The Railroads and the Banks
ALMOST every week supplies some new facts bearing upon the remarkable accumulation of money and consequent financial power in the hands of a few men who are thus in a position to control the forces and conditions of the commercial world. Just now it is the railroads and the banks which are under observation. In an exhaustive study of the railroad problem Mr. Henry C. Nicholas, “a railway expert in the full sense of the term,” sums up the situation, so far as the question of control is concerned, in the following paragraphs taken from his article in Public Opinion:— The late C. P. Huntington, one of the greatest railroad geniuses this country has ever produced, made the assertion a few months before his death that this generation would see a consolidation of all the railroads in the United States into a single system. This prediction, which seemed an exceedingly wild statement when it was made, is rapidly being fulfilled. The railroad industry of the United States is to-day absolutely controlled by ten men. There are in the United States about 210,000 miles of railroads. Of this mileage these ten men control no less than seventy-five per cent, or about 160,000 miles. Included in this mileage is practically every important railroad in the country. The remaining 50,000 miles not controlled by these ten men is composed largely of small and relatively unimportant lines. The movement toward consolidation has proceeded too far now to be stopped. The next few years will certainly see practically all of the few remaining independent railroads absorbed by the larger companies, and the entire railroad system of the country will thus be brought under the absolute control of a small handful of men. The beneficial results of the movement toward consolidation among the railroads is admitted even by those who regard the entire movement as a serious menace to the future welfare of the country. There is another and more serious6side to the movement, however. Never before in the history of the world has a small handful of men controlled the enormous resources and the tremendous power that is centered in the hands of the ten men who control the railroad industry of the United States. Whether or not any ten men, however honorable they may be, and however noble may be their aims, should be permitted to control the railroad industry of the country, with its power of taxing every industry and entering into the cost of practically every commodity of commerce, is another and far greater question which this country will soon be called upon to solve. A fresh illustration of the consolidation of wealth under the control of a few banking institutions is furnished by an article in the Wall Street Journal of late date, with the title, “The Big Five,” from which we learn that five banks in New York City “practically control the banking situation.” The total capital of these five banks is $119,091,400, their loans as reported on March 4 amounted to $561,188,000, and their total reserve as reported on the same date was $150,169,800. A comparison between these totals and the similar totals reported March 7, 1903, shows an enormous increase during the past two years. The Journal calls attention to this growth by saying, “Even the changes of two years have been so great as to call for special notice.” In summing up the situation the Journal says, “At this rate it will not be long before these five banks will represent more than half the reserves of the clearing-house. The ‘Big Six’ packing-house, constituting the much discussed ‘beef trust,’ controls only forty-five per cent of the slaughter trade. The ‘Big Five’ banks represent over forty-five per cent of the loans and legal reserves of the clearing-house.” The situation in the financial world is so strikingly different from what it ever was before in the history of the world that it is plainly one of the signs of the times. To the men who have amassed such wealth, whether by honorable or by dishonorable means, are addressed the words, “Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days.” The common people are fast losing their regard for the rights of property because the rights of others have been disregarded to such an extent in the acquisition of property, and conditions are rapidly shaping for “an upheaval” which is already being prophesied by discerning observers. Those who have been entrusted with the stewardship of our Lord’s goods, and who realize the meaning of these things, ought to perceive that the time has come to transfer more and more of their treasure to the bank of heaven. Those who in a judicious way render aid to the needy, and who use their means for the furtherance of the kingdom of God in the earth, are simply lending to the Lord, and in the time of the world’s bankruptcy his credit will still be good, and he will richly repay all loans. It is time to take these lessons to heart.