That we strongly commend the Comptroller of the Currency for his courageous exposure of bank usury; and we unalterably oppose the efforts of the guilty parties to abolish his office.
There has been no better statement of the Comptroller's position than is here given—credit standing and variations of it must have no influence on interest rates and anyone who wishes his office abolished is guilty of usury; or, conversely, only those guilty of usury wish the office abolished.
The statement is inadequate only in the failure to define what is meant by "private control of the public currency."
FOOTNOTES:
[249] Conway and Patterson, The Operation of the New Bank Act, pp. 1, 2. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1914.
[250] John Skelton Williams, Comptroller of the Currency, Democracy in Banking, Address delivered before the annual convention of the North Carolina Bankers' Association, Raleigh, May 13, 1914. Printed in Congressional Record, 63d Congress, 2d Session, Vol. 51, pp. 10150-53.
[251] A. Piatt Andrew, The Essential and the Unessential in Currency Legislation, in Questions of Public Policy, Addresses delivered in the Page Lecture Series, 1913, before the Senior Class of the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, pp. 62-70. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1913.
[252] Adapted from John Perrin, What is Wrong with Our Banking and Currency System?, The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 19, No. 10, December, 1911, pp. 856-865.
[253] Paul M. Warburg. The Discount System in Europe, Publications of the National Monetary Commission, Senate Document, No. 402, 61st Congress, 2nd Session, pp. 33, 34.
[254] Conway and Patterson, The Operation of the New Bank Act, pp. 203-207. J. B. Lippincott Company. Philadelphia. 1914.