Other People's Money, and How the Bankers Use It

The great monopoly in this country is the money monopoly. So long as that exists, our old variety and freedom and individual energy of development are out of the question. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men, who, even if their actions be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who, necessarily, by every reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom. This is the greatest question of all; and to this, statesmen must address themselves with an earnest determination to serve the long future and the true hberties of men. The Pujo Committee -- appointed in 1912 -- found: Far more dangerous than all that has happened to us in the past in the way of ehmination of competition in industry is the control of credit through the domination of these groups over our banks and industries.... Whether under a different currency system the resources in our banks would be greater or less is comparatively immaterial if they continue to be controlled by a small group....