bank, but by every business man and farmer in the neighborhood-by every man who goes into the bank-not only discussed, but tested in practice.

The Walker bill conserves and magnifies all these forces for good in encouraging the formation of local banks. As compared with the good done by an independent country bank, with its immeasurable progressive influences for good, what can the single excellent individual and honest money lender do, who is sent into the town by the city bank?

A bank established in a town serves the whole body of towns adjoining, and would reduce prices on goods to the farmers very considerably. It is said goods are uniformly sold at retail, where cash is paid, from 5 to 10 per cent less than where payments are made only once or twice a year. The country merchant is now the farmer's banker, at a cost to the farmer in increased prices on all the farmer buys of from 5 to 10 per cent over what the prices would be were there a bank in his neighborhood. He could borrow money of the bank on his own note, which he could pay at the dates at which his hogs, or horses, cattle, wheat, corn, oats, rye, flax, or cotton, etc., were ready for market.

CLEARING HOUSES.

The Hill-Fowler bill undertakes the impossible in laying obligations on clearing houses having no legal existence.

Under the Walker bill every clearing house in the country is made a body corporate to deal with under the law and brought into the system, and every commercial bank as well.

The Hill-Fowler bill needlessly antagonizes, in very many of its provisions, nearly every notion, opinion, economic and political, and the experience of our 70,000,000 of people.

WALKER BILL OFFENDS NO PREJUDICES.

The Walker bill takes cognizance of every notion, opinion, prejudice, etc., of gold men, silver men, greenbackers, Government subtreasury men, and Government currency 2 per cent loan men. Not one of them can consistently vote against the Walker bill. Every one of them claims to desire that all paper money and coin money shall be kept at a parity, which the Walker bill provides for doing.

The Hill-Fowler bill, with its restrictive features, and annulling their charters at the end of a year, could have only one outcome to all national banks, viz, to drive every one of them out of the national system and into reorganizing under State laws, or drive them out of business.

The Walker bill, on the other hand, leaves banks far more freedom than now to safely conduct their business under it and brings every "commercial bank" into the national system and makes the position of every one of them absolutely secure in any event, excepting in making unsafe loans and from dishonesty among its officers.

SOUTH AND WEST WOULD DEVELOP BANKING UNDER WALKER BILL.

Bank funds are now so abundant in the New England, the Eastern, and Middle States that they can not find employment in strictly commercial business. A large proportion of them are now invested in United States and other bonds. One hundred million dollars and more, because of their abundance, are now loaned in Europe on call. Pass the Walker bill and allow the Southern, Western, and Pacific States to

fully develop their banking and currency interests under the only law yet proposed that makes it possible to them to do so, and interest rates on loans made, on the same security, to the same amount, and on the same time, would be very nearly as low all over the country as in cities, and lower than in any European country, not excepting Great Britain. Europe could not keep gold unless her interest rates were as high or higher than ours.

If, besides, a banking committee of the House could be appointed with sufficient wit to report and secure the passage of the international American bank bill, within a comparatively brief time the money center will be moved from London to New York or Chicago.

HILL-FOWLER BILL NOT DRAWN ON ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES.

Finally, the Hill-Fowler bill, like the existing national banking law, is not drawn on any recognized principles of economics and sound banking principles. Its requirements, prohibitions, and penalties are not justified by experience.

The Walker bill is drawn in accord with true economic law and sound banking principles, and every requirement, prohibition, and penalty is justified by the testing of every line of it by the experience of the good and bad State banks for years previous to 1862, by the experience of our national system for thirty years, and by the experience of France, Germany, Great Britain, etc.

If anyone will point out an excellence in the banking laws of any country not included in it, or a provision in it not consistent with experience and the very best results of financial and banking experience of the world, when it is shown the bill will then be corrected accordingly, or abandoned. I only remark that one bank, with all other branches, or all banks as integral parts of one whole, are only admissible.

If any performance fell so far short of the announcement of the play on the bill boards as the various bills referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency, or prepared by some members of it, have of the commendations of them sent broadcast over the country by the Monetary Commission, the audience would do as much credit to their sense of justice as they would discredit to their patience, by mobbing the performers.

RECAPITULATION.

The Hill-Fowler bill does none of the following things, the doing of which is made certain by the Walker bill:

1. The Walker bill makes sure the maintenance of parity between all forms of our existing money by the banks.

2. Retains the actual use of gold and silver money by retiring all silver certificates and all gold certificates.

3. Does not impound, retire, or change the existing United States legal-tender notes.

4. It provides for only one kind of paper money, viz, a national-bank bill as securely guaranteed by the Government as the present nationalbank notes.

5. It relieves our hazardous situation in case of panic or reverses in war.

6. It reduces interest rates on loans by country banks from one-third to one-half.

7. It absolutely and forever relieves the United States Treasury of the current redemption of any form of paper money by putting it on banks.

8. It does not pile up vast sums of money in the Treasury to create discontent among the people.

9. It furnishes no needless opportunity or encouragement to the hoarding of gold.

10. It furnishes a currency the hoarding or destroying of which makes lower the rate of interest by banks and helps the United States Treasury.

11. It gives every dollar of currency as explicit and available a Government guarantee as now.

12. It unites all banks of the country in an organization to guarantee the parity of all United States notes, silver coin, gold coin, and national-bank notes, as solid and secure as the Bank of France, and more so than the banks of any other nation excepting France.

13. It builds up this fabric by units as separate, distinct, and independent as is the citizen in a town who, acting together with his fellows, makes a body politic.

14. It thus takes careful cognizance of every phase of political and economic thought among the people.

The Hill-Fowler bill takes no cognizance of the political situation, and needlessly offends the great mass of the voters.

Bryan's vote, 6,500,000; McKinley, 7,000,000.

Bryan 2,000,000 crazy for silver.

2,000,000 frenzied by the present banking and currency situation and care nothing for free coinage of silver. 2,500,000 care nothing as to what principles the Democratic platform preaches or for silver. They are for the "machine."

6,500,000

1,000,000 Republicans are earnestly for the unlimited coinage of silver, but are more for what the Republican party represents in other things than for silver.

6,000,000 voters are more or less suspicious or opposed to national banks, and almost wholly on account of the use of United States bonds by banks to get currency notes on.

15. The margin of 31 per cent of sound-money voters is dangerously small. We must win from those among the people who want a better currency system enough votes to make sound money safe, and must also keep the 1,000,000 Silver Republican voters for maintaining parity. 16. How can we do it?

Not by telling the people that we have changed the paper money they will hereafter carry in their pockets into bills not guaranteed by the Government as the Hill-Fowler bill does. Not by giving the people anything any less secure than they now have. But that in changing the paper money and leaving out the bonds we have kept the Government guarantee. 17. Neither can we tell the people when we meet them face to face in their primary meetings that we have given them two kinds of paper money-one they can never lose a dollar on, however poor the bank issuing it may be, for the Government is behind it; and another that

they must look to the bank only to pay in case of insolvency. As a party measure, such a statement would be worse than to do nothing.

18. We had better stop here and now, and carefully examine our position as to all the bills before us, Fowler bill, Gage bill, McClary bill, Hill-Fowler bill, commission bill, Walker bill.

The first section of my bill involves this question of what currency we shall provide.

What inducements, what reason, can we give for the change from what now is?

What are the charges made against national banks?

National banks, $100,000 capital. (1) Banks buy $100,000 of bonds, on which they get 4 and 5 per cent interest. Then they (2) take them to the Government Treasury and get $90,000 currency for the bonds, and loan the currency, getting (3) from 4 to 10 per cent interest on this

currency.

Interest on the bonds averages 43+4= 8 per cent.

The usual reply:

4+6=10 per cent. gotten by banks. 41+8=121 per cent.

(1) Every dollar of currency is secured by the pledge of a United States bond in the Treasury of the United States.

(2) You can not have a safe currency unless its payment is made sure by the guarantee of the United States.

(3) No holder of a currency note has ever lost a dollar on a note of an insolvent bank since we had national-bank notes. Unlike the old State banks.

(4) We have the best banking system in the world, because our currency notes have absolute security in the guarantee of the United States. Rejoinder:

(1) Secured currency. What good does that do us? It may be secured, but we have no currency in our part of the country, and can not get it.

(2) We can not borrow it at any price.

(3) We have plenty of property-hogs, horses, cattle, sheep, hay, oats, corn, wheat, but no money.

(4) We want, and will have, more money.

(5) What good is it to us that currency is absolutely safe to the holder if we can not get any to "hold?"

Reply:

(1) Money is plenty. There never was so much money.

(2) The Treasury reports show double the money now for each man, woman, and child that there was before the war or after the war closed. (3) Anyone who has anything to sell can get money enough.

(4) Anyone can borrow money that has anything to borrow it on.

Rejoinder:

(1) I know money is not plenty. I do not care what the Treasury or any other "reports show."

(2) We are determined to have more money.

(3) We never had any more things to sell, nor more of them, than

now.

(4) But we have to sell them immediately when they mature.

(5) We can not borrow any money to hold them until we can get fair prices.

(6) We sell them, and when the speculators have skinned us of all we have raised at low prices we hear that prices have gone up 5, 10, 15, or 20 per cent.

(7) We will try the unlimited coinage of silver if we can not get anything else.

Reply:

(1) Unlimited coinage of silver will do you no good. How are you going to get the silver after it is coined?

(2) The Government can only get it out by paying it out.

(3) You can not get it unless you work for it or sell something for it which you have worked to raise, etc.

(4) A 50-cent dollar can not help you.

5) Even that will not be given you, etc.

Rejoinder:

Yes; I know that; but I can not be any worse off. The bankers and their friends and neighbors get all the money they want. I can borrow no money when I have as much property in hogs that will be marketed in three or four months. My wheat, corn, oats, barley, horses, beef, etc., are as good as any man's property. I can not be any worse off, and I will try unlimited coinage of silver anyway, and take the chances.

This is not argument or reason, but it is exactly the condition of mind 6,500,000 voters are in, or worse.

Reply:

WHAT CAN BE SAID ON THE STUMP

We are called gold bugs, gold-standard men, etc., etc. We are not single gold-standard men, if you mean by that that we have changed. We are now where we have been since the Government was born-for having the best money in the world; and will keep each form of our money-paper, silver, and gold-at a parity with every other.

HOW THE WALKER BILL HELPS THE PEOPLE.

People ought to get paper money for the asking, if they will keep it as good money as the world ever saw, and not other ways.

(1) Any of you five men can get together $25,000, which is as little capital as can be made to pay expenses in a bank and make it safe, and can go to the United States Government and get $25,000 of notes, paying only the cost of printing. Then the five men can make the $25,000 of notes they get their own notes by having the president and cashier sign them. Then these five men can circulate them as money. But you say that is the way they used to do before the war, and we do not like that kind of money.

(2) Yes; but the Government did not guarantee that money, and it does this money. The money I am talking of is guaranteed by the United States just as surely as it is now. It is exactly the same money as we now have. It has the Government guarantee, as we have always told you it must have, in order to be good money. The only difference is this:

Now, the Government issues its bond, sells it to the bank, and the bank puts it back in the hands of the Government that made the bond, takes notes for it, goes home, and makes those notes its own, exactly as under our law, by signing them by the president and cashier of the bank, and uses them as money as now. But now the Government takes the capital