Read A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II Online
Authors: Murray N. Rothbard
The other logical alternative is the Rueff Plan, of returning to the classical gold standard after a massive increase in the world price of gold. But this too is unlikely, especially over powerful American opposition. Barring acceptance of a new world currency, the Americans would be content to keep inflating and simply force the hard-money countries to keep appreciating their exchange rates, but again it is doubtful that German, French, Swiss, and other exporters will be content to keep crippling themselves in order to subsidize dollar inflation. Perhaps the most likely prognosis is the formation of a new hard-money European currency bloc, which might eventually be strong enough to challenge the dollar, politically as well as economically. In that case, the dollar standard will probably fall apart, and we may see a return to the currency blocs of the 1930s, with the European bloc this time on a harder and quasi-gold basis. It is at least possible that the future will see gold and the hard European currencies at last dethrone the triumphant but increasingly uneasy dollar.
Index
(Prepared by Richard Perry)
Academy of Political Science (APS),
American Bankers Association (ABA),
205–06, 237, 244, 247, 256–58, 283, 482
Accountants, 325, 326
American Car and Foundry, 302, 311
Acheson, Dean G., 306, 347, 464, 466, 477
American Economic Association (AEA),
199, 215–18, 234, 246
Adams, Brooks, 209–10, 214
American Federation of Labor, 275, 448
Adams, Charles, 270, 311, 422
American Locomotive Company, 302
Adams, Henry, 209
American Smelting and Refining, 370
Adams, Thomas S., 221n
American Telephone and Telegraph
Addis, Charles Frances, 365, 391, 447
Company (AT&T), 198, 207, 267, 296,
Agricultural Adjustment Administra-
379
tion, 333, 471
Anaconda Copper, 279
Agricultural Credits Act
Anderson, Benjamin M., 277, 278n, 304,
of 1921, 284
426n, 445, 449, 458, 486n
of 1923, 285
Andrew, Abram Piatt, 236, 245–46, 249,
Aldrich, Nelson W., 206, 243–49, 252–57,
253–54
302
Articles of Confederation, 62
Aldrich Bill, 206, 244, 253
Astor, John Jacob, 84
Aldrich Plan, 254–57
Astor, Vincent, 302, 310
Aldrich-Vreeland Act, 244
Auchincloss, Gordon, 310
Jeckyll Island retreat, 252–53
Austrian economics, 7, 11n, 25, 40
National Monetary Commission,
business cycle theory, 94
245–48
Aviation Corporation, 301n
Aldrich, Winthrop W., 302, 302n,
309–12, 315–17, 341–42, 458, 484
Bacon, Robert, 192
Alexander, Magnus W., 454
Bailey, W. J., 414
Allied Supreme Council, 391
Baker, George F., 207, 235, 245
Allison, William Boyd, 199
Baker, Newton D., 281
Altschul, Frank, 456
Baldwin, Henry, 148n
Aluminum Corporation of America
Baldwin, Stanley, 367n
(ALCOA), 267, 378
Ballantine, Arthur A., 289
Amalgamated Sugar Company, 332n,
“Bancor,” 481, 483
333
Bankers Magazine
, 148, 204, 240
America, Colonial
Banking, 87, 113, 143, 168, 295, 428, 448
army impressments, 60
Act of 1933, 315
commodity money during, 48,
Act of 1935, 317, 331, 337, 341–42
compulsory legal tender in, 52
bank holiday, 453
inflationary paper money schemes,
50, 51, 58
branches and cartelization, 205
American Academy of Political Science
central reserve city banks, 136–41, 154
(AAPSS), 241, 243, 249
collapse of, 453
491
492
A History of Money and Banking in the United States:
The Colonial Era to World War II
commercial paper, 163–64, 238, 250
state banking system
compulsory par law of 1819, 81
replaced by national banking sys-
country banks, 116–18, 121–22,
tem, 135, 137, 143
137–41, 197, 206, 242, 247
time deposits, 418
decentralized banking, 77, 112–14,
wildcat banking, 78–79, 114
136n, 135, 137, 204–05, 238–39,
See also
Banks; Glass-Steagall Act; 242–43, 247, 253
Credit expansion
demand deposits, 69–71, 71n, 137,
Bank(s)
144, 147n, 186–87, 418
Bank for International Settlements
paying interest on, 139–41
(BIS), 276–77, 398, 426–27
practice prohibited, 139n, 315, 318
Bank for Mutual Redemption,
failures
121–22
cotton speculation and, 101
Bank of England, 62, 99, 204, 245,
easy money cause of, 277
270–72, 286, 319, 360, 364–77,
effect money supply, 276
382–86, 399, 406, 410, 421, 427–31,
give other banks pause, 294
442–47, 483
fractional reserve, 97, 295, 354–55
Committee on Currency and
beginnings of, 57, 60
Bank of England Note Issue,
364
distrust of, 168
Bank of North America, 62–64, 63n,
opposition to, 90–92, 112
68, 72
post–Civil War, 168
Boden-Kredit-Anstalt of Vienna, 450
pre–Civil War, 112–13
central banks, 64, 234, 241, 252–53
free, 77, 77n–78n
abolish, 92, 104
pre–Civil War era, 112–13, 135–37,
142, 152
academic organizations and, 249
transformation to centralized,
acquiring legitimacy for, 236
134–37, 142
drive for, 234
national banking system, 120–22,
lender of last resort, 40, 187, 240,
129, 132–47, 136n, 153, 246
246, 368
change in structure, 141–42
legislative activity for, 243–44
creation of three national bank
restraint, on inflation, myth of,
types, 136–37
71–75, 78, 93–94, 96
Gold Standard Era and 159–60
secret conclave to draft plans for,
inner contradictions of, 135
252–53
inverted pyramiding scheme of,
crisis of 1933, 293, 297
137–39, 141
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,
unhappiness with, 185–88, 186n,
445
204
Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
National Banking Acts, 134–35, 145,
318, 399, 443–45, 484
163, 167, 186–87
First Bank of the U. S. 1791–1811,
National Banking System Act of
68–72, 71n, 72n
1863, 122
First National Bank of Chicago, 201,
notes, expansion of, 56, 73
237, 246, 256, 302, 309, 456
Peel’s Bank Act of 1844, 204n
First National Bank of Philadelphia,
“pet banks,” 93, 104, 208
146
private notes, 56–58
First National Bank of Washington,
problems, 249
D.C., 146
pyramiding, 62, 69, 71, 75, 90,
Fourth National Bank of New York,
137–39, 140–42, 154, 160
146
Index
493
International Bank for Reconstruc-
Bingham, William, 92
tion and Development, 482n
Bird, Kai, 347
Kuhn, Loeb, 188, 192, 195, 230, 235,
Birmingham, Stephen, 215
235n, 292, 299, 310, 432
Black, Eugene R., 301, 336
among financial elites, 263, 266
Blackett, Sir Basil, 391–92, 447
central bank proponent, 188, 234
Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act of
Massachusetts Land Bank, 51–53, 55,
1878, 160
57–58, 58n
Blumenthal, George, 279
Mellon National Bank, 267, 378
Board of Economic Warfare, 339
National City Bank of New York, 298
New England Bank of Boston, 115
Bombshell message, 307, 465–66
Rockefeller–Harriman–Kuhn, Loeb,
Bonn, Moritz J., 431
192, 262, 263
Boom-bust cycle, 54, 95, 355
Second Bank of U.S. 1816–1833,
Currency School cycle, theory of, 91
82–96
national, first, 89–91, 94–95, 101
demise of, 92, 101
full scale inflationary, 88
fraud abounded at, 86–88
Boothby, G.R., 481
launched inflation of money from
Bovenizer, George W., 320
inception, 86–87
Boyle, Andrew, 374
Suffolk Bank, 114–22
Boxer Rebellion, 228–29
demise of, 116, 121–22
Bradbury, Sir John, 365, 367
free-market success, 115
Bradley, Justice Joseph P., 153
stabilizing effects of, 118–19
Braeman, John, 291
See also
Federal Reseve Bank
Brandeis, Louis D., 299, 322
Barrows, David P., 225n
Bremner, Robert H., 291
Barter, 90, 352
Bretton Woods Agreement, 43, 208–09,
Baruch, Bernard M., 279–81, 299, 306,
232, 306, 345–46, 432–33, 475, 482–86
313, 464, 466, 474
Brimhall, Dean, 335
Beaverbrook, Lord, 405–06, 482
Bechtel, Stephen, 334n–34n
Britain.
See
Great Britain
W.A. Bechtel Company, 333n–34n
British Royal Dutch Shell Oil, 308
Beckers, Dr. William, 279n
Bronson, Isaac, 79
Belmont, August, 169
Bruere, Henry, 301n
Bendix, Vincent, 298, 454
Bryan, William Jennings, 169–70,
176–77, 188
Benston, George J., 315
Benton, Thomas Hart, 91–92
Bryanism, 169, 177–78, 189–90, 197
Bernstein Plan, 490
Buchanan, James A., 87n
Bestor, Paul, 289
Bullitt, William C., 459
Bethlehem Steel, 370
Bureau of Budget, 304, 335
Bevan, Aneurin “Nye,” 404
Bureau of Insular Affairs (BIA), 221–22
Bicester, Lord, 369
Burgess, W. Randolph, 287, 483
Biddle, Nicholas, 92–94, 96
Burnett, Cody, 59
Billias, George Athan, 58
Burton, Theodore, 245, 257
Bimetallism, 47, 104–06, 109–11, 167,
Bush, Irving T., 246
219, 222, 231, 353
Bush, Thomas G., 194
coinage, 65–68
Business Advisory Council (BAC),
end of, 108
300–01
fallacies of, 220
Business Week
, 278, 426
494
A History of Money and Banking in the United States:
The Colonial Era to World War II
Business Men’s Monetary Reform
Collamer, Jacob, 126n
League, 254
Collet, Mark W., 373
Butler, Nicholas Murray, 241
Colt, S. Sloan, 331
Cannan, Edwin, 366n
Colwell, Stephen, 148
Capeadores
, 415, 420
Commercial and Financial Chronicle,
278, Capital formation, 165–69
278n, 426
Carey, Henry C., 148–49, 149n
Commission on International Exchange
Cartelization
(CIE), 296
of agriculture, 285, 334–34
Committee for Constitutional Govern-
of banking industry, 36, 186, 318,
ment, 454
322, 368, 372
Committee for the Nation to Rebuild
of industry, 264, 277, 281, 299
Prices and Purchasing Power, 298,
of Wall Street, 296, 306, 318, 320,
303, 305, 307–08, 454–56
327–28
Committee on Currency and Foreign
Carver, Thomas Nixon, 236, 246
Exchanges, 359
Catchings, Waddill, 273, 303
See also
Cunliffe Committee
Central banks. See Banks
Committee on Legislative Programs,
Census of 1890, 166
338
Chamberlain, Austen, 364n, 365, 367n
Conant, Charles A., 196–97, 199–200n,
Chapman, Sidney, 211, 391
201, 204, 208–14, 218, 221, 235, 243,
246, 248, 251, 389
Charles I, 56–57
Conant plan, 222–26
Chase, Salmon P., 123–26, 126n, 133–37,
143, 152
“conants,” 224
Chase, Stuart, 335
currency reforms, 232–33
Cheves, Langdon, 94
failure in Cuba and China, 226–29
Chicago School, 31
surplus capital, theory of, 210–16,
222–23, 230–32
Chicago Times-Herald
, 191
Conference of Governors, 273
Chicago Tribune
, 204, 414, 445
Committee for Constitutional Govern-
Churchill, Winston, 365–67, 367n
ment, 454
Citizens’ Reconstruction Organization
Commonwealth and Southern Corpora-
(CRO), 296
tion, 330
Claflin, John, 235–36
Consolidated Gas Company of New
Clark, John Bates, 214, 243, 416, 416n,
York, 207
447
Continental Congress, 59, 61
Clark, Spencer, 126n
Continentals, 59–60, 72
Clayton, William L. (Will), 346–47, 478,
not worth a, 60
485–86
Converse, Edmund C., 192
Cleveland, Grover, 168–69, 175–76, 178
Cooke, Henry, 133–35, 145
Cline, Virgil P., 198
Cooke, Jay
Cochran, Thomas, 267, 267n, 379
beginnings, 132–35
Cockayne, Brien, 360
House of Cooke, 133–35, 145–47,
Code of Fair Competition, 328–29n
147n, 156
Cohen, Benjamin V., 322, 330
crash of, 156
Coinage Act
enormous political influence of,
of 1792, 65, 65n, 104
134, 145–47, 156
of 1834, 104–06, 106n, 110–11
expansion of, 156
Index
495
master of public relations and mass
Dawes, Charles G., 269, 289, 296, 422n,
propaganda, 134, 145–47
456