggested a plan which, if adopted, would make the people the master of the world, instead of the present master—THE MONEY TRUST.
By Charles A. Lindbergh, Author of the Money Trust Investigation.
The price of this book is $1, cloth bound,50 cents, paper bound.
Copies may be secured from C.A. LINDBERGH, LITTLE FALLS, MINNESOTA.
Charles August Lindbergh was born in Stockholm, Sweden on January 20, 1859, the eldest of the seven children of August and Louise Lindbergh. Charles Lindbergh graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1883. Following his graduation he practiced law in Little Falls, Minnesota until 1909 when he was elected to Congress from the sixth congressional district. He held this seat through 1916. Lindbergh was elected on the Republican ticket and soon became one of the leaders of the progressive Republicans in Congress.
His activities as a member of this group included the attempt to unseat Joseph Cannon as Speaker of the House; the investigation of the "money trust"; opposition to the reciprocal trade policies of the Taft administration; and opposition to the Wilson administration’s attempts to aid the allies during the first years of World War I. Lindbergh’s main concern, however, was the monetary policies of both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Lindbergh ran, and was defeated, in several subsequent elections: 1916 (United States Senate), 1918 (governor of Minnesota), 1920 (Congress), 1923 (special United States Senate election), and 1924 (governor of Minnesota) during which campaign he died. In the 1910s and 1920s, Lindbergh began a number of political magazines and newspapers, all of which failed.
One paper of note was called the Lindbergh National Farmer. Books and pamphlets written by Lindbergh, which were widely distributed, include Why Is Your Country at War ?, The Economic Pinch, and Who and What Caused the Panic ? His anti-war writings and speeches during World War I caused him to be branded as a traitor and affected the outcome of the 1918 gubernatorial election.
At the time, Lindbergh was prevented from speaking in many parts of the state and was opposed by many powerful public opinion forming agencies in the state. Following his congressional career, Lindbergh maintained law offices in Little Falls and Minneapolis, Minnesota but much of his time was devoted to politics, to writing, and to real estate ventures in Florida and Minnesota. Lindbergh represented a number of individuals living in the eastern United States who owned real estate in Minnesota. He made real estate investments of his own in Florida.
In 1887 Charles A. Lindbergh married Mary LaFond, daughter of Moses LaFond, a prominent man in Little Falls. Together they had two daughters, Lillian and Eva. Mary LaFond Lindbergh died in 1898. In 1901 Charles married Evangeline Lodge Land, daughter of C.H. Land of Detroit, Michigan.
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was their only child. Charles August Lindbergh died in Crookston, Minnesota on May 24, 1924; Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh died in 1954.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The material production and consumption by the people, and industries of the world go on continually. In the aggregate there is no perceptible difference from day to day, or even from month to month. All things considered, the proportion of supply and demand does not vary greatly from year to year. The catastrophes which occur in the world are usually confined to different localities at different times, and do not, on the whole, change the general result. Nature seems to keep the balance fairly well, at least well enough so that man need not fear that Nature will fail to respond to the needs of men.
We meet a different condition when we study the personal and commercial relations of the people with each other. When we do that we find an intensely variating condition, which works rapidly backward and forward with no or at least comparatively little, relation to the material conditions. These human conditions seem to have exhausted the patience of men and they are reaching out to make three great changes :
(A) A change in the banking and currency conditions;
(B) A readjustment of our industrial relations;
(C) A change in the political conditions so that the people as a whole may direct their own political affairs.
Bankers, merchants, professional men, farmers, and wage earners all know that a change in our banking and currency laws is imperative. Such a change is sure to come, and Wall Street is endeavoring to foster ideas in the public mind which will insure the adoption of a plan favorable to frenzied finance. Civilization has reached the point where the people ought to consider the following facts : That we are slaves of a money system; that market quotations fluctuate up and down at times when there is no corresponding change in the supply and natural demand; and that the Wall Street financiers have suddenly found time to leave their speculative schemes long enough to direct the work of educating the people in the mysteries of finance.
Are these financiers working in the interests of the people or in their own interests ? They were content to deal only with the boss politicians until the people themselves began taking an interest in legislation, but now that the people have admonished the bosses, Wall Street is trying to mould public opinion in order to make it favorable to some disguised Wall Street plan.
These questions are all answered in this little volume. Also, a plan is proposed which if adopted will make the people the master of the world and the builders of their common fortunes, instead of leaving that power in the clutches of its present master—the Money Trust.
We live in an age of mechanical devices and have the use of methods by which the natural elements are harnessed and made use of in general production, and in the establishment of conditions that serve to produce whatever is necessary, convenient and proper to the enjoyment of life, and it is natural that men shall look forward to the time when the people themselves will secure the full benefit of all these things. I have taken these problems up for consideration in three separate volumes. This volume on Banking and Currency and the Money Trust is the first.
The second will be on "The Industrial Relations," and the third on "The Political Relations."
INTRODUCTION.
It would seem that one could not state and analyze so difficult a problem as that of banking and currency within the scope of a small volume, but I believe that it can be done and can be easily understood if properly treated. No civil matter that has arisen out of our present social condition was ever of greater importance than that which is contemplated as a basis of our first study, which is really the money problem.
But this first study is only one of several that we shall make while investigating the highways and byways of business, politics, and those affairs of life which force men into the environments that are not of their own choosing. We shall study conditions that are quite ordinary, and show their relations to others that are extraordinary and not generally understood. I have examined and know about the subjects to which we shall give our thoughts, and if a majority will join with me in these considerations, I am certain that within a very short time we shall all understand much more clearly the present conditions, and learn to make the best use of the advantages that are common to all mankind. We shall also discover the reason for their being daily neglected.
We shall not be able, in a short study, to cover the entire field, but it will present to us such things as are not commonly known to exist. Some of us have suspected that conditions exist about which we know very little or nothing, but the most of us have looked calmly on and decided eventually that there was something wrong. What is it ? Our studies will tell.
The fact that I am a Congressman and seeking to force these matters before Congress for correction will cause me to be publicly censured for exposing the nature of the affairs of certain interests which have been prospering for a long time by appropriating the products of our toil. Numerous fires have been and will continue to be set under me by those who are selfishly interested in maintaining the present Money Trust, which not only includes many of the greatest bankers, but all others, in whatsoever business, who are beneficiaries of the system, as well as the political bosses subservient to the great interests.
Of course they know that when the public once realizes how outrageously it has been, and is being, fleeced it will not permit it any longer, and they resort to desperate and tricky methods in their attempt to force me out of public office, because they realize that in my present position I have an excellent opportunity to direct public attention to the truth relating to the practices of the banks and other special interests.
It is a well-known fact that in forcing through Congress the investigation of the Money Trust, I laid bare one of their innermost secrets, even though the investigating committee was composed of men selected by them after the interests were unable to prevent the passage of a resolution to investigate. But regardless of this fact, the environments surrounding the committee’s work forced out facts which will aid in ultimately exposing the whole piratical system. This seems to them to be the great offense that I have committed, and therefore they do all that they can to weaken me before the public. Already, by means of their agents, they have begun to spread stories.
These stories they wish the people to unwittingly peddle from one to another. Underhandedly they start one or more falsehoods in each locality and hope that by the time these are peddled among my constituents enough of them will be believed to be true so that each voter shall find something to which he objects. In that way they hope that at least a majority of the voters can be secured who will vote against me. That is a scheme that is in operation, and for the same reason a certain portion of the press was subsidized to oppose me.
Newspapers print scurrilous articles and others in the same employ copy them. Some articles are inserted which contain a few complimentary words about me for having done some unimportant thing, but these are diplomatically inserted in order to impress the reader with the idea that the editor is impartial. This impression is what they rely upon to give the color of truth to the opprobrious and derogatory matter.
My fight against graft in politics and special privileges in business has not resulted in my landing in a bed of roses. The public has seen that, and I knew from the start that I would have to fight every inch of the way as well as pay my own expenses, while those who opposed me, and consequently my plans, would have their campaign and other expenses paid, including other advantages which would be extended to them.
I observe, for instance, that the standpat Senators and Representatives, all of whom are more or less under the domination of the special privileges, and stand-patters generally, have received recognitions and courtesies from the Administrations that have been absolutely refused to me. All sorts of dishonest and unfair means have been resorted to in order to injure me, while, on the other hand, every kind of deception has been used in the attempt to make the public believe that the Senators and Representatives who have supported the special interests were all right.
This fight has not been easy nor has it been personally profitable to me from a financial standpoint. My purpose in calling attention to these facts is, that almost everyone who undertakes to establish reforms, that involve substantial
property rights or personal privileges, receives the knocks and the least material reward. Further, the attacks made upon them by the special interests often mislead the public. That, of course, is the real purpose of the attacks, and every person must endure them who assails with vigor the system under which the special interests are able to levy tolls upon us for their maintenance.
Lest there might be some misunderstanding, I wish the real attitude of the bankers on this subject of the Money Trust to be known. Many of them, and more especially those from the country districts, are not opposed to reform. They know that they have special privileges that they ought not to have. In fact, the greatest number of them are opposed to the Money Trust.
I have received letters from hundreds of them, but in nearly every instance they request that I keep secret the fact that they oppose the Money Trust. They dare not endanger themselves, and they do well not to as long as the present system is continued, for no bank would be safe if the Money Trust sought to close its doors. I do not intend to arouse any distrust of your banker.
He is a citizen the same as the rest of us. I am not assailing him, but I am assailing with all the vigor of my life the system of banking and currency that so taxes our existence, and I am seeking to prevent the Money Trust from fooling us into adopting changes that will allow it to retain its power. And I further seek to bring about a change that will enable us to retain the products of our own energy and give therefrom such moiety to those who render service as they may be entitled to by reason of their services.
We do not expect perfection either in ourselves or in others, but we should at least fulfill the plain necessities of life to the extent of not being ridiculous in our failures. For that reason there should be no delay in pressing the fight for our common rights and enforcing them. through the intelligence of our conduct. We should not waive our individual rights in support of other’s vanity, nor give them undeserved wealth or authority.
IN CONTEMPLATION.
To AMERICA : What a grand expanse of territory ! Behold the majesty of her mountains ; the vastness of her plains ; her enormous forests ; her wealth of soils and minerals ; the number of her lakes ; her splendid rivers leading to the natural highways between all lands and continents—the mighty oceans, and all—all of these are the free gifts of God to Man.
To MAN : Behold him in his application with the free gift—America. He has gone out over the plains and through the forests ; developed the farms ; built beautiful villages and great cities ; constructed highways ; furnished communication between them all ; and then developed them by his ingenuity. All these are the expressions of his own energy—the results of his toil, but, notwithstanding the gifts of God and the giving by Man of his own energy, he is burdened with a huge debt—the greater because of the largeness and richness of Nature, the expenditure he has made of his energy, and the accumulation by the few of the products.
Why should we all labor to produce material wealth called capital, when it is appropriated by the few and made the basis on which they tax us and collect from us more interest and dividends?
TO THE JOKER : HERE I HOLD A GOLD COIN
What a false illusion thou art to human mind ! How cruelly thou deceivest thy possessor and those who covet thee ! Thou buyest for me by thy betrayal of mankind.
Thou didst tax my energy to gain thee, and thy discount has lost to me and my fellow-men the greatest blessings of a continent, as well as the principal products of our toil. Few indeed are they who know and understand thy seductive power. We shall expose thy falseness so that our children shalt not be deceived by thee.
To OURSELVES : The fact that we did not prevent the various evils of which we now complain from becoming parts of our system, should make us considerate of those who are operating under it, and remove from us all personal prejudice. The practices that are allowed at present, and which are contrary to what we know to be for the best interests of mankind as a body, are almost wholly due to the process of adaptation and not to the mere personal choice of some particular individuals.
Men are compelled to employ the methods and systems that are used in their times. No one can set up an independent system for himself and operate under it without the help and consent of the majority of his fellow-men. He must abide by, and operate under, the recognized systems regardless of the fact that neither the means nor the method may suit him.
For that reason it is neither uncommon nor improper for us to do many things of which we do not ourselves approve. It is impossible for anyone to have a successful business career who does not conduct it in accordance with and in systematic concert with the prevailing methods, and therefore in the study and discussion of the affairs connected with the general conduct of business we should be broad in our interest, and honestly try to understand everybody, whether they conduct their business in the way that we think proper or not.
We should remember that we are dealing with systems and not with individuals, and that we have no right to blame individuals for the present system nor because they use it, but we have a right to ask them to examine it carefully, and if they find errors, to join in an endeavor to correct them and not make an unfair use of the opportunities such errors may present to them.
Radical changes are not possible until they come by common consent. Mankind is restless, and the broad field presented to the human intellect and selfishness, combined with the ambitious desire for prominence and leadership, impels it onward in a great and endless struggle. Individuals drop out as time advances, but humanity as a body presses onward. We inherit, fit into, adjust and renew the establishments and systems of our fathers, and what changes we do make are made through natural evolution, which is slow or rapid according to our inventive and creative energy and our acceptance, as a whole, of the change.
War has been one of mankind’s greatest occupations, or, in other words, the exercise of government by the law of physical force. It has been esteemed a manly art, and all men have paid the toll, including the numerous toilers who provide provisions and munitions of war and supplement those in the actual field of combat. It has been the mighty burden that the past has had to carry, and we still carry war obligations because the general understanding of this problem has not been sufficient to cause it to be absolutely abandoned. The comparatively few who have understood have had to fight the same as those who did not, somewhat on the same principle that we are forced to do business as business is done, or stop trying, which men will not do until they can no longer push as hard as they are pushed.
But, even now, although we know that war is merely a legacy from the earlier generations, we realize that we cannot prevent it merely because we no longer think favorably of it. Civilization has advanced almost to the period of framing a plan for abandoning it, but all men and all peoples do not reach the same plane of understanding at the same time. We must still keep prepared for war because it is not improbable that we shall have some great wars long after we have finally concluded that war is an improper method to usefor the settlement of disputes. So, too, in the world of business, some unsatisfactory, in fact bad, methods will continue and it may be necessary for them to continue long after we know them to be neither just or desirable.
The great struggle of the present is centered in the world of commerce and trade. It has become so intense that the outlet for human ambition has shifted notably from the field of war to that of commercial struggle. In fact, the commercial struggle often produces the cause of war.
This industrial struggle is another and much more humane diversion. I say diversion because whenever commerce is resorted to for speculation rather than for the purpose of supplying needs, it becomes a diversion. Some interesting comparisons may be drawn between the respective leaders and workers in these two fields of action, comparisons which may serve to make more clear the difference between the social and financial conditions of the governed and the governing.
History records the glorious achievements and victories gained by the military generals. But although it relates the honors and positions that were given the leaders as rewards for their initiative, it gives no specified individual record of the plain soldiers who fought the battles and uffered the privations and tortures incident to war. These were considered as an army, merely the force with which the generals fought.
The great wizards of finance and the captains of commercial industry also direct battles and seek the same sort of acclamation growing out of an entirely different application of human energy and for another kind of victory. Their wealth and their struggle repays them and its buying and ruling properties win for them applause, position, and power.
It is probably easier to be a toiler in some branch of commercial industry than to be a soldier or sailor and direct the sword and cannon against one’s fellow-mortals, but the toilers, the same as the soldiers, are the plain people. On them depends the result of the struggle. On them rests the greatest part of the work, the denials and the sufferings, but contemporaneous history makes no more individual recognition of them than it did of the private soldier. Notwithstanding this seeming inconsistency, we owe thanks to the financial wizards and the captains of industry for leading us out into the industrial field and away from that of war, because it provides a better outlet for human energy. It was the next move in the march of civilization, and these captains of industry have been leaders in the struggles. Often it is the cruel and unreasonable who accomplish more for us than the kind and generous. They reveal to us our limitations.
But there is no more reason to condemn the industrial generals than there has been to condemn the generals who fought in the world’s great army and navy battles. The highest purpose of civilization should be to conserve and protect humanity, and whatever defeats that purpose should be condemned and eliminated. No such destruction of human life can ever result from the industrial struggles as resulted from those of armed battle. The element of construction is far greater than that of destruction, and regardless of the cruelty which results from an abuse of the opportunities which the present system presents to men, it remains evident that many of the captains of industry who lead men into the field of industrial struggle are using their brains in an effort to better conditions.
Their first motives may be even more selfish than those of the military generals, but the results are far more desirable, and humanity secures far better proceeds. They are the leaders in one of the great struggles in the climb toward a more splendid and altruistic civilization and the struggle is fraught with lessons.
Yes, the struggle has its teachings, and that is what we demand. These lessons exemplify the force of human energy, and the value of consistent action. The neat great problem for mankind to demonstrate is that of converting the energy of men and the consistency of thoughtful plans into benefits to be derived by the plain toilers themselves as a result of their toil.
We concede that the captains at the head of the great industrial trusts were and are the great advance teachers of the world, but humanity has followed long enough. It now ought to be able to direct its own actions, and that must happen before the present problems can be satisfactorily dealt with.
At the present time there is nothing to be gained in war that could not be acquired by some other method. Its results are death, destruction, and despair. In the commercial and industrial field we find elements of production, construction, distribution, and accumulation. The ambitions of the leaders themselves furnish the elements of destruction, but not in the degree in which we find it in the field of war. In the case of war the results of the battle revert to the government of the country that has been successful in the engagement.
The financial kings seek to, and do, secure the substantial profits and the principal products resulting from the labor of the plain toilers. They take their chance in the game of life and gather in the fruits from others’ labor.
War means destruction and leaves little or nothing to distribute to the soldiers of the ranks, but the activity of men in the field of industry, when applied in connection with the latest mechanical devices, approved methods of application, methods of association, etc., results in an enormous increase in the productive energy of the masses, as wedllas an enormous daily accumulation of real wealth. But however great the accumulated wealth may be or become, it is a mere bagatelle when compared with the results that must come from the daily expenditure of the energy of the working people, and it is the results of the wealth that is thus brought forth that should be equably distributed, in so far as it, can be, to the individuals participating in its production (principally those who labor) as a reward for their industry.
They are entitled to it, and in our studies we shall find out why they have not received it. At the same time we shall consider ways and means by which they may, in the future, secure what is properly due to those who honestly, industriously, and intelligently apply themselves.
Chapter 1.
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH US?
Business is conducted on a plan that makes it difficult for the most of us to secure the time in which to increase our information and enjoy the appropriate recreations and pleasures that are necessary in order to properly develop our intelligence and give us a correct mental and physical balance. It is true, however, that most of us are, and all men should be, capable of filling better positions in life than most of them occupy, but we are still forced to remain in the same condition because we allow a false system to continue in practice rather than bestir ourselves and enforce the institution of a proper system which would enable us to follow a natural order of things and stop receiving under pay for working over time throughout the entire journey of life.
One reads in newspapers, books, and other sources of information the various views and conclusions of persons very much like ourselves. Some of those who write prove to be capable judges, some poor. Some people judge honestly, some look through clouded glasses and come to strange conclusions. Sometimes the writers are honestly mistaken in their conclusions, but many of them are actually dishonest in the views that they apparently would have other men embrace.
One cannot adopt any one of these conclusions as his absolute guide ; neither has one the time to read all of them before the necessity arises for him to come to some definite conclusions about present conditions. For that reason I am taking up these studies and inviting all who will to join me. We shall observe at first hand some of the things about which we read. In that way we shall read with our own eyes and by using our own brains be able to understand the daily occurrences that go to make up our lives ; understand why there is so much difference in the conditions of people born so nearly alike ; judge more truly of actual methods and conditions and reach sane conclusions on which to base our further actions.
A few of us are able to travel a little, some extensively, but the most of us are forced to remain at home. Some men do very little work, but the most of us are forced by present conditions to work all of the time. A few men live by their wits at the expense of mankind as a whole. Some have no wits but are supported by others who have, or by inherited wealth, but the majority of us earn more than we receive and work to support others as well as a system that keeps the most of us overworking and living amid poor conditions. Why is that so ? All who will join in making these studies will eventually understand. We shall find evidences of the whole system in every community. We shall recognize them whether our studies extend into distant regions or are confined to our own neighborhood.
If men would candidly consider conditions as they are and as they would be if we were given a square deal, the result would be a united effort to secure a system that would provide the greatest common benefit.
We have three principal thoughts upon which to center our considerations :
First : The actual facts on which the present conditions are based.
Second : The true principles that should have been followed in the formation of our social and industrial systems.
Third : The principles that should now govern in devising and instituting systems that will most successfully promote the general welfare. The true economic basis is different now from what it would have been if people had, from the beginning, followed a system of social order based on natural conditions. We have been following erroneous practices for generations, and they have finally become a part of our established system. It would not be practical to change immediately to what ought to have been done originally. To do that would bring about such confusion as to defeat the very aims of reform, because there are too many rebels to truth and justice to permit of our going straight to the goal.
We would have distress if that were undertaken, such distress that many, perhaps most people, would turn back and defeat reform and become its actual enemies. But there is no reason that can be successfully upheld against our knowing the truth, and after once knowing and understanding it, we should strive to adjust our affairs to what is the true economic basis of our present relations, and seek to reform the present system as rapidly as it can be done without creating social confusion. I repeat, “social confusion.” There is something strange about us as peoples of the earth.
I might say unaccountable. History proves that the people of all nations take pride in their national existence. That is well. It shows that the patriotism of every true lover of his country is the basis on which national existence depends. If a foreign country discriminates against us or offers an insult to our flag or to American citizenship, it brings forth a united response in the form of a demand for justice—simple justice.
These demands are sometimes of trifling significance when compared with the injustice and discrimination practised in our own country between our own citizens, the special interests and the plain people, but we back up a demand on a foreign people with the power of our nation. We go to the extent of raising great armies, sacrificing our lives and the treasures of our land, as well as enduring great hardships and confusions of war, in order to sustain what we believe to be our national dignity. That is not strange. Neither is it unaccountable. But lest we confuse the purpose of national existence, the strange and unaccountable thing is that we tolerate the social conditions resulting from the domination of special interests, and become enraged as a nation about external facts that sometimes are of far less importance.
We are stirred by the glitter of brass buttons, uniforms with gold braid, glistening swords, musketry and parade, and all of these are things which might be compared with the toys that are given to children and have no purpose beyond that of the mere satisfaction of a desire for something with which to arouse enthusiasm and amusement. But what about the plain common things, the necessities of daily life, the things that are required in our homes, the necessity for consistent action in our social institutions and the results that come from the expenditure of our
energies ?
We ought to be willing to make great sacrifices in order to secure permanent improvements of the most substantial kind in this respect. But even though we do not, we should at least attempt to put into practice a better system and be willing to endure the temporary confusion that the Money Trust could bring about by forcing a panic in order to retain, if possible, all the most valuable results of our work. As for myself, having studied the relations of these things, I would be willing to endure the confusion, but I recognize from observation that the soldier who will willingly go hungry, risk his life on the battlefield, and leave his family suffering and starving at home, will not endure so much as the temporary flurry that the special interests make every time a substantial reform is undertaken, even though that flurry would give to us the fruits of our energies instead of allowing the interests to continue taking them.
But notwithstanding this fact, I am forced to recognize that this attitude of the soldier, and the laborer and people generally, is a condition, and I shall not unduly propose remedies that would bring about even a temporary confusion, although that could be speedily overcome and permanent welfare established by the people if they would positively insist upon the justice in their own rights and interests. I am constrained to go along as slowly as the majority of the people do, but
we should not remain ignorant of what ought to be done. Our studies will prove how easily we could accomplish much better results and add to the blessings of life if we were willing to endure for a brief period the financial disturbance of business that the Money Trust can force upon us if we exercise those governmental functions which a dignified people should.
Chapter 2.
CURRENCY, BANKING, AND THE MONEY TRUST.
There is a man-made god that controls the social and industrial system that governs us. We know him as the “Money Trust.” He is offended if given or called by his true name, and being jealous of his power, he opposed an investigation of its sources. At the present time he has an almost illimitable influence upon our daily actions and is seeking to increase it by framing new currency and banking laws to suit his purposes. For that reason our first study will be of the banks and the Money Trust, in order that we may understand their power and the meaning of money.
A few of us have bank accounts, but the most of us have none. Some of us borrow from the banks, but most of us do not and cannot. But, we are all concerned with the accounts and the loans, because they affect business, and, consequently, the conditions of us all. In fact, they control the general business with which we are materially concerned, regardless of our occupation and whether we are rich or poor.
BANKERS PERSONALLY.
Bankers are well-informed and enterprising business men, and are generally good citizens who take a great interest in the welfare of the communities in which they live. They are our acquaintances—the same kind of people that we are, and they generally accommodate and aid us whenever it is possible. That entitles them to a consideration equal to what we expect for ourselves, but they should receive no special favors, and neither should we. They should be under the necessity of responding to the com mon welfare, and we should be also.
But if we were on an equality with them in doing business, we, as well as they, could go on through the journey of life and all would secure better results than even they do now. It does not require any unusual capacity to become a banker. Any one who possesses ordinary intelligence and common sense can learn to conduct a banking business as easily as he can learn almost any other particular branch of work.
The actual money with which bankers conduct their business belongs largely to the depositors. It is the money that some of us have deposited. The banks merely loan it out. This money is used in business and speculation. We shall see how it is used to control prices. These prices affect us. We get less for what we sell because the speculators manipulate the markets against us, and what we buy costs us more because the speculators control the prices of commodities. We take the losses and they take the profits both ways.
Anyone who can impress the citizens of a locality with confidence can start a bank. It has often been done without capital. Even strangers can present to business men letters of introduction and, after securing their confidence and aid, start banks. It is true that permission must be obtained from the Comptroller of Currency in order to start a national bank, but until I opened my fight on the Money Trust, even that had been a mere matter of form, and it is very seldom that anyone is refused permission when the application is accompanied by recommendations which are easily obtainable.
BANK CAPITAL.
When a bank is organized the letter of the law requires that fifty per cent of the capital should be paid in cash, but that is often a mere matter of form, for the stockholders choose their own directors and officers and sometimes accept their own notes instead of cash. Strings of banks have been organized by individuals associating in that way. Of course, in order to do so, they must in some way secure the confidence of at least a part of the people in the places where they organize, and a sufficient amount of cash with which to pay the expenses of organization and buy the required bonds on which to base bank notes, but temporary loans are often secured for that purpose, and they frequently depend upon the deposits to pay these loans.
Further, the law makes it legal to make loans equal to one-tenth of the capital to a single person, and if there are enough associates they are enabled, in addition to borrowing the capital, to borrow the deposits as well, even including the greater part of the reserve, if reserve banks be included in the scheme. Such loans may even be made to certain of the organizers who are without capital.
You might ask, “What are the bank examiners doing if banks can be filled with paper originally worthless ? It would require very many more examiners to be given the time to learn the value of bank assets ; in fact, so many more that each would have time to tabulate the assets and make inquiries into the solvency of the makers of the paper held by the banks. They would require time to check up and detect the kiting of notes and accounts going on between those who manipulate that game. Bank examiners ordinarily visit banks only three or four times a year, and often examine banks with even a million dollars assets (consisting of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of notes), list their amounts, subtract payments, count the cash, and examine the looks, all in a day.
Almost all banks, however, organize with substantial capital ; that is, what we commonly accept as such. Banks never start with intent to defraud depositors. But there is no law to prevent them from starting without substantial capital, and they often do. The system itself has robbed us, and the bankers themselves are not, as a rule, aware of it. But they are the beneficiaries of a false system, one that makes them rich, very rich as a class. Their wealth is created through a burden placed upon us, and the wonderment of it all is that we should be so foolish as to supply other individuals who possess no more intelligence than ourselves, with both the law and the deposits on which to base issues of currency, and systems of credit that tax our life necessities more than all other things combined. That is not an extravagant statement. It is the absolute truth, and the object of our first study is to make it so clear that everyone will understand it.
Banks are not generally organized by the note-kiting system, but they can be, and many are and have been. Even dummy notes are sometimes used, and the extent to which these practices have been resorted to, directly and indirectly, is considerable ; but the general public has never realized that it has been done at all.
The law providing for bank capital has been of comparatively little protection to depositors. The bankers themselves have protected their depositors and charged for doing so. Bankers are under the necessity of protecting themselves from failure, and it is due to their diligence and their self-interest that there has been so little direct loss to depositors. Many banks were originally started and capitalized on the paper of individual makers which was worthless at that time, but these banks got our deposits and charged those who borrowed them so much that the profits finally made the paper good. The careful banker usually becomes rich regardless of the fact that he often starts without capital. In other words, the business itself is carried on according to a system which allows the public to be so heavily taxed that failure, generally speaking, is visited on the careless and incompetent only.
It is impossible to determine how many banks started without the actual amount of required capital, but since most banks so started have become financially strong by reason of their accumulated profits, no great good could come from a knowledge of which of the existing solvent banks were originally organized on paper which was actually worthless at the time of the organization. We wish principally to understand the system because it is a false one. Even if the letter and the spirit of the law were followed, still the using of the system is a greater wrong by a thousand times than the more technical violation of its law. The fact is that our laws are so ridiculous that the bankers have often warped the law to the advantage of the public when it involved no loss to themselves as a consequence.
THE GREATEST OF ALL OUR BURDENS IS THE BANKING AND CURRENCY SYSTEM.
The speculation and gambling that is incidental to our banking and currency system is simply appalling, and it is absolutely ridiculous that we should tolerate it, and pay the cost of its continuance. Before considering a few of its details let us make a partial review of the burdens that accrue to us as a result. When we examine our losses, even in part only, and see how great is our sacrifice because of our stupendous stupidity in supporting such a system, no doubt we shall be more interested in the manner in which it is operated.
Of course it is not a pleasure for one to feel that he has been fooled, but our appetite for information ought to increase when we realize that we could double, yes multiply many times, the advantages we would receive in return for our daily expenditure of energy if a proper system were to be instituted.
It is worth while to know that there are simple remedies which would, if applied, overcome certain conditions that are immensely complicated and tremendously cumbersome because of their falsity. It is always easier to deal in truth and honesty and follow these to their legitimate ends, than it is to construct and adjust a false superstructure upon a false base. But even if no remedy were possible we should still seek to know about the game that is being played by the
speculating interests.
We certainly do not wish the financially fat fellows to be able to look beguilingly into our eyes, and with the concealment of their innermost amusement and delight at our stupidity in permitting ourselves to be so bamboozled, talk brazenly about the game that they are playing, knowing all the time that we do not understand it. We wish to know the truth about this even if we do feel humiliated because of our having previously been ignorant of it.
Here are some figures. In the year ending June 14th, 1912, the 7,372 national banks cost us $450,043,250.04 to operate, pay their losses, dividends, surplus, etc. Up to June 14, 1912, 17,823 State and private banks had reported, and approximately 4,000 banks had failed to make any report. The 25,195 reporting banks operating in 1912 held individual deposits of $17,024,067,606. Including those not reporting there were 28,995 banks conducting business in 1912, and the sum it cost the people to operate these, pay losses, dividends, surplus, etc. (I believe it a conservative estimate) would exceed $1,300,000,000, or approximately $14 for every man, woman and child.
This is more than it costs to run the U.S. Government, all things included. But large as this sum is, it does not include any report of the operations entered into by the bankers for their individual consideration. That, no doubt, far exceeds the mentioned sum, because bankers have unusual opportunities to speculate and many of them do speculate on a large scale.
On January 1, 1911, the report of 7,140 national banks showed that they had $1,005,740,915 of capital stock paid in, and $662,090,881.82 surplus. The surplus is that part of the profits not declared as dividends. On September 4th, 1912, there were 7,397 national banks, and their capital stock was increased to $1,046,012,580, their surplus to $701,021,452.71, and their undivided profits on the last date, less expenses and taxes, were $242,735,174.37. The dividends on the stock of national banks in 1912 were 11.66%. But large as these dividends, surplus and undivided profits are, we have not reached the climax of this system of extortion.
THE JUGGLING OF CREDITS TO CREATE CAPITAL.
We seem never to have learned the value of credit or to know that we ourselves form the basis for it. We are capitalized as so much stock on hand owned by the trusts. A few of us get into the deals, some on a small scale, and a comparatively few on a large scale, and a half dozen or so have become the real kings of finance. Of course, it is necessary for the kings of finance to have scattered throughout the land underlings who help them gather in the products of our applied energies, and these involuntary contributions of ours are afterwards distributed among the favored.
Naturally the underlings are given some crumbs and some of them even fair slices, but considered in a general way all of the crumbs and slices are distributed in proportion to the capacity the underlings possess for playing the game well. The whole loaves are only handled by the kings of the system, and it is through the expenditure of our united energy that they are enabled to amass this so-called wealth.
Now, in 1913, there are approximately 30,000 banks. Their number, capital and surplus continually increases. On the basis of that fact the Wall Streeters tell us that the capital of the banks is less concentrated now than it was formerly. They intend by that assertion to lead us to believe that they have less control. I shall prove, however, that the banks are merely the nests from which the Wall Streeters gather the people’s financial deposits ; that these deposits and the credits built upon their use as a means of amassing capital and levying interest are ever so much more serviceable to the bankers than the capital stock. A large part of the capital stock is consumed in the purchase of natures and buildings that serve the banks for offices.
The more numerous the banks are, and the more widely scattered through all communities, the greater is the control the Wall Streeters obtain. The people deposit their money in these banks and a large part of the money is used by the Wall Streeters as if they actually owned it, and upon its use they base an enormous credit system.
No bank is organized with the idea that its capital is the basis upon which it secures its main profits. No bank would be organized unless its organizers believed that they could secure the use of the people’s savings in a larger amount than the bank’s capitalization. Take, for instance, the following six banks in New York City : First National; Chase National; Hanover National; National Bank of Commerce; National City, and National Park. Their deposits on September 4, 1912, amounted to $839,444,143, while their capital stock was only $73,000,000.
Approximately the deposits equal 11½ times their capital, exclusive of surplus. Is it not very foxy of them to try to divert our attention from this fact to a consideration of the location of bank capital? When I use the phrase “Wall Streeters” I do not confine it to those having offices in Wall Street. The Wall Street system is maintained in all of the large cities, and I include within the term Wall Streeters all those supporting the Wall Street system, wherever they may be.
In 1900 there were 13,977 banks, which includes non-reporting banks. In 1912 there were 28,995 banks and in that time the deposits increased from $7,688,956,450 to $17,494,067,606. Their surplus increased in a still greater ratio and in the meantime they paid large dividends. It must be apparent to anyone that the money with which to pay the expenses incurred by operating this system (by which I mean to include the whole system of trusts) is collected from the people by capitalizing the products of our energy and even discounting the future in the form of stocks, bonds, and securities issued, on which they collect dividends and interest. This is being accomplished by a reduction of our wages and of the prices for which we sell our products, or the services we render as well as by increasing the price of what they control that we must buy.
By inversion this prevents a proper reduction in the hours of labor. These have not decreased, nor has our pay increased proportionately with the new mechanical devices and the new methods of application which have immensely increased our productive energy, but the additional product which has resulted from their use has been capitalized in order that the dividends which we pay shall increase. All of these things were scientifically figured out, then commercialized, then speculatized, and finally gamblerized both as to the present and the future. All have been overdone and all pooled as a common charge against the products accruing from the expenditure of our life’s energy.
Many of us were children when the extortion began, and we can hardly blame our parents for permitting the initiation of what we have allowed to be developed into a full-fledged, scientific, legalized system of extortion. But now, since we understand its effects, our children ought to look back on us with shame if we permit its continuance. It is not the bankers who have primarily fastened upon us this system of capitalizing our life energies for their own selfish use.
It is the banking and currency system, which we have allowed to remain in operation, and create special interests. The people alone have the power to amend or change it. Therefore we and not the bankers are responsible for the existence of the present system.
Omitting the banks not reporting, of which there were more than 4,000 in 1911, the 25,195 that did report up to June 14, 1912, showed,
Capital stock paid in ..............................$2,010,843,505.43
Surplus ................................................$1,584,981,106.44
Undivided profits ...................................$ 581,178,042.47
Total accumulations, capital included .......$4,177,002,654.34
Over four billion dollars bank capital! That is approximately $44.40 for each man, woman and child, and the bankers actually believe we owe them that, notwithstanding that it is practically a capitalization of ourselves, the same as a farmer capitalizes the growth of his hogs, but with the advantage to the hogs, because the farmer takes good care of the hogs until they are sold to be slaughtered. And what is more, this $44.40 is the nest egg only. We have already paid several times that to them in dividends.
But greater than both combined are the profits from the speculation and gambling indulged in by the king bankers, and by many of those to whom they loan the people’s deposits. We shall study their operations at another time. The banks are merely the nest eggs of the whole system. Those who gather from these nests have the greatest
opportunities.
If we were to look into the banks just before they close, we would find in them persons from the business houses depositing their daily collections. In the earlier banking hours we would find such people making deposits as the farmers, wage earners, and others who do not collect each day the returns of their labor and business affairs.
Out of the 94,000,000 of us, all who are engaged in work or business of any kind for which we receive cash are trotting immediately to the receiving windows of the 30,000 banks and trust companies and passing over their counters our hard-earned cash. This cash is flowing from these 30,000 banks into Wall Street and other speculating centers like a flood stream. It is the use of these deposits by the speculators that gives the Money Trust its power over the people. Indeed the Wall Streeters have had all the greatest opportunities, for this practice has been going on for a long time.
You may say, “Yes, but the banks loan part of the people’s deposits back to them.” That is true, but eventually it works out to the satisfaction of the Wall Streeters. Of course, they want enough cash left back in the respective communities from which it pours in, so that our country’s industries, whatever they may be, may be operated. That is on the same principle that a farmer will always keep breeders to replenish his live stock. The Wall Streeters know that the harder we work in order to produce commodities of whatever kind, the more we will have to turn over to
the rich.
Also See:
"In 1913, Congressman Charles August Lindbergh Sr. (father of the famed aviator) wrote: Banking, Currency, and the Money Trust, and in 1917 he wrote "Why is Your Country at War?," attributing high finance as America's involvement in World War I. According to Eustace Mullins, in his book, PUBLIC CENTRAL BANK - On Reclaiming Our Central Bank And Monetary Policy, plates of Congressman Lindbergh's second book were confiscated and destroyed by Government agents."
posted by James F. Marino at 2:30 PM
See: John St. Clair Akwei VS NSA 
NSA Remote Neural Monitoring Of The American People's Brains And The Concept Of Punishing People For Their Thoughts Has Become A Reality In The United States
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