325
"The greatest financial mistake of my life was in what I had to do with
the passage of the present National Bank Act. It ought to be repeated; but
before it can be done there will be such a contest between the banks on
the one side, and the people on the other as has never been witnessed in
this country."-Salmon P. Chase.
"Fifty men in these United States have it within their power, by reason of
the wealth which they control, to come together within twenty-four hours
and arrive at an understanding by which every wheel of trade and commerce
may be stopped from revolving, every avenue of trade blocked, and every
electric key struck dumb. Those fifty men can paralyze the whole country,
for they control the circulation of currency and can create a panic
whenever they will." -Chauncey M. Depew.
After the events narrated in the preceding chapter, Mr. Cleveland once
more assumed the duties of the high office to which he was elected.
His conduct previous to his inauguration, in attempting to influence
Congress before he was invested with the constitutional power to address
that body, in the official capacity of President, aroused the gravest fears
of the rank and file of the Democracy.
With much sorrow, the people saw their chosen idol ally himself with the
national banking money power, and they perceived that he intended to use the
immense patronage of his office to coerce Congress into submission to his
will.
326
To add further to their misgivings, President Cleveland, in the appointment
of editors of influential newspapers to highly-salaried offices, evidenced
his plain purpose to subordinate the press to his views.
The number of leading journalists appointed by him to the most lucrative and
honorable posts, far exceeded similar appointments made by any of his
predecessors.
To the intense disgust of that great party which had so frequently honored
him, he relegated tariff reform to the background.
He aggravated this distrust, which was now manifested against him, by
appointing one of the ablest corporation lawyers of the country to the
office of Attorney-General; via., Hon. Richard Olney.
The only leading appointment made by him, which anywise allayed this feeling
of distrust, was that of John G. Carlisle for Secretary of the Treasury.
During his career in Congress, Mr. Carlisle was the ablest opponent of the
national banking system and a single standard of gold that the country ever
knew.
For logic, argument, and eloquence, his arraignment of the money power, in
1878, and 1882, was the most notable ever heard in Congress.
Subsequent events will show that he became the greatest apostate to a noble
cause that ever appeared in American history.
President Cleveland had long recognized the splendid ability of Mr. Carlisle
as an opponent to the national banking money power, and he resolved to
convert him into an advocate of that merciless greed which had hitherto
absorbed the wealth of the people.
Hence his appointment.
That the time had come in which to make a bold stroke for the perpetuation
of its system, this money power immediately perceived upon the accession of
Mr. Cleveland to the Presidency.
This power knew that President Cleveland was a man whose firmness, energy,
and ability, had been seldom equaled by any of his predecessors in office,
that he was a staunch friend of the gold standard and of the national
banking system, and, therefore, it determined to wreck the country, if
necessary, to teach the people an "object lesson."
It resolved to bring an a panic, the like of which had never been visited
upon any people.
Every monetary panic from which the American people had suffered, was the
deliberate work of that class of men who pompously ascribed to themselves
the sum and substance of all the financial wisdom of the nation.
The national banking money power, in planning and consummating the panic of
1893, had several objects in view.
First, The permanent withdrawal and destruction of the greenbacks and the
treasury notes of 1890, amounting to $5oo,ooo,ooo, and the issue of an equal
amount of bonds, running from fifty to one hundred years. These bonds were
to serve as a basis for national bank notes, the issue and control of which
would net the banks at least $4o,ooo,ooo in interest per annum.
Second, The withdrawal from circulation of more than 5oo,ooo,ooo silver
dollars, and the substitution therefor of an equal amount of bank notes, the
loaning of which would annually bring the banks an additional profit of
$4o,ooo,ooo.
Bonds were to be issued to take up these dollars, the bullion composing them
to be thrown upon the market and sold as "old junk," to use the phrase of
National Banker Lyman J. Gage.
Third, The wrecking of those great railway properties of the country which
it did not control, by depreciating their stocks and bonds during the panic,
buying such stocks and bonds at the lowest possible figure, thus securing
ownership of all the means of transportation.
Fourth, An opportunity to exhibit its power over Congress and the people.
The immensity of this money power is almost beyond comprehension. The head
and front of this great power is the Clearing House Association of New York
City, composed of the membership of sixty-six national banks, whose deposits
aggregated nearly a billion of dollars in 1893.
A large part of this vast accumulation of money, held by these associated
banks, was not loaned to be invested in legitimate business enterprises. It
was utilized to manipulate the price of stocks.
That accurate financial writer of the New York Sun, Matthew Marshall, in the
early part of 1893, stated that one half of all the loans of these
associated banks were made to the stock speculators of Wall street, those
men who organized cliques and rings to wreck railroad properties.
With few exceptions, the thirteen thousand banks scattered over the land
obey the dictates of the Clearing House to the minutest letter.
New York City is the seat of the most gigantic concentration and combination
of capital in the Western Hemisphere. It is the home of those great banks,
of the loan and trust companies, and of the majority of the enormously
wealthy life, fire, and marine insurance companies of the United States.
Wall Street is the arena of the railway, gas, street railway, sugar, coffee,
and oil magnates. It is a city where a fortune of less than ten millions is
not considered worthy of public notice. The great banking house of
Rothschild is ably represented by the Belmonts; Lombard street, London, has
its agent there in the person of J. Pierpont Morgan.
New York City is the center of exchange of America Thirteen thousand banks
of the United States, private, state and national, continually maintain
large deposits of money in her national banks for the payment of drafts.
These deposits of money from all parts of the nation amount to many
millions, and tend to make money scarce in the South and West, and
concentrate it in a few banks in the metropolis.
According to the provisions of the national banking law, the national banks
of the great sties of the country were selected as the reserve agents of the
3,7oo national banks throughout the country. By that law, these banks were
required to keep in reserve from fifteen to twenty-five per cent of the
total amount of deposits in their custody; and they were authorized to
deposit this great Reserve Fund in the national banks of New York City, a
system which further added many millions of dollars to the holdings of those
banks, with a consequent drain .of money upon all other districts of the
nation. The banks of New York City were thus enabled, from these immense
accumulations of money, to mate loans at the low rate of one per cent,
stroke for the perpetuation of its system, this money power immediately
perceived upon the accession of Mr. Cleveland to the Presidency.
This power knew that President Cleveland was a man whose firmness, energy,
and ability, had been seldom equaled by any of his predecessors in office,
that he wag- a staunch friend of the gold standard and of the national
banking system, and, therefore, it determined to *wreck the country, if
necessary, to teach the people an "object lesson."
It resolved to bring on a panic the like of which had never been visited
upon any people.
Every monetary panic from which the American people had suffered, was the
deliberate work of that class of men who pompously ascribed to themselves
the sum and substance of all the financial wisdom of the nation.
The national banking money power, in planning and consummating the panic of
1893, had several objects in view.
First, The permanent withdrawal and destruction of the greenbacks and the
treasury notes of I 89o, amounting to $5oo,ooo,ooo, and the issue of an
equal amount of bonds, running from fifty to one hundred years. These bonds
were to serve as a basis for national bank notes, the issue and control of
which would net the banks at least $40,000,000 in interest per annum.
Second, The withdrawal from circulation of more than 5oo,ooo,ooo silver
dollars, and the substitution therefor of an equal amount of bank notes, the
loaning of which would annually bring the banks an additional profit of
$40,000,000.
Bonds were to be issued to take up these dollars, the loan and trust
companies, and of the majority of the enormously wealthy life, fire, and
marine insurance companies of the United States. Wall street is the arena of
the railway, gas, street railway, sugar, coffee, and oil magnates. It is a
city where a fortune of less than ten millions is not considered worthy of
public notice. The. great banking house of Rothschild is ably represented by
the Belmonts; Lombard street, London, has its agent there in the person of
J. Pierpont Morgan.
New York City is the center of exchange of America. Thirteen thousand banks
of the United States, private, state and national, continually maintain
large deposits of money in her national banks for the payment of drafts.
These deposits of money from all parts of the nation amount to many millions,
and tend to make money scarce in the South and West, and concentrate it in a
few banks in the metropolis.
According to the provisions of the national banking law, the national banks
of the great cities of the country were selected as the reserve agents of
the 3,700 national banks throughout the country. By that law, these banks
were required to keep in reserve from fifteen to twenty-five per cent. of
the total amount of deposits in their custody; and they were authorized to
deposit this great Reserve Fund in the national banks of New York City, a
system which further added many millions of dollars to the holdings of those
banks, with a consequent drain of money upon all other districts of the
nation. The banks of New York City were thus enabled, from these immense
accumulations of money, to make loans at the low rate of one per cent.
deposited by these banks to secure their circulating notes, reached the
magnificent sum of $419,887,111.
We do not include in this calculation the usury gathered from their currency
or bank notes.
In its yearly almanac for 1893, the New York World, a journal friendly to
national banks, shows that the Profits of those banks from 1872 to 1891 were
the vast aggregate of $1,o81,998,586.
Their average capital during that period was $5oo,ooo,ooo.
There are scores of these banks, which, after distributing great dividends
to their stockholders, have a surplus and undivided profits exceeding their
entire capital stock.
These facts are taken from the sworn reports of the officials of these
banks.
At the hearing before the Committee on Currency in December, 1894, George C.
Williams President of the Chemical National Bank of New York City, gave the
following sworn statement as to the profits of his bank. We here quote the
evidence of Mr. Williams in reply to the questions of Mr. Warner, a member
of the committee:
MR. WARNER: So that the capital of your bank now represents how many
millions of dollars?
MIR. WILLIAMS: Our capital is $3oo,ooo and our surplus about $7,ooo.ooo.
MR. WARNER: Your stock is worth about $4.300 a share?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, Sir; it sells for that. It sells for more than it is
worth.
MR. WARNER : Forty-three times as much as its par. What is the amount of
your bond deposit?
MR. WILLIAMS: The Chemical Bank has never taken out any circulation
whatever. Our bond deposit is $5o,ooo; but we have never circulated any
notes.
332
The Chairman pursued this line of questioning, and elicited the following
admissions:-
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Williams, some members of the committee desire to
understand exactly the condition of your bank. What did you state the
capital was?
MR. WILLIAMS: Three hundred thousand dollars.
THE CHAIRMAN: And the surplus?
MR. WILLIAMS: The surplus and undivided profits are about $7,000,ooo. The
surplus is $6,000,ooo and the undivided profits a little over a million
dollars, making a little over $7,000,000 Of surplus and undivided profits.
THE: CHAIRMAN: And how much deposits?
MR. WILLIAMS: Thirty million dollars.
THE CHAIRMAN: What dividend do you pay per annum on your stock?
MR. WILLIAMS: We pay now 15o per cent. per annum.
The astonishing annual profits of that bank is shown by the following:-
THE CHAIRMAN: You stated the dividend last year was 15o per cent.
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, Sir.
CHAIRMAN: What were the undivided profits of that year?
MR. WILLIAMS: Well, I have not it in mind; but owing to the panic our
profits last year were not as large as usual. Usually we expect to add to
our surplus 1oo per cent. besides the dividend we pay of 15o per cent.
THE CHAIRMAN: That is $300,ooo a year?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, Sir.
Mr. CHAIRMAN: And a dividend of 15o per cent besides?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.
In the year of the panic of 1893, this institution gathered in a profit Of
250 per cent.
A partial list of other banks of New York City is appended, to illustrate
their unheard-of profits:
333
The par value of the stock of the Mechanics' National Bank is $25 per share;
it is now worth $195 per share.
The par value of the stock of the Importers' and Traders' National Bank is
now worth$500 per share.
The par value of the stock of the Hanover National Bank is $1oo per share;
it is now worth $340 per share.
The par value of the stock of the Gallatin National Bank is $5o per share;
it is now worth $300 per share.
The par value of the stock of the Broadway National Bank is $25 per share;
it is now worth $25o per share
The par value of the stock of the Chatham National Bank is $25 per share; it
is now worth $300 per share.
The par value of the stock of the City National Bank is $1oo per share; it
is now worth $6oo per share.
The par value of the stock of the Corn Exchange National Bank is $1oo per
share; it is now worth $300 per share.
The par value of the sock of die Fifth Avenue National Bank is $1oo per
share; it is now worth $3,000 per share.
The par value of the stock of the Chase National Bank is $1oo per share; it
is now worth $5oo per share.
The par value of the stock of the Fourth National Bank is $1oo per share; it
is now worth $185 per share.
The difference between the face, or par value, of the stocks of these banks,
and the market value thereof, results from the surplus and undivided
profits, which are accumulated after the payment of large periodical
dividends to the stockholders.
Not satisfied with these unparalleled incomes, these national banks, in
connection with others of New York City, constitute that Clearing House,
which persistently claimed the special, bounties of the Government in the
way of tens of millions of prepaid interest, premiums on bonds, and
gratuitous loans of public money, aggregating hundreds of millions of
dollars.
334
The money kings at the head of these banks are the most persistent and
greatest beggars on earth.
They are the financiers who have brought on every panic since 1865, and,
from the tumbling of stocks and wreckage of fortunes, gather in the wealth
of the country.
In 1896, the great trust companies of that city held deposits of money
aggregating $242,000,000; and paid dividends Of 25 to 40 per cent. to their
stockholders.
They were as strong in 1893.
These trust companies are the holders of hundreds of millions of dollars
in bonds of railway, street railway, gas, and electrical companies, located
chiefly in the West and South. The income from these stocks and bonds
accelerates the flow of money to the East.
Many of these corporations, whose stocks are so held by the capitalists of
New York City, are bonded from two to five times their actual value, thus
operating as a heavy burden upon those communities who have granted these
corporations valuable franchises. A single street railway corporation in one
of the Western States was purchased by two Eastern speculators for
$2,000,000; they at once proceeded to issue bonds upon this property to the
amount of $4,000,000, which they sold to a trust company in New York City.
They also issued stock to the amount of $4,500,000, which was disposed of by
these scoundrels, making a total debt of $8,5oo,ooo upon a property costing
but $2,ooo,ooo. The people of that city pay the interest upon these bonds,
and the dividends upon this stock, by submitting to exorbitant charges.
This money power, with the eyes of Argus and the hands of Briareus, has
likewise seized upon the natural gas resources of the West.
A syndicate of Eastern capitalists purchased the natural gas properties in
the State of Indiana, the total outlay in cash being $3,500,000. It
immediately proceeded to issue bonds thereon to the amount Of $8,250,ooo,
which were sold to a trust company in New York City. The proceeds of these
bonds paid for the entire investment besides yielding a surplus or bonus of
S2,600,000. In addition stocks were issued on this property to the amount of
$8,9oo,ooo. The interest and dividends on these stocks and bonds are
squeezed out of the people of that State, and the money goes to increase the
hoards of the millionaires of the East.
The same is true of the stock-yards of the West. A single stock-yard company
of Kansas City is enormously over-capitalized. In order to make the
dividends to transmit to the Eastern stockholders, corn was bought at ten
cents per bushel, and sold at one dollar per bushel to those who are
compelled to feed their stock shipped through those yards. Such is the
robbery practiced on the West by what is called the culture and sound
finance of the East.
The more than one hundred thousand miles of railways traversing the West and
South, cost, on an average per mile for their construction. The average
bonded indebtedness is $63,000 per mile, and the interest on these bonds is
met by extortionate rates of transportation acting as a means of levying
heavy tribute upon the agricultural products of these sections. These bonds
are chiefly held in New York City and England.
The iniquity of this system can be faintly understood, when it is borne in
mind, that many of these railways were originally built by immense
contributions of money and land by cities, townships, counties, and States,
through which they run, in addition to the enormous land grants bestowed
upon these corporations by the general Government, the last of which
aggregated more than two hundred million acres of valuable public lands.
The wealth of the insurance companies is almost incalculable. There are
single life insurance companies in that city, whose resources equal that of
sovereign States. Three of these corporations have assets exceeding
$6oo,ooo,ooo. The agents of those companies are planted over all the entire
West and South, and the periodical flow of money to the East rivals the
revenue of nations. This volume of money takes its origin from nearly every
farm house, hamlet, village, town, and city in the Union, converges at the
general agencies, and thence pours a mighty flood of dollars into the
treasuries of the home companies.
From 1869 to 1889, a period of twenty years, the State of Illinois
contributed $138,425,433 to the various insurance companies of the East. It
received back, in the way of losses paid, only $84,929,204, leaving a
surplus or profit over expenditures Of $53,496,229. This drain was from a
single State.
The aggregate from the West and South in the last twenty years would reach
billions.
These insurance companies, in turn, loaned this money to the South and West
at exorbitant rates of interest, resulting in an additional drain on those
sections.
Then there are the loan and mortgage companies of New York City and the East
who make a specialty of loaning money on the farm lands of the West and
South.
The holdings of these companies aggregate more than one billion dollars; and
the annual flow of money to the East for interest charges is at least
$15o,ooo,ooo. In speaking of the astonishing increase of the mortgage debt
of the West, Frederic C. Waite said:
"The most astonishing increase of all, however, is in the real estate
mortgage indebtedness, as disclosed by the investigations of the eleventh
census. Let us remember that this is largely the debt of the hardest working
and the poorest paid of all our American citizens, namely, the farmers and
the laborers who are trying to obtain a home of their own by honest toil. In
the twenty-one States for which the mortgage indebtedness has been
tabulated, the aggregate amount in force, at the close of 1889, was four
thousand He hundred and forty-seven millions with the great States of Ohio,
Texas, and California, and whole groups of lesser States yet to be heard
from. The grand aggregate will be no less than six thousand three hundred
millions. The aggregate in 1880 was only about two thousand five hundred
millions."
The number of these loan and mortgage companies is very great, not only in
New York City, but in other Eastern cities.
In an article upon this subject, the Political Science Quarterly, for
September, 1889, said:
"Boston numbers more than fifty agencies of farm mortgage companies. It is
computed that Philadelphia alone negotiates yearly more than $15,000,000 on
Western loans. Kansas and Nebraska have one hundred and thirty-four
incorporated mortgage companies. The companies organized under the laws of
other States but operating in these two States increase the number at least
two hundred.
338
"In this reckoning, no account is taken of firms and individuals, although a
large amount of money is directly invested by lenders of this class."
The financial resources of Boston are a mere bagarelle, when compared with
those of New York City, (et the former has more than fifty of these loan and
mortgage companies.
The Forum, for March, 189o, makes the following astonishing statement:
"It is impossible to say bow much has been invested in the West in real
estate securities, but the amount is enormous Five mortgage companies it
Topeka, Kans., report that the loans made by them, and still outstanding,
amount to $22,000,000. Of this sum go per cent. has been invested in Kansas.
Five companies at Kansas City, report $68,ooo,ooo outstanding. This amount
has been placed in a dozen Western States."
This remarkable state of affairs in the West and South will be considered
strange, in view of the facts that these sections are the food-producing
regions of the country, and, that while they feed this whole nation, they
furnish more than three fourths of the exports which maintain a balance of
trade in favor of the United States.
The high-handed and oppressive manner, in which these loan agencies and
companies have invoked the law to foreclose their mortgages on the farms of
the West, is a scandalous abuse of power.
As the improved farms were only pledged for the payment of a sum of money
never exceeding in any case more than fifty per centum of the value of the
naked land, the security was good.
Nevertheless, many thousands of suits for foreclosure were instituted on the
slightest failure to pay the interest coupons; decrees of sale were
accordingly entered, and the land sold to pay the debt, whereupon these
mortgagers would bid in the entire mortgaged premises for a fraction of the
claim, obtain the property for a mere nominal sum, and yet hold a large
residue of the judgment over the head of the unfortunate debtor to seize
what other property the mortgagor would happen to Possess, and thus sweep
away all into the coffers of these voracious usurers.
This iniquitous use of the process of the law to rob the debtors of the West
and South of their whole -substance, is a dark and damnable blot on the
jurisprudence of the United States, and it would shame the hardened nature
of a Bashi Bazouk.
The future historian will marvel at the patience displayed by these people
under the circumstances.
Closely allied to the moneyed corporations of New York City, and having an
unity of interest with them, are the 3,700 other national banks scattered
over the country.
An examination of the list of officers and directors of the national banks
of New York City, Boston, Hartford, New Haven, Providence, Philadelphia,
Brooklyn, Baltimore, Chicago, and other leading cities, reveals some
marvelous facts.
It will demonstrate that the presidents and directors Of the national banks of the first-named city, control the operations of the loan and trust
companies, the gigantic life insurance corporations, the sugar trust, and
the Stock 10, exchange.
These financial magnates are heavy stockholders in what we called natural
monopolies, such as street railway companies, and corporations which furnish
water and light for the cities of the nation.
340
H. O. Havemeyer, the sugar trust ting, is the heaviest stockholder in the
Western National Bank. Russell Sage, the great stock speculator of New York
City, is the chief owner of the Importers' and Traders' National Bank. And
so the list could be indefinitely extended, showing that the great stock
gamblers of Wall street, the organizers and managers of oppressive trusts,
the wreckers of railroads, the heads of great insurance companies, the
merchant princes, the high1y protected manufacturing lords, the owners of
great newspapers, are the individuals at the head of the national banking
money power.
In the city of Chicago, all the members of the great packing house arid
stock-yard trust are heavily interested as owners and directors of national
banks. Its millionaire merchants, grain gamblers, owners of street railway
stocks, and gas properties, dictate the election of officers of these banks.
As another means of securing control of the entire volume of money, the
national bank managers, with wonderful prescience, organized trust companies
in every great cityof the country to act in the capacity of receivers,
trustees, executors, administrators, and guardians, with the intention of
monopolizing the probate business of the courts.
Proof of the strongest nature can be produced, to show that these national
banks have loaned money to flourishing manufacturing enterprises, then, at
an opportune moment, forced their debtors into bankruptcy, had their trust
companies appointed receivers of the trust estate, charged enormous fees for
settling up the affairs of the bankrupts, while the officers of these banks,
as private individuals, bought in the assets of these unfortunates at a
great sacrifice.
341
It is said of a national bank president, who is also at the head of one of
these trust companies, that he keeps himself thoroughly versed in the
financial condition of the debtors of his and other banks, that he carefully
watches the growth of the business of these debtors until they become ripe
for plucking, and that, as a bon-vivant examines a fowl to ascertain its
condition, so this great financier waits for his victim until he reaches
that stage that he can be thrown into bankruptcy, when he pounces on him as
the vulture pounces on its helpless prey. The receivership of his trust
company does the rest.
Up to the early part of 1893, this money power had built up a system of bank
credit that was stupendous in its proportions.
Under its manipulations of the volume of money it had forced nearly all
business on a bank-borrowing basis.
In a report of the Comptroller of the Currency for 1893, the loanable funds
of all the banks of the United States, on the 3oth day of June of that year,
aggregated $6,412,939,954.
It may seem a mystery to many how it can be possible, that, with a volume of
money of but $1,6oo,-ooo,ooo in the nation, these banks have a loanable fund
of four times that amount.
The process, or legerdemain, by which these financial institutions expand
$1,6oo,ooo,ooo of actual money to $6,412,939,954 of loanable bank credits,
and exact the highest rate of interest on the latter is a matter which has
confounded many students of finance.
The process of the banks, in building up this colossal system of credit, and
subordinating the immense interests of the country to their dictation, is
very simple. The loanable funds of the banks consists of their paid-up cash
capital, deposits, and their loans to customers.
This expansion of the loanable funds of a bank can be most clearly explained
by the example of the First National Bank of Chicago, of which Lyman J. Gage
was President, previous to his appointment to the Secretaryship of the
Treasury.
This bank has a capital of $3,ooo,ooo, loans and discounts of $17,723,727
and total assets of $39,5oo,ooo. The query arises how can a bank with but
$3ooo,ooo capital loan nearly $18,ooo,ooo and have assets of nearly
$40,000,000?
It makes these loans out of the money daily deposited with it, or, more
dearly speaking, on what it owes to others. It not only controls its own
money, bet the money of the business community in which it is situated.
To further illustrate the methods of banks in swelling the amount of
loanable funds, and consequently their power to reap interest therefrom,
take the following case: A merchant goes to one of these great banks, and
his credit being first class, he borrows $3oo,ooo on thirty, sixty, or
ninety days' time. The interest is deducted out of the loan in advance, and
the balance credited to the borrower, who does not take this money out of
the bank to hie place of business. This borrowed money remains with the bank
for the payment of checks drawn against it by the merchant. Owing to this
process, the bank, while making a profit out of the loan, still has the use
of the money out of which to make additional loans, and so this process goes
on indefinitely.
343
The supply of money in the bank for the payment of checks and drafts is
maintained by the daily deposits of its hosts of customers.
This is the identical process bywhich the system of banks have expanded
$1,6oo,ooo,ooo to $6,4oo,ooo,ooo of loanable interest- bearing bank credits.
This loanable bank credit means an annual income of at least $4oo,ooo,ooo to
these institutions.
This is a substantial reason why the system of banks, throughout the length
and breadth of the land, eulogize credit, and why they are opposed to a
sufficient volume of money, and why exalt credit above actual cash.
This vast income of the banks operates as a tax upon the people - a tax
which ultimately falls with crushing weight upon the laboring man.
The wholesale merchant borrows a large sum of money from one of these great
banks at the prevailing rate of interest which is deducted in advance. He
adds this payment of interest to the cost of the goods, and charges a profit
upon the whole amount thus invested. The retailer buys these goods with the
interest charge and the profit mingled with the price. In many cases. he
borrows the money under the same process as the wholesale merchant, and he
adds the interest charge to the cost of the goods so purchased, and thus he
extracts a profit upon his from the ultimate purchaser, who is the consumer
of them.
Therefore, these enormous profits of the credit system of the banks levy
tribute upon every article necessary for the sustenance and comfort of life.
In this connection, let it be borne in mind that the sole class upon whom
rests the enormous burdens of government, and from whom has been extorted
those almost incomprehensible sums of money that found their way into the
coffers of the bankers and bond-holders, is the producers of wealth.
The creation of wealth arises in three ways; via., transmutation,
transformation, and transportation.
The man who plows, sows, and reaps, is engaged in the first-named process;
the mechanic, or laborer, who adds value to the raw material, is an example
of the second; the distribution of the products of the agriculturist, and
the stilled or unskilled workman, falls in the province of the last named.
These processes are the sole means of adding to the stock of material
wealth.
Bankers, merchants, and those belonging to what are called the learned
professions, do not add a single penny to a nation's stock of wealth.
The banker and the money lender merely gathers toll from those, who borrow
the medium of exchange to carry on business.
The merchant of every description who obtains a profit on the merchandise he
buys and sells, merely takes the difference between the cost and selling
price of goods from the customers, and adds it to his own possessions. This
process does not add a farthing to the wealth of the nation as a whole.
Lawyers, physicians, and all other members of the professions, only absorb
what is produced by others.
There is no way under heaven by which these classes of persons add anything
to the wealth of a people
All township, municipal, county, State, and Federal officers, are merely
consumers of what is produced by those who are engaged in the processes of
transmutation, transformation, and transportation.
345
Every tax levied and collected by the Government, and its various political
and territorial subdivisions, is a transference of health from the people,
to be in turn, given to those who are the official organs of lawful
authority.
These definitions of the producing and non-producing classes are matters of
every-day observation, and are susceptible of complete demonstration.
It is upon the shoulders of the producing class that rest the crushing
weight of government, the enormous gains of national banks, and other
wealth-consuming elements.
These burdens are surely bearing down the people into a bottomless abyss of
bankruptcy.
One of the means that greatly increased the power of the national banks of
Net York City, was their selection as depositories of government funds
during the last thirty years.
In a speech of Comptroller Eckles, at a banquet given in his honor by these
banks, he thus extols these pets of the Government. He said: -
"As government depositories the national banks have received, stored in
their vaults, and accounted for $5,356,625,891 without expense to the
Government. Allowing the rate of three eighths of one per cent. as a
reasonable compensation for such services, which is the same as that fixed
by the act of March 3, 1875, as the compensation of disbursing officers for
public buildings, it would amount to $2o,o87,347."
Think of it! These few banks had the use of more than five billions of
government money, increasing their loanable funds to that extent, and from
which they gathered scores of millions of profit.
Through the agency of the railway and the telegraph, the national banking
money power of today can reach every part of the United States in
twenty-four hours. The national banks know the value of organization, and
they have brought it to a perfection that would excite the admiration of a
Napoleon.
Shortly after the inauguration of President Cleveland, the national banks of
New York City transmitted the following infamous circular to the thousands
of banks scattered throughout the United States. The contents of the
circular are as follows: -
"Dear Sir: The interests of national bankers require immediate financial
legislation by Congress. Silver, silver certificates and treasury notes,
must be retired and national bank notes upon a gold basis made the only
money. This will require the authorization of from $5oo,ooo,ooo to
$1,ooo,ooo,ooo of new bonds as a basis of circulation. You will at once
retire one third of your circulation and call in one half of your loans. Be
careful to make a money stringency felt among your patrons, especially among
influential business men. Advocate an extra session of Congress for the of
the purchasing clause of the Sherman law an act with the other banks of your
city in securing a large petition to Con for its unconditional repeal, per
accompanying form. Use personal influence with congressmen and practically
let your wishes be known to your Senators. The future life of national banks
as axed and safe investments depends upon immediate action, as there is an
increasing sentiment in favor of Government legal tender notes and silver
coinage."
While the national banks of that city were engaged in this conspiracy to
wreck the business interests of the country, they were raiding the gold
reserve of the United States Treasury to force an issue of bonds.
Coincident with the appearance of this circular, which advised the bringing
on of this panic, the following remarkable document was put forth by the
national banking money power. It is as follows:-
"Dear Sir: The present financial situation requires the following action by
Congress, which should be favored by all interests, to wit: -
"1. Pass a resolution repealing purchase clauses of Sherman silver bill.
"2. Pass a bill authorizing the issue of $3oo,ooo,ooo of United States 3 per
cent. bonds, payable in gold, directing United States Treasurer to sell
$1oo,ooo,ooo immediately in Europe, with stipulation that none of them
should be resold within the United States; the Treasurer to take this
$1oo,ooo,ooo of gold and issue $1oo,ooo,ooo of gold certificates against it,
and deposit them in the different national banks of the United States pro
rata to their capital and circulation, upon adequate security being given to
the Government securing such deposits; such deposits to be preferred liens
upon all assets of each bank, etc.
"It should also direct the Treasurer to sell $1oo,-ooo,ooo of such bonds
immediately in Europe under similar conditions, the money to be placed in
the United States Treasury or left on deposit in London, Paris, and Berlin,
for use by the Government in paying deficiencies between the Government's
receipts and expenditures, and drawn as needed.
"The remaining $1oo,ooo,ooo should be held subject to sale whenever the
necessities of the Government or the financial interests of the country
demand it.
"Bringing $2oo,ooo,ooo of gold to this country, in addition to the balance
of trade in our favor, would immediately establish confidence in out
financial strength.
"3.Pass a resolution calling an international conference to establish an
international agreement as to the use of silver as currency, to be held
within twenty days after the passage of such resolution. Twenty days' notice
by cable is amply sufficient to allow time for every government to appoint
men who understand the
348
subject thoroughly, and have them meet at some convenient place.
"The delegates representing the United States should be selected by Congress
and named in the resolution, two of them to be Senators from the silver
States and two of them equally representative of the other side of the
question.
"4.Pass the act increasing national bank circulation to par of deposited
bonds.
"The above legislation would immediately inspire confidence here and abroad
in American finances and start n the wheels of business, now helplessly
clogged.
"For the future the following action should be taken:
"5. Pass a resolution appointing a committee, to consist of five New York
bankers of the highest standing and one each from Boston, Philadelphia,
Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Nashville, Atlanta, Savannah, New Orleans,
Galveston, San Francisco, Denver, St. Paul, Detroit, Buffalo, and Pittsburg,
the committee to immediately meet, consider, and report to an adjourned
session of Congress a bill incorporating a United States national bank,
founded on the same lines as the national bank of England and the national
bank of Prance, to be entirely divorced and free from politics; and it being
expressly stipulated that one half of the committee shall be selected from
Republican banters and one half from Democratic bankers.
"A national bank is absolutely necessary for the future financial safety of
the country. Under present conditions there is no elasticity to our
currency.
"Five per cent. of our financial business is done with cash, 95 per cent.
with credit.
"Today credit is largely destroyed, which leaves us trying to do more than
one half of the business of the country on the insignificant per cent. cash,
and a considerable proportion of this cash hoarded and taken. out of
circulation.
"To meet emergencies lite this, we should have a national bank, having power
to make almost an unlimited issue of currency with the same power and
self-interest, when confidence returns, to take and return all this
specially-issued currency and retire it.
"The bank of England and the bank of France have power to issue - millions
upon millions of additional currency whenever necessary to protect and
conduct the finances ofthe country, and they exercise this power, arid
therefore such extreme panics as ours are unknown in those countries. When
the crisis is over, this extra currency is retired.
"There is no question as to the safety of this power; it has been exercised
by these great banks in these two countries for generations, and has been
their financial salvation, and we can have no permanent financial. safety in
the United States until we create a similar national bank or else make the
United States Treasury a bank and authorize and direct that in times of
panic and destruction of credit the Government shall issue currency to an
extent necessary to meet the emergency, and deposit it in the national banks
of the country. Of the two measures, it is certainly preferable to have a
great national bank, founded on almost exactly the lines of the Bank of
England, thus taking financial question and management entirely out of the
influence of politics, because the government of the First National Bank of
England is entirely in the hands of the greatest business men of the
country, who have no interest whatever in politics, except as citizens.
Yours truly,
Wm. R. Conway."
This document was placed in the hands of members of Congress with a view of
influencing their action. The first demand, couched in this circular,
requested Congress to repeal the purchase clause of the Sherman law. The
second demanded the passage of a bill authorizing the issue of $3oo,ooo,ooo
of United States bonds, payable in gold, and $1oo,ooo,ooo of gold thus
received, and for which interest was to be paid by the nation, should be
given to the different national banks as a loanable fund.
The third demands the repetition of that farce - the calling of an
international monetary conference. The fourth - the passage of an act
permitting national banks to increase their circulation up to the par value
of the bonds deposited by these.
Fifth, The passage of a resolution authorizing a committee of banters to
frame a bill incorporating a national bank, operating on the same principles
as the Bank of England. This proposed bank to be endowed with the power of
making an unlimited issue of currency, the volume of which could be
contracted whenever the self-interest of the banks saw fit to curtail this
volume of money.
Thus the Tory-Eastern system of finance was outlined by the money power. The
historical incident of Didius Julianus bidding-in the Roman Empire, that he
might absorb its entire revenues for his personal benefit, was not a
circumstance compared to the monumental greed of the national banking money
power.
Subsequent history has fully demonstrated that several of the demands set
forth in this circular have found their way upon the statute-books of this
nation, and that the remaining are gradually taking the form of proposed
legislation.
This great scheme of building up a mighty system of bank credit would place
seventy millions of Americans at the mercy of the money mongers of London
and New York City.
This bank credit system, embodied in the national bank plan, has its center
in London, and this would be true of any system of bank currency, no matter
how carefully framed.
This was the case with the United States bank, and it applies more
emphatically to the present system.
In a great speech on the banking question, Thomas H. Benton, more than fifty
years ago, so clearly, logically, and powerfully traced this bank credit
currency system to its source that it merits careful reading. He said:-
"The banks at that center to which currency flows, hold the power of
controlling those in regions whence it comes, while the latter possess no
means of restraining them; so that the value of individual property, and the
prosperity of trade, through the whole interior of country, are made to
depend on the good or bad management of the banking institutions in the
great seats of trade on the seaboard.
"But this chain of dependence does not stop here. It does not terminate at
Philadelphia or New York, It reaches across the ocean, and ends in London,
the center of the credit system. The same laws of trade, which give to the
banks in our principal cities power over the whole banking system of the
United States, subject to the former, in their turn, to the money power in
Great Britain.
"It is not denied that the suspension of the New York banks in 1837, which
was followed in quick succession throughout the Union, was partly produced
by an application of that power; and it is now alleged, in extenuation of
the present condition of so large a portion that their embarrassments have
arisen from the same cause. From this influence they cannot now entirely
escape, for it has its origin in the credit currencies of the two countries;
it is strengthened by the current of trade and exchange, which centers in
London, and is rendered almost irresistible by the large debts contracted
there by our merchants, our banks, and our States.
352
"It is thus that the introduction of a new bank into the most distant of our
villages, places the business of that village within the influence of the
money power of England. It is thus that every new debt which we contract in
that country seriously affects our own currency and extends over the
pursuits of our citizens its powerful influence. We cannot escape from this
by mating new banks, great or small, state or national. The same chains
which bind those now existing to the center of this system of paper audit,
must equally fetter every similar institution we create. It is only by the
extent to which this system has been pushed of late, that we have been made
fully aware of its irresistible tendency to subject our own banks and
currency to a vast controlling power in a foreign land; and it adds a new
argument to those which illustrate their precarious situation. Endangered in
the first place by their own mismanagement, and again by the conduct of
every institution which connects them with the center of trade in our own
country, they are yet subjected, beyond all this, to the effect of whatever
measures, policy, necessity, or caprice, may induce those who control the
credits of England to resort to."
This great statesman, who so ably exposed the dangers of a bank currency
which would degrade the United States into a mere dependency of the "Little
Isle beyond the seas," has long since passed away, but his solemn warning
still beckons to the people, and points oat the folly of trusting themselves
to the embrace of that boa constrictor - the banking monopoly.
In the month of April, 1893, the New York bankers had a conference with
Secretary Carlisle at Washington, in which they demanded that he issue bonds
to the amount of $150,000,000. Secretary Carlisle would not accede to their
demands at this time.
The refusal of Mr. Carlisle to grant the demands of these bankers angered
them, and they returned to New York City determined to force an issue of
bonds at all hazards.
They continued to raid the gold reserve more fiercely than ever.
In the meanwhile, with a few honorable exceptions, the banks throughout the
country executed the man-dates couched in that circular issued from New York
City.
Loans were refused, and outstanding obligations were remorselessly called in
by these tools of the money kings. As an excuse for that conduct, it was
asserted that "confidence" was lost.
The press of Net York City, with few exceptions, owned body and soul by the
national banking money power, aided in the work by its senseless clamor.
It called attention to every shipment of gold that went out of the country
as a fearful calamity.
One of these newspapers daily printed in largo figures on its front page the
low state of the gold reserve. They denounced the silver dollar as a
"5o-cent dollar," a "dishonest dollar," a "fiat dollar."
In short, the vocabulary of abase was exhausted by them when speaking of
silver as money.
The Sherman silver law was pointed to as the whole cause of the panic now
raging.
The mercenary character of the New York press, and its ownership by foreign
capitalists and the national banking money power, is best illustrated by
that veteran Journalist, Colonel Cockerill. He says: -
"The fashion of editing the more influential or the more successful daily
newspapers by cablegram has completely destroyed what little virility was
left in their editorial pages.
354
"The non-resident ownership of newspapers leads to one serious result,
which, I think, has not been generally considered.
"The owner receives from his newspaper property, at stated intervals,
returns in money. He is beyond the reach of proofs.
"The address of his banker is always known. Thither, on the first of every
month, large sums of money must be forwarded.
"The tendency of non-resident ownership must, therefore, necessarily be to
measure everything by a pecuniary test. The morale of the paper, its course
of public measures, and its treatment of the interests of the people, whose
trustee it professes to be, with such protestations, are considered only
from the point of view of the counting room.
"The worst phase of non-resident ownership is its ' absolute heartlessness."
Such is the stinging indictment brought against these great journals by this
able writer.
In speaking of the tyranny of that press, W P. St. John, President of the
Mercantile National Bank, an advocate of free coinage of silver, said: -
"There is a very widespread unrest of opinion on this topic and the allied
topic, called the 'silver question,' even in New York and New England.
Public opinion is under a newspaper terrorism in New York. Men who agree
with me fully, and I know many of them of considerable wealth, prefer to
keep silent for the present. Any nobody who will mite at length a lot of
nothingness adverse to silver money will be accorded certain newspapers'
space and be dignified into great authorities. Rejoinder, if complete, and
the more complete the more certainly, is denied even a limited space. Again,
other men believe that until a change of administration here approaches it
will merely cost them influence to speak their conclusions favorable to
silver money. Then, too, certain newspapers shield their readers against
intelligence and cow them out of any timid convictions they might indulge."
He added: -
"Rut conditions current here and elsewhere are forcing the truth upon
general attention, and a rebellion against this tyranny and concealment of
facts mill manifest itself ere long in New York as elsewhere. I have
recently been urged by commercial bodies of two important Eastern sties to
address them at length upon my convictions. I declined on the ground that I
have talked so much that I deem it unwise to be heard again on the topic
until invited to speak by my immediate associates in the city of New York.
"The paper that I now ask the privilege of reading, was prepared for a
monthly magazine of importance. I asked the space at first, but afterward
withdrew the request. The editor urged my carrying out my first intention.
His private secretary heard the matter in the rough and urged me the more to
complete it for his magazine. I learn this morning that more acceptable
matter will crowd me oat, which is only another evidence of what you
gentlemen, aiming to serve your country, are entitled to complain of in the
Eastern
press."
Among all the bankers of that city, Mr. St. John was the sole financier who
urged the adoption of free coinage, and a continuance of the greenbacks and
treasury notes as a part of the volume of money.
His example was a green oasis amidst the barren desert of avarice of the
national banking element.
The press still continued this warfare upon silver, greenbacks, and the
treasury notes; and editorially endorsed the course of the bankers in
creating a monetary stringency.
In urging a repeal of the Sherman law, the Commercial Bulletin said: -
356
"The quickest if not the only way to repeal the Silver Purchase law is to
precipitate a panic upon the country as nothing short of this will convince
the silver men of their error, and arouse public opinion to a point which
will compel the next Congress to repeal the Sherman lair whether it wants to
or not."
The New York Sun April 29, 1893, exposed this scheme of the New York banks,
and charged that they sent abroad $110,000,000 of gold to assist the
Rothschild's to demonetize silver in Austria and elsewhere. It said: -
"Let us point to another fact, and we are done. Never before have the large
banking institutions of Chicago and the West ordered their gold in such
large quantities direct from Europe, and in this fact is found one reason
why our banters are puzzled over the anomaly that, although all these
millions are coming to the country, they experience little or no relief
therefrom. The other reason, gentlemen, is, in order to force the repeal of
the Sherman Act and to quickly establish your power over the plain people of
this land, you first sent out of the country one hundred and ten millions of
the people's currency in order to assist the Rothschild's to demonetize
silver in Austria and elsewhere, and then let it remain there, to teach the
West and South an 'object-lesson,' as the President called it, until you
found it was necessary to recall it in order to save your own house from
destruction. Now, you have not only taught the West and South an
object-lesson, but yourselves one as well, and you can bc sure of it."
The Sun is an advocate of a single standard of gold, but the scoundrelism of
the New York banks aroused its indignation.
Meanwhile, President Cleveland was hand in glove with the treasonable banks,
as the following from the New York Sun fully proves.
It said April 28, 1893:-
357
"Secretary Carlisle decided yesterday morning to have a talk with the New
York bankers. Late on Wednesday evening after his arrival from Washington,
he conferred with Assistant Treasurer Jordan, and ex-Assistant Treasurer
James J. Canda. As a result the Secretary yesterday morning suggested that
he meet the bank presidents and private bankers at four o'clock in the
afternoon. The postponement in the naval review because of the storm caused
some delay, as Secretary Carlisle accompanied President Cleveland on the
Dolphin.
"The Secretary landed with the Presidential party at the foot of
Ninety-sixth street, and was there met by the Columbian reception committee,
including President J. Edward Simmons, of the Fourth National Rank.
"The Secretary and Mr. Simmons were driven to the home of President George
G. Williams, of the Chemical Bank, and chairman of the Clearing House
Association, at 34 West Fifty-eighth street.
"The following gentlemen were there to greet the Secretary: Mr. Jordan, Mr.
Canda, President Perkins, of the Importers' and Traders", President Sherman,
of the Bank of Commerce; President Cannon, of the Chase; President Ives, of
the Western; President Gallatin; President Coe, of the American Exchange,
and President Woodyard, of the Hanover, all national banks. The conference
between the Secretary and the bank presidents lasted somewhat over an hour.
There was the utmost good feeling displayed, and the Secretary said that he
was there to make a free, frank, and open statement of what ho believed to
be the financial policy of the Government.
"In the first place, the Secretary said that an issue of bonds just at this
time might be an effective remedy, but it would only be temporary, and that
it would be followed by disturbances in the money market, and would in the
end retard the determination of the administration to repeal the Sherman
silver lair. The Secretary said positively that there would be no bond issue
except as a last resort. As the Secretary outlined the policy of the
Government, it was that nothing would be done that in any way would retard
or check the determination of the Cleveland administration concerning the
repeal of the Sherman 3am. The Secretary went over the currency laws of the
country, and said they vere in bad shape and needed revision. He said the
revision should start with the Sherman law. There is a determination also to
show to the miners of silver the evil effects of the Sherman lair on their
own fortunes.
"President Cleveland's advisers have told him that the only may to induce
the Western and Southwestern Senators and Con en to consent to a repeal of
the Sherman 1am s to demonstrate to their constituents that they are losing
money every day that this law is in operation. The missionary work in that
direction has been started by a number of the bankers in the solid
communities of the East. They are daily refusing credits to the South,
Southwest, and West, fearing the effects of the Sherman law.
"The Chicago bankers, it was said, are carrying out the same line of policy.
Secretary Carlisle, in his talk with the bank presidents, made his stand
very clear. It is to be heroic treatment all the way through on the Sherman
law; and possibly by the next session of Congress, the silver mine owners
and the adherents of silver in the Senate and the House will be ready to
consent to a repeal of the law.
"The bank presidents, replying to Secretary Carlisle, cordially informed him
that they would be ready at all times to co-operate with him in the
successful administration of the financial policy of the administration.
Everybody shook hands, and there was harmony all round.
"In the meantime the Secretary continues to receive offers of gold from
unexpected sources."
In its editorial comments upon this historical meeting of Secretary Carlisle
and these bankers, the Sun of April 29th, says: -
359
"The conference yesterday between Secretary Car-lisle and a number of the
bankers of this citywas of great value in that it resulted in a definite
understanding of the financial policy of the administration, as indicated in
this column last Tuesday. That policy is to interpose no obstacle to the
natural operations and logical results of the Sherman law. In a word, the
administration proposes to allow the people to reap the regards of their own
folly.
"The statement of Mr. Carlisle to the New York bankers makes it clear that,
while Mr. Cleveland works in Congress, the bankers will be expected to work,
not in New York only, but throughout the country, doing their utmost to
pinch business everywhere in the expectation of causing a money crisis that
will affect Con powerfully from every quarter. There is an explicitness in
these declarations and a boldness in making them that would be astounding
were not the country too familiar with Mr. Cleveland and his methods to be
astonished by anything from him."
These utterances of the Sun became prophecy, in view of the means utilized
by President Cleveland in forcing a repeal of the Sherman law. He "worked in
Congress" with the immense patronage at his disposal, as subsequent events
demonstrated to a certainty.
On May 1st, the Sun announced that President Cleveland would soon call an
extra session of Congress, and urge upon that body an immediate repeal of
the Sherman law. It said: -
"There is to be an extra session of Congress to afford the opportunity of
repealing the Sherman law as soon as possible. War will be opened against
silver, notably the Sherman law."
During the waging of this war against silver by the national banking money
power, aided by President Cleveland, the Herschell Commission was in session
in London, having under deliberation the question of closing the mints of
India to free coinage.
The only obstacle in the way of England forcing India to a gold standard was
the existence of the Sherman law.
This commission was informed of every step taken by the national banking
money power and by President Cleveland to coerce Congress into repealing
that law.
Sir Reginald Welby who appeared before that commission as an expert
financier, after the speech of Secretary Foster at the Delnonico banquet was
quoted by the chairman, informed that body, that "Americans calmly told him
(authorities with whom he discussed the silver matter) that, law or no law,
the intention is to maintain the equality with gold and to suspend the
purchase of silver if necessary, that this was the permanent policy of the
Treasury, and account is taken of it, and banks act upon it."
The only authority, from whom this witness could have received such
information, was Ambassador Bayard, who, during hie service in the United
States Senate was a rigid gold monometallist, and an ardent supporter of
national banks.
The Herschell Commission was informed that President Cleveland would call an
extra session of Congress and force a repeal of the Sherman law.
The commission at once dosed its deliberations, made a report recommending
that the mints of India be closed to the free coinage of silver, which was
done on the 25th of June, 1893.
On June 27th, two days after the mints of India were closed to the free
coinage of silver, Henry Clews, the official mouthpiece of Wall Street,
published the following comment on the situation. He said: -
"There is every reason why Congress should be brought together at the very
earliest possible day. The houses that vere engaged until lately in shipping
gold became so zealous in that enterprise that they tried to outstrip each
other. The result was that more gold was actually shipped than Europe
required. The natural result must appear in the return of the surplus thus
exported. Exchange has now fallen, indeed, to the specie-importing point. As
soon as our crops ripen, there will be inevitably a return of a good deal of
gold to the country. One of the arguments in favor of the repeal of the
Sherman law has been that the baser metal has driven the finer metal out of
the country. In a little while, with gold returning to us, the strength of
that argument will be sapped. An early session of Congress will leave the
argument still in full force."
In three days after the closing of the Indian mints, silver fell twenty
cents an ounce. On the 3oth day of the same month, President Cleveland
issued his proclamation requesting Congress to meet in special session
August 7, 1893.
