for the location of the financial centres of the commercial zones every
national bank, with the approval of the five persons designated in
section two of this Act, shall select one of the centres so designated
as the place for its clearing house, and thereupon the Comptroller
of the Currency shall notify all the national banks to meet at their
respective financial centres on a given day and at a designated place
for the purpose of organizing the several commercial zones, of which
there shall not be less than twenty-eight nor more than forty-two in
number.
COMMENT:--Referring to sections two and three I would urge upon your
attention these points:
_Geographical Considerations_
Great Britain has only 120,000 square miles of territory. France
has 204,000 and Germany 208,000 square miles. All Europe, outside
of Russia, is only about half the size of the United States. It
has 1,600,000 square miles, while we have 3,026,000 square miles.
Including Russia, all Europe has only 3,600,000 square miles.
Extended as our territory is, our products are far more varied and
more universally important to the human race than those of any other
nation. They exceed in value $35,000,000,000 a year.
_Local Interests_
New England is essentially a manufacturing center of dry goods,
wearing apparel, and metal wares. Pennsylvania is known the world over
for its coal, iron, and oil industries. New Orleans is the market for
cotton, sugar, and rice. Kansas City is the emporium for live stock
and grain. Chicago, the greatest food market on earth, is fast coming
to be one of the greatest manufacturing points in almost every line
of industry. St. Paul and Minneapolis supply us with wheat and flour.
The cities of the Rocky Mountains are growing in importance year by
year, each one entitled to distinction for some particular industry.
The development of the Pacific coast, from San Diego to Seattle, is
challenging universal attention.
It is the opinion of your committee that it is highly important,
indeed, absolutely essential, for the best interests of the people,
industrially, commercially, socially, and politically, that each
geographical zone of common business interests should have independent
self-government in matters of banking, precisely as the several States
have control of their local affairs.
At the same time, these commercial zones should be so harmonized
and federated as to give to each the financial strength and power
of all combined, precisely as every State is as strong and powerful
politically as the Federal Government itself.
All the governments of Europe are traditionally monarchical and
imperialistic. Their banking institutions not only all bear the
insignia of their political origin, but also characteristically mark
the times and conditions that gave them birth.
In England alone self-government found true expression in the
selection of the board of directors of the Bank of England. The
British Government has no relation to the management, either directly
or indirectly. It neither appoints a single representative on the
board, nor has any voice whatever in his selection.
Again, it is to be noted that the Englishman, ever tenaciously jealous
of his rights, excluded from the board of directors all bankers. No
banker has ever sat upon the board of directors of the Bank of England.
The French Empire of 1803 and the German Empire of 1873 are each
reflected in the organization of the Bank of France and the Imperial
Bank of Germany.
This Government was organized as a protest against royal rule and
imperial power. It has been fighting the evils of centralization for
more than a hundred years; and of nothing has it shown such persistent
jealousy as the possible centralization of financial interests and the
control of commercial credits.
Will it be said by some one who thinks only in the terms of the
special interests that, notwithstanding this watchfulness and constant
anxiety, great aggregations of capital in the business world have come
practically to control the business situation; that our commerce is
practically centralized now, and that our banking should be so, to
make it the counterpart of the existing state of things?
Let us not assume that the problems of coördinated power and wealth
have all been solved. Let us believe that the study of this modern
mystery has just begun. Let us hope that if it is possible for us so
to solve the financial and banking problem as to recognize the best
traditions of the Republic and the highest aspirations of the American
people, keeping steadily in view every economic law involved, we shall
then save our beloved country from the tragic consequence of political
controversies directly affecting our commercial credit and indirectly
affecting every day's labor and every dollar of capital until the
question is settled right.
We must not forget that every conceivable phase of the so-called
"money question" has been the football of American politics from the
organization of the First and the Second United States banks, down
through the greenback madness, the silver craze and the gold standard
fight. Not a single subject has aroused such intense bitterness as
this one, excepting slavery alone.
Whoever, then, tries to solve this problem must recognize at every
turn the origin of our political institutions, the genius of our
people, and the peculiar characteristics of the American citizen or he
will fail utterly in his undertaking.