Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward полностью

Half truths and propaganda notwithstanding, the organizational structure proposed by the Aldrich Bill was similar in manyways to the old Bank of the United States. It was to have the right toconvert federal debt into money, to loan that money to thegovernment, to control the affairs of regional banks, and to be thedepository of government funds. The dissimilarities were in thoseprovisions which gave the Creature more privilege and power thanthe older central bank. The most important of these was the right tocreate the official money of the United States. For the first time inour history, the paper notes of a banking institution became legaltender, not only for public debts, but for private ones as well.

Henceforth, anyone refusing to accept these notes would be sent toprison. The words "The United States of America" were to appearon the face of every note along with the great seal of the UnitedStates Treasury. And, of course, the signature of the Treasurerhimself would be printed in a conspicuous location. All of this wasdesigned to convince the public that the new institution was surelyan agency of the government itself.

TURNING THE OPPOSITION AGAINST ITSELF

Now that the basic strategy was in place and a specific bill hadbeen drafted, the next step was to create popular support for it.

This was the critical part of the plan and it required the utmostfinesse. The task actually was made easier by the fact that there was a great deal of genuine opposition to the concentration of financial power on Wall Street. Two of the most outspoken critics at that time were Wisconsin Senator Robert LaFollette and Minnesota Congressman Charles Lindbergh. Hardly a week passed without one of them delivering a scathing speech against what they called

"the money trust" which was responsible, they said, for deliberately creating economic booms and busts in order to reap theprofits of salvaging foreclosed homes, farms and businesses. Ifanyone doubted that such a trust really existed, their skepticismwas abruptly terminated when LaFollette publicly charged that the COMPETITION IS A SIN 443

entire country was controlled by just fifty men. The monetaryscientists were not dismayed nor did they even bother to deny it. Infact, when George F. Baker, who was a partner of J.P. Morgan, wasasked by reporters for his reaction to LaFollette's claim, he repliedthat it was totally absurd. He knew from personal knowledge, hesaid, that the number was not more than eight!1