The Enemy Within the Empire:
A Short History of the Bank of England
By Eric D. Butler. (Part 02)
A Short History of the Bank of England
By Eric D. Butler. (Part 02)
THE CZECHOSLOVAKIAN GOLD EPISODE
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What is now known as the famous "Czech Gold Incident" further demonstrated the power of the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements. It also demonstrated the fact that the British Government had no control over the actions of the Bank of England. When the Nazi machine crashed into Czechoslovakia in September 1938, it took the assets of the Czechoslovakian National Bank. Approximately £5,000,000 worth of Czech gold held by the Bank of England was transferred to Germany, with the result that, when this fact became known, there was an uproar in the British House of Commons.
The following extracts from the Sydney Morning Herald of May 24, 1939, speak for themselves:"The Secretary for Mines, Mr. Crookshank, said in the House of Commons that the Government had no power to restrain the movement of gold held in the Bank of International Settlements on behalf of the Czechoslovakian National Bank. . . . This means that more than £5,000,000 worth of Czech gold deposited in the Bank of England for the Bank of International Settlements will be transferred to Germany. . . .
The City Editor of the 'News-Chronicle' says:'. . . It now turns out that more than £5,000,000 was, in fact, released, although not by agreement with the Treasury, BECAUSE THIS WAS NOT REQUIRED." (My emphasis.)
Three days after this report, the following appeared in the Sydney Sun:"The charge that Germany had 'stolen' £ 6,000,000 of Czech gold held in England was made in the Commons today. The gold, it was stated, was claimed by the Bank for International Settlements, acting on behalf of the German Reichsbank, from the Bank of England. "Mr. B. Bracken (Cons.), who raised the subject, declared that the British delegates on the Bank for International Settlements should have informed the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the claim. He said that gangsters had got into Czechoslovakia and stolen the title deeds. . . . Mr. Lloyd George (Lib.) asserted that the £6,000,000 had already been transferred to the Reichsbank, which had no more right to it than a burglar. It was amazing, he said, that the Treasury could have agreed to the decision without consulting the Government."
No doubt Germany utilised this gold to further increase her supplies of raw materials for war purposes from British and other countries.
A BLOW AT THE MONARCHY
I pointed out earlier, in this "History of the Bank of England," how the Money Power has been endeavouring to undermine the British Monarchy since the time of Cromwell. I have also mentioned the conditions prior to the start of the debt system, when the issue of the nation's money supply was one of the Monarchy's greatest prerogatives. Here is an interesting table of comparison of conditions in England:
Thirteenth Century
Debt. Nil.
Meat: ½d. per lb
Fat Goose: 2d
Beer: 1d gallon
Shoes: 4d. pair
Holidays: 152 a year
Week's Work: Four days
Productive Power: Man and horse
Man's Achievement: Cathedrals, Guildhalls, Art, Literature.
Twentieth Century Debt:
Debt: £8,000,000,000.(This is considerably more now.)
Meat: 2/- per lb
Fat Goose: 8/6
Beer: 5/4 gallon
Shoes: 12/6 pair.
Holidays: 56 a year.
Week's Work: 6 days
Productive Power: Steam, Electricity, Petrol. (About a million times
greater than the 13th century.)
Man's Achievement: Slums, Crowded Hospitals, Distressed Areas, Public Assistance Committees.
Until 1928 in Britain, the pretence of the King's sovereignty over the nation's money was maintained by keeping his head upon all Treasury notes. But, as we know, this is only a small portion of the total money supply. The great bulk of it is manufactured in the form of bank credit by the private trading banks. However, the private financiers wanted every suggestion of the Monarchy's sovereignty in money matters removed.
In 1928 an Act was passed which transferred the King's currency to the Bank of England. In the design of the new Bank of England notes the King's head disappeared! The people's paper money ceased to have any authority under the Crown, and was now issued to them, very kindly, by the private joint stock concern called 'The Governor and Company of the Bank of England.'"
In an article on this matter, the Daily Mail said:"The new green £1 and brown 10/- notes have a curiously foreign aspect. They look as if they had been designed in the United States. . . . The old Treasury notes were not particularly artistic productions, but they did not produce this impression of foreign provenance. The King's head and the design of St. George killing the dragon stood out plainly on the front, and Houses of Parliament equally plainly on the back. . . ."
The following pointed criticism was offered by the Morning Post:"The first impression on the mind is that the design-perhaps in token of our debt to America - has been modelled on that of the Greenback, and that if the denomination had been expressed in dollars instead of in sterling, the effect would have been more complete."
Whether there was any connection between what was little short of a personal attack upon King George V, and his breakdown has caused some speculation. King George V, was very pointed in his remarks when opening the World Economic Conference in 1933:"I appeal to you to co-operate for the ultimate good of the whole world. It cannot be beyond the power of man so to use the vast resources of the world as to assure the material progress of civilisation. No diminution of these resources has taken place."
He went on to say that it was surely not beyond the capacity of man to distribute the benefits of science. He clearly indicated that it was a problem of distribution, which means that it is a money problem. He also said:"All nations are suffering from a common ill. This is shown only too clearly by the use of unemployment figures. Interpreting these figures in terms of human suffering has been my constant concern in recent years."
What a human appeal!
What a reproach to those responsible for the mal-administration of the Empire! King George V died very saddened in spirit, but he left a fitting epitaph in the words I have quoted.
Speaking before the National Congress of the London Chamber of Commerce on Commercial Education in 1933, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales - now Duke of Windsor - said:"The depression and economic disturbance has been largely caused by maladjustment of distribution. The potential output is far greater than ever before. If all employable labour were employed for a reasonable number of hours per week, the world would have at its disposal a volume of commodities and services which would enable the entire population to hive on a higher level of comfort and well-being than has ever been contemplated in the rosiest dreams of the social reformer.
Our urgent task is to bring consumption and production into a proper relationship - not a simple, but a quite possible, task."
Distribution depends upon the money system, which is largely controlled by the Bank of England. Other members of the present Royal family have shown a similar concern for the well-being of their people. Perhaps this evoked the famous slogan in some of the slum areas a few years back: "We may be lousy, but we're loyal."
If the British experiment - as it has been so aptly called - is to be preserved and continued, the creation of the nation's money supply will have to be wrested from the hands of the private financiers and become the sole prerogative of His Majesty's Governments. God save the King!
MONTAGU NORMAN'S FOREIGN POLICY
Mr. Montagu Norman told the Macmillan Committee that he had been devoting a great deal of his time after the war to two things:The first was "the stabilisation of foreign countries which had lost what they possessed before the war," and the second was the setting up of central banks throughout the world.
In 1922 a Conference of International Financiers took place in Genoa. Mr. Montagu Norman was the leading exponent of the Central Reserve Bank System. In "Montagu Norman, a Study in Financial Statesmanship," Mr. Paul Einzig, editor of the London "Financial Review," says that Mr. Norman "raised central banking after its early haphazard growth to a scientific system." He was "assisted by able and experienced experts such as Sir Otto Niemeyer (Australians and New Zealanders remember this gentleman quite well) and Mr. Siepmann."
Mr. Einzig also says:"Another condition on which Mr. Norman and his collaborators insisted was that the central banks should be independent of their governments."
This policy has certainly been well carried out. Since the Commonwealth Bank in this country has become a Central Bank it has been dominated by the private trading banks and the Bank of England."
Political interference is rigidly opposed.
In his biography of Mr. Norman, Mr. Eimzig says: "His conception of a Central Bank is that it should be a State within a State. This implies immunity from political interference on the part of the political authorities of their respective countries, and also the observance of rules adopted in the intercourse between sovereign powers. . . . The most important step in the course of the endeavours to promote co-operation between central banks has been the establishment of the Bank of International Settlements. . . . As usual, he remained entirely behind the scenes. . . . In spite of this he had more to do with it than anybody else."
Mr. Einzig also says:"It is a fact that in chronological order he devoted his attention in the first place to the reconstruction of the ex-enemy countries."
We are told that this was "only because they were in urgent need of help." (The crushing of the British people by Mr. Norman was apparently a matter of very little importance. Mr. Poverty-is-good-for-you-Norman knew what was best!) The first countries to be "assisted" by the Bank of England were Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and the City of Danzig.
The activities of the Bank of England in connection with Austria, as related by Mr. Bruce Lockhart in "Retreat from Glory," published in 1934, are well worth quoting. From 1919 to 1922 Mr. Lockhart was Commercial Secretary at the British Legation at Prague. He says:"Before the war there had been a large bank called the Anglo-Oesterreichsche Bank in Vienna - a Jewish concern with some English capital, and with branches all over Old Austria."
This bank fell into difficulties and the Bank of England, to which it owed money, decided to put it on its feet again. Mr. Spencer Smith was representing the Bank of England and, upon arriving at Vienna, had some difficulty, in which he needed the diplomatic services of Mr. Lockhart. Mr. Lockhart relates:"All the assets of the Viennese Bank were in Austrian Treasury notes, which had been deposited in Prague. While the Austrians claimed that the notes were entitled to be valued in Czech currency, the Czechs were equally insistent that they were not."
Czechoslovakia had formerly used Austrian currency, but when this paper money became worthless in the inflation of 1921, the Czechoslovakian Government held up the value of this money, and on a given date separated it from Austrian currency by stamping all notes in the country with a Czechoslovakian brand.
Unfortunately," says Mr. Lockhart, "the Jews in the A.O. Bank had been too far-seeing. Instead of sending the bank-notes into Czechoslovakia on the given day, they had transferred interest-bearing Treasury notes. The Czechs had stamped the bank-notes. . . . Greed for interest had defeated its own ends. . . . If the 148,000,000 Treasury notes of the A.O. Bank had a Czech value, they were worth over £1,000,000. If they had an Austrian value they were worthless. Without the assets the Governor (of the Bank of England) could not go ahead with his scheme."
This was where the services of Mr. Lockhart came in. He was to try and persuade the
Czechoslovakian Government to make this worthless pile of paper (if Austrian) into a million sterling (if Czech) . The Government felt disinclined to do anything of the kind, but in the end gave the A.O. Bank a loan of 148,000,000 kronen at 1 per cent. Six months later, as a reward, the Czechs were allowed to float a loan of £10,000,000 in New York and London. In this manner, that section of Central Europe, represented by the parties interested in the A.O. Bank, was brought under the control of the Bank of England.
OBTAINING CONTROL OF INDUSTRY
At the World Economic Conference of 1927, there was a suggestion of the "rational organisation of production and distribution" by the "bringing of the whole of an industry under intelligent direction and administration." One of the most prominent men in this movement in Britain was the Jew, the late Sir Alfred Mond, head of the powerful Imperial Chemical Industries(ICI) combine. In 1927 he sought the support of the trade unions for his scheme of rationalisation. The General Council of the Trades Union Congress stated that "while rationalisation can never prove an alternative to nationalisation, the movement was prepared to welcome such changes in the organisation of industry during the period of private ownership as would lead to improvements in the efficiency of industry and to the raising of the standards of living of the people."
Here we had the financiers and the socialists more or less agreeing on basic principles.
When Mr. Norman made his first appearance before the Macmillan Committee, on March 26, 1930, he said that he was devoting some attention to "an attempted study of industry, mainly the heavy basic industries of the country." His idea was that "the salvation of industry in this country, without which commerce and finance cannot long continue, lies in the process of rationalisation . . . and that is to be achieved by the unity or unification, or marriage, of finance and industry."
Here was an open admission that the Bank of England was attempting to get control of industry and organise it for its own ends under big trusts. Small, independent firms were to be crushed out.
Mr. J. W. Beaumont Pease, chairman of Lloyds Bank, in his evidence before the same committee, said: "Of course, the whole question of amalgamation affords a certain amount of ironical amusement to bankers, because as the wheel comes round what used to be considered a danger, a step in the direction of monopolies, and so on, is, in other industries, now held out very much as one of the means of salvation."
Crushed financially by the Bank of England's deflation policy, British industry in sheer desperation was ready to accept any solution. We see exactly the same technique in this country where the local agents of the Bank of England are pursuing the same policy. The result is the centralisation of industry into monopolies and the rapid growth of innumerable bureaucratic boards to control the primary producers.
Sir Ernest Harvey, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, admitted in his evidence that about October, 1929 - about the beginning of the world depression - the Bank of England had set up a Securities Management Trust to buy up control of industrial concerns. As we have seen, the policy of credit contraction was initiated by the Wall Street group through their control of the Bank of England.
Mr. Louis T. McFadden, ex-President of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association, and for twelve years Chairman of the U.S.A. House of Representatives' Banking and Currency Committee, speaking in the U.S.A. Congress on December 15, 1931, said, in referring to the slump: "It was not accidental. It was a carefully contrived occurrence - the International Bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so that they could emerge as rulers of us all."
Mr. E. L. Payton, in giving evidence before the Macmillan Commission on behalf of the National Union of Manufacturers on February 27, 1930, dealt with the increasing difficulty of small firms to obtain capital. Further evidence of the elimination of small traders was given by Sir William Perring, President of the National Chamber of Trade, an organisation representing some 360 local Chambers of Trade. He said: "In each provincial town which you go into today, if you walk up the main street you will see five businesses out of six are multiple shops or chain shops. That is the position in the main street. They have been secured at fabulous rents and premiums. The banks handle the money of these multiple shops. The small man is being squeezed out, and I think ultimately it will be to the detriment of our people as a nation."
Australians might look around and see if they can see similar tendencies in this country.
A FURTHER MOVE
In February, 1931, Mr. Norman told the Committee that his first company - Securities Management Trust - had been developed into a much larger concern - the Bankers' Industrial Development Company. Its capital was provided by the Bank of England and the big acceptance houses. Some nasty allegations were made that the amalgamations of British industries were being affected by "foreign money."
Sir Otto Niemeyer said on this point: "I would not feel the least compunction about taking every sort of money from whatever source I could get it."
The head of the Bankers' Industrial Development Company was Sir Guy Granet, who also gave evidence before the Macmillan Committee. Sir Guy was partner in Higginson and Company, international bankers.
Apart from Sir Guy, the board controlling this Development Company consisted of Mr. Norman; Baron Schroeder, of the international Jewish-banking house of J. H. Henry Schroeder and Company; Mr. Peacock of Baring's (who, in former years, were London agents for the Wall Street group, Kuhn, Loeb and Co.), and Mr. Bruce Gardner, managing director of the Bank of England Securities Management Trust.
This fine group of "British" financiers set out to get control of British industries.
That they were finding the average Britisher rather hard to deal with was evidenced by Sir Guy Granet's admission that tact was needed. He told the Macmillan Commission that "It would be a dreadful thing if industry thought that here was a body of bankers who were going to tell industry how they ought to be organised: that would at once get their bristles up."
Asked as to the position of the banks with respect to, say, the steel industry, Sir W. H. N. Goschen, chairman of the National Provincial Bank, stated: "They are very much in the hands of the banks in this respect, that the banks are able to put them in liquidation, if necessary."
Lord Macmillan asked: "The power behind your advice is 'If you do not take that course we shall cut off your supplies?"
Sir W. H. N. Goschen replied: "Yes."
The arrogant attitude of the bankers towards industry can be gathered by the following statement by Sir Ernest Harvey:" . . . We claim the right to assure ourselves that those who are to be in charge of the industry are qualified. . . that there are financial advisers who can be relied upon from the point of view of finance. In that way we claim the right to a certain amount of control. . . ."
MONTAGU NORMAN "SACKS" A STEEL-"KING"
That Mr. Norman wields despotic powers and over-rides anyone who gets in the way of his policy was clearly demonstrated when he removed Sir William Firth, chairman of Richard Thomas and Co.; the £20,000,000 steel and tinplate combine. Sir William Firth started his career as a 10/- a week office boy. It was entirely due to his initiative and drive that the Richard Thomas steel combine was recognised throughout the world for the quality of its work. Control of the company was achieved by the ank of England in 1938 when it lent the company seven million pounds to complete the great plant at Ebbw Vale. Speaking on this matter, Sir William Firth said:"I feel like a captain who has lost his ship and is here to report to the owners. About two years ago, in very dirty weather, some pirates pushed us on the rocks, and boarded us disguised as 'national interests' men. . . . The method of obtaining control by the appointment of a control committee is a technique new in this country; as unjust as it is un-English."
The main control committee, said Sir William, consisted of three persons - the Governor of the Bank of England, Lord Greenwood and Mr. Lever. It had been estimated by the banks, said Sir William, that the company would need about £7,000,000 to complete its capital expenditure program and operate its plant. But time had proved the maximum needs to be less than three and a half millions, despite heavy A.R.P. expenditure.
There is not the slightest doubt that seven instead of three and a half millions was thrust upon the company in order to acquire control.
Commenting on Sir William's dismissal as a result of "irreconcilable difference within the board," the New English Weekly of May 9, 1940, under the heading "Finance Over Industry," said: "This dismissal of an industrial pioneer has taken place at the hands of a 'control committee,' instituted with a vast capital two years ago, to finance the large-scale improvements then made at Ebbw Vale, and presided over by Mr. Montagu Norman; a committee powerful enough by its joint control of finance and technique to dominate the entire steel industry and, in fact, designed to do so. . . . But the dismissal of an industrialist, who had brought British steel production up to the best world standard, and who has been shown to have the confidence of his employees, by a committee consisting partly of bankers and partly of his rivals, is an extremely bad omen for the future of British industry.
. . . Whatever the need of a true national planning . . . the worst possible approach to it is a surreptitious oligarchic control in the interests of a usurping finance; and we join with Sir William Firth, and those who have contentedly worked with him, to demand an investigation of the gangsterdom which has put him on the spot."
This was part of Mr. Norman's program of "rationalising" industry.
In the English Social Crediter of May 25, 1940, the following item appeared in connection with the above matter: "It is reported that certain sections of the huge plant, which in the present circumstances must be of national importance, were only working part time, and that the steel which had been imported to the Vale to keep the plant working to capacity was now going elsewhere."
War or no war, the Bank of England's program marches on.
SOVIETISM BY STEALTH
Apart from attempting to obtain control of industry, there was a move to obtain control of agriculture by the establishment of Boards. I shall deal with this matter at some length, because the future of civilisation may well depend upon the attitude that the primary producers adopt towards this plot to "Sovietise" them.
Every representative of International Finance who has ever been in this country - such as Mr. Bruce - has urged "planning" of primary production. It is essential that we understand the origin and motives of this sinister plan. Evidence given before the Macmillan Commission revealed that the Bank of England had set up an gricultural Mortgage Corporation. Sir Otto Niemeyer took a leading part in this and became a director. The chairman was Sir W. H. N. Gosehen, chairman of the National Provincial Bank.
Allegedly the corporation was for the purpose of "assisting" agriculture.
In 1931, there came into existence in England a movement for promoting "Planned Economy." Sir Basil P. Blackett, director of the Bank of England, was the first chairman. He was succeeded by Mr. Israel Moses Sieff, the present holder of that position. An examination of the list of people actively engaged in P.E.P. (Political and Economic Planning) reveals a curious mixture of conservatives, financiers and socialists. Mr. Sieff is director of a chain-store enterprise in England called "Marks and Spencer." His idea is to run the whole nation as one big trust.
By 1934 the "P.E.P." was in action in the following organisations: Milk Marketing Board, Pig Marketing Board, Electricity Grid, British Broadcasting Corporation, Import Duties Advisory Board, Town and Country Planning Board, United Steel Companies Ltd.
The following extract appeared in an English journal in 1940: "The Political and Economic Planning group, under the chairmanship of Mr. Sieff, is out to reduce every public and private activity in England to a compact mechanism of State-aided monopolies, combines and chain-stores, under the control of a few financiers. . . . This wonderful and genial movement for the enslavement of Great Britain is making a fair headway, and has succeeded in laying hands on pigs, bacon, milk, potatoes, turnips, buses. . . . The latest to join the movement is the National Birth Control Association, which has, accordingly, altered its name to Family Planning Association. It will tell when and whom to marry, how many children to bring into the world, when to divorce, when and how to die, all according to the lofty standards of a group of financiers' needs and benefits."
Speaking about this Political and Economic Planning group and its aims, Mr. McFadden is reported, in the Congressional Record of June 8, 1934, as saying:"This plan is already in operation in the British Government by means of the Tariff Advisory Board, which in many of its powers is somewhat comparable to the National Recovery Administration in the United States. This group organisation has gathered all data and statistics obtained by governmental and private organisation in administrative, industrial, social, educational, agricultural and other circles; and Army, Navy and airport statistics are in their hands. This has been made possible from the fact that the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, being a Fabian, the 'Political Economic Plan' Fabian group has had all archives at its disposal.
Through the Tariff Advisory Board created in February, 1933, and headed by Sir George May, the control over industry and trade is being firmly established. This board works in direct connection with the Treasury and with it devises tariff policy.
It has also been granted the powers of a law court and can exact under oath that all information concerning industry and trade be given it. "Iron and steel, as also cotton industrials in England, have been ordered by the Tariff Advisory Board to prepare and submit plans for the reorganisation of their industries and warned that, should they fail to do so, a plan for complete reconstruction would be imposed upon them. The Tariff Advisory Board has been granted default powers and can, therefore, impose its plan. . . .
An interesting bit of information has come to me in this connection to the effect that this Fabian group has close connections with the Foreign Policy Association in New York City.
This Foreign Policy Association was largely sponsored by the late Paul M. Warburg, and has received the close attention and support of Bernard M. Baruch and Felix M. Frankfurter. "Many serious people in England feel that this Fabian organisation practically controls the British Government and that this Government will soon be known as 'His Majesty's Soviet Government.' It is asserted that both Prime Minister MacDonald and his son belong to the organisation and that the movement is well financed and well organised, and intends to practically Sovietise the English-speaking race.
About three months after the passage of the National Recovery Act of the United States, when Israel Moses Sieff was urged by members of his committee to show more activity, he said:
"Let us go slowly for a while and wait and see how our plan carries out in" America.
FINANCE AND SOCIALISM
Sovietism, under the title of the New Deal, is being rapidly foisted on the American public. The fundamental idea is the same as "planning" and Communism: everything run by big State trusts controlled by Finance. Production is made to fit the money system which alone creates a set of circumstances conducive to getting the people to accept these ideas. The financiers know that primary producers have an independent outlook and have always found them hardest to deal with. This was particularly so in Russia.
There should be no need for me to comment on the similar manner in which the primary producers are being treated in this country.
Writing of P.E.P. in 1935, Captain Bernard Acworth, R.N., said: "In the winter of 1933-34, Mr. Harold MacMillan, M.P., published a book, 'Industrial Reconstruction,' in which, with the aim of establishing an equilibrium between supply and demand, and so of eliminating price-cutting, proposals were made for amalgamating all firms in the several industries into one corporation which would control the industry.
The author frankly admitted that the proposed corporations would constitute monopolies and that this would tend to make prices rise to the consumer."
In November, 1934, Lord Melchett (of the great Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and a member of P.E.P.) introduced an Industrial Reorganisation (Enabling) Bill into the House of Lords. Its purpose was to promote the formation of corporations of the type proposed by Mr. MacMillan. It only secured a first reading, but an Industrial Reorganisation League, with Mr. MacMillan as chairman, came into existence to secure support in industry for its principles. . . . It should also be noted that Mr. Walter Elliot, Minister for Agriculture, is reported to have said on March 20, 1935, that 'the United Kingdom policy' for agriculture was 'the pplication of the principle of planning in all its phases.'
'It involves,' he said, 'the planning of supply regionally, nationally, and internationally, and as a onsequence, the planning of consumption. . . .' "
The planning of consumption!
There you have the financiers' plot in a few words.
Instead of the people having sufficient money to buy what they produce, production will be planned - which means destroyed and restricted - in order to fit the artificial money shortage.
The Apple and Pear scheme in this country is a working example of such planning.
THE BANK OF ENGLAND AS A MODEL
Mr. Sieff, chairman of P.E.P., embodies his ideas on planning in a remarkable pamphlet entitled "Freedom and Planning."
This document was kept secret for some considerable time before copies were obtained and given publicity. In a broad-sheet issued by the P.E.P., dated April 25, 1933, the following extract emphasises the secrecy and insidious policy of this group:"You may use without acknowledgment anything which appears in this broad-sheet on the understanding that the broad-sheet and group are not publicly mentioned, either in writing or otherwise. This strict condition of anonymity, upon which the broad-sheet goes to you, is essential in order that the group may prove effective as a non-partisan organisation making its contribution outside the field of personal and party polemics."
It is interesting to note that Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, son of the late Ramsay MacDonald, belongs to this group, and now represents the British Government in Canada. Sir Geoffrey Whiskard spent some of his time advocating Political and Economic Planning while holding the position of Trade Commissioner in this country.
A careful study of Mr. Sieff's articles on "Planning" clearly indicates the broad lines of a plan similar to that mentioned by Mr. Montagu Norman before the Macmillan Committee. Bearing this in mind, the following extract from Section 24 of these articles is revealing: "The Bank of England has in the course of its history lost practically all of its original profit-making characteristics and become in fact, if not in form, a leading example of a Public Utility Corporation devoted to rendering public service. It has also many of the features of a self-governing institution, its relation to the Government delicately adjusted so as to combine both due subordination and administrative independence so as to offer a significant parallel to the new institutions suggested earlier in the spheres of industry and distribution. It would appear to be sufficiently flexible to enable it to adapt itself to filling its place in the new order without requiring any radical changes in its constitution."
SOME SINISTER EXTRACTS
 They Own It All (Including You)!: By Means of Toxic Currency; by Ronald MacDonald, Robert Rowen [*Amazon*] |
Australian electors might ask themselves if there is any resemblance between the trends in this country and the following extracts from Sieff's articles. It is stated of the farmer and manufacturer that:"He may be conceived of as remaining in full control of his farm or factory, but receiving from the duly constituted authority instructions as to the quantity and quality of his production, and as to the markets in which he will sell."
Small retailers must be dealt with: "The waste -involved in . . . retail shops, one shop for every twenty households, cannot be allowed to block the flow of goods from producer to consumer."
I would mention. that it is not the retail system which has blocked the flow of goods, but the present financial system. However, apparently the small independent retailers are to be crushed and the great chain-store monopolies to be extended. On the political side we learn that "big consequent changes will follow in the machinery of government."
The following gem should commend itself to the farmers who are now feeling the full blast of planning under various boards in this country: "Whether we like it or not - and many will dislike it intensely - the individualistic manufacturer and farmer will be forced by events to submit to far-reaching changes in outlook and methods."
Also the following: "What is required, if with only a view to equitable treatment of individuals, is transfer of ownership of large blocks of land - not necessarily of all the land in the country, but certainly of a large proportion of it - into the hands of the proposed statutory corporations and public utility bodies and of land trusts."
BANK OF ENGLAND AND NEW ZEALAND
The history of our sister Dominion has been one of ever-increasing financial dictatorship; ironically enough, the very Government which was elected with an overwhelming mandate from the people to break the private money monopoly has tightened the chains of bondage. I refer to the Labour Government.
The Colony of New Zealand was founded in 1840, and with it the foundations of the debt swindle which, at that time, had reduced the Mother Country to abject poverty as an aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. A Government Colonial Bank of Issue was established in New Zealand in 1850, but, as it was only empowered to issue notes in exchange for coin, it was of little use, and lasted only six years.
Private trading banks then started, one of the first being the Union Bank of Australia, which is connected with the International Banking Ring. The Bank of New Zealand was established in 1861, and its connection with the Government was very intimate from the beginning. This bank handled the Government's account until the establishment of the Reserve Bank in 1934.
The establishment of the Reserve Bank was the result of Sir Otto Niemeyer's visit on behalf of Mr. Montagu Norman, and his policy of world dictatorship through the establishment of Central Reserve Banks throughout the world - particularly the British Empire.
The following statements by prominent New Zealand citizens from 1860 onwards clearly reveal the manner in which banking interests have governed the policy of the Dominion:Sir William Fox, several times Premier of New Zealand, said in Parliament on August 21, 1868: "I only wish it was possible to exclude from this House a certain power behind the Treasury, or any other corporation, which had proved so capable of making the Ministry work in a diametrically opposite direction from that in which they at first intended to work, and so manifestly opposed to the interests of the colony. I cannot blame the recognised agents of the Bank or any influence they have brought to bear upon this House or upon the Ministry. . . . I do not hesitate to say this influence which has been exercised is a most mischievous interference with the independence of this House, and if it were possible to get hold of such an impalpable element, a Bill ought to be passed to exclude it from this House."
WHAT SIR GEORGE GREY SAID
Sir George Grey, speaking in Parliament in 1875, said: "I believe, for reasons which I shall presently show, that it would be actually in the power of one wealthy establishment in New Zealand to have any person they chose sent out here as Governor who would be likely to support their interests."
As Sir George Grey had been five times Governor of different parts of the British Empire, he knew what he was talking about.
Later, in 1883, he said:"I conscientiously believe that two or three great establishments, all really under one directorate, do exercise in the Legislature of this country an undoubted and dangerous influence.
I sincerely believe that the existing Government is maintained in its place by these bodies.. . . I appeal to many honourable gentlemen sitting here whether they do not feel helpless of fighting the great phalanx opposed to us now. . .
. I say that even among the voters it will be a long time before that independence can come about which ought to prevail, because I fear many of them are, in some manner, entangled with engagements which will place them at the mercy of those persons who rule those different great bodies of which I speak. I go further and say - and in saying this I know, of course, that I create, and must create, a great many enemies - I firmly believe that the same persons, by monetary influence, control a great portion of the press. . . . One great central power in New Zealand oppresses it from end to end. That central power is moved by the Premier, and the Premier is the solicitor of these great moneyed corporations. Is it just?
Does it give the people of New Zealand a fair chance? Is it not hard for a man to know that if he cries for justice some debt upon his estate may be made the cause of his ruin instantly?... Is it right for us to feel degraded by knowing that such is the case here? . . . As long as this continues I see no hope for ourselves or our country."
This was strong talk from a Governor. Perhaps this representative of the King had heard something about the Royal prerogative of issuing the nation's money supply. Sir Francis Bell said on August, 28, 1895:"The Bank (of New Zealand) is repeating what it did last year. They are holding a pistol at the head of this House and the Government, and the Government is yielding, as it yielded last year."
On the following day, the same speaker said:"The Bank has spread its tentacles all over the colony. . . . I am not sure that it is not more powerful than Parliament."
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE MOVES IN
Sir Otto Niemeyer, representing the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements, arrived in September, 1930. A balanced budget was demanded, and a general curtailment of the amount of money in circulation. The same appalling results eventuated as in other parts of the Empire that the agent of the Bank of England had visited: Poverty, unemployment, bankruptcies and misery everywhere.
As a result of his visit to New Zealand, Sir Otto Niemeyer forwarded a report to the Government recommending the establishment of a Reserve Bank. The Reserve Bank Act was passed in 1933, and the following year the bank was set up with the former chief cashier of the Bank of England installed as Governor. The New Zealand Reserve Bank Act contains provision for the bank joining the Bank of International Settlements.
This was all in line with Mr. Montagu Norman's policy of world hegemony through a chain of central banks in every country. The next move was to establish a Mortgage Corporation, which was also in line with a move by the Bank of International Settlements to establish a world network of Agricultural Mortgage Corporations.
SOCIALISM ENTERS
The Coalition Government was defeated at the end of 1935. The swing to Labour was the result of the chaotic conditions during the depression and the promises made by the Labour Party to break the private banking monopoly. Unfortunately for the electors, they were not fully informed regarding the Labour Party's views on socialisation. Some authorities go so far as to say that Finance deliberately maneuvered the electors into the position where they had very little choice but to vote Labour; the Coalition had been discredited with its "sound finance" policy.
Planned Economy was affirmed by Labour in its 1935 election manifesto. It is interesting to note that Mr. Nash, Labour's Minister of Finance, is a great believer in Planning.
He was a guest of the Political and Economic Planning Group (PEP) in Britain in 1937. The Industrial Efficiency Act, which the Labour Party never mentioned in its 1935 election program, was cleverly rushed through Parliament late in the first session. The Act set Mr. Nash up as virtual dictator of New Zealand. It gave power to socialise at will the entire industry of the Dominion without further reference to Parliament.
In The Truth About New Zealand, Mr. A. N. Field writes: "New Zealand's Industrial Efficiency Act at the outset was modestly applied. The cement industry, in the hands of a few works, has been brought under it. Motor spirit distribution is controlled, an operation unlikely to mean much more than rubber-stamping what the big, foreign oil combines want done. The pharmacy trade was induced to submit to being roped in on a threat that the Government would otherwise allow a giant chain-store chemist's concern from England to overrun New Zealand. Rubber tyres, cement, fish export, electric ranges, and wooden heels for footwear are also in the list of controlled industries. . . .
Extension, however, goes on. "Under the Act the Minister of Industries and Commerce has power to apply systems of licensing, control, and price-fixation to any industry, under which term is included 'any trade, occupation, business, manufacture, works, or service of any kind whatsoever.'
The Minister may withhold licences from individuals, close down undertakings, and order amalgamations and do many things. In fact, the powers appear to be such that the Minister may control any business brought under the Act as fully as if he were its sole owner. Administration is through a bureau, all the members of which hold office at the Minister's pleasure, and are thus merely the instruments of his will. The Minister may require an industry to appoint an industrial committee for control purposes, but, here again, he may add and remove members, dissolve committees and appoint entire committees himself.
No question arises of industrial self-government; only of submission to what is imposed from above. All is at the Minister's pleasure.
The sole right of appeal by any person injuriously affected under the Act is to the Minister himself. A man may be refused a licence, his business closed or interfered with to any conceivable extent, and all right of appeal to the courts is denied him."
Two other important measures were brought in by Labour in its first session. The first was a Local Government Reform Bill which aimed at the destruction of the 684 local governing bodies of one kind or another. This is also part of the Bank of England's policy: Remove government further from the people, destroy their local institutions and centralise control.
A similar move has been fostered in this country; the campaign to abolish State Parliaments because these Parliaments are being used by the electors to bring indirect pressure on the private financial institutions.
Fortunately for New Zealand democracy, the local bodies strongly objected to being abolished.
RESERVE BANK AMENDMENT
The second important measure referred to was Labour's Reserve Bank amendment. A lot of "blah" was uttered about this move by people who should have known much better. Although the move was good, insofar as it took power from private persons and restored it to the Government, there were significant features which were overlooked by many.
Mr. Lefeaux, the former chief cashier of the Bank of England, was not removed. Apart from this, the currency and credit of the country are issued against reserves held by the Reserve Bank - and these reserves are limited by gold and/or foreign bills of exchange - on which there is no fixed limit. This means that, in the last analysis, the policy of the Dominion can be dictated by international Finance.
Another feature worthy of note about Labour's Reserve Bank amendment was that it stated that the primary function of the bank is to regulate currency according to Government policy "as communicated to it from time to time by the Minister of Finance." Labour Party legislation not only failed to clearly state any principle on which the issue of money is to be regulated, but it authorised dictatorial Ministers to do whatever they liked.
This calls to mind a statement made in the United States Senate in 1834 by Mr. John C. Calhoun: "Place the money power in the hands of a combination of a few individuals, and they, by expanding or contracting the currency, may rise or sink prices at pleasure, and by purchasing when at the greatest deflation, may command the whole property and industry of the community. . . . Never was an engine better calculated to place the destinies of the many in the hands of the few, or less favourable to that equality which lies at the bottom of our free institutions."
REVERSING MAGNA CHARTA
We might briefly note that our British forefathers, who gave us our basic conception of a free society, took action against King John in 1215 at Runnymede, because he was doing what Dictator Nash is doing today: Taking the means of livelihood from certain people. Our forefathers did not demand anything new from King John. They wanted their ancient rights restored.
Among the things enumerated in Magna Charta was the demand that even the lowest in the land was entitled to his accustomed means of livelihood. Even if a man broke the law he was to be left with his livelihood.
It was stated: "A freeman shall only be amerced, for a small offence after the manner of the offence, for a great crime according to the heinousness of it, saving to him his contentment; and, after the same maimer, a merchant, saving his merchandise, and a villein saving his wainage; the amercement in all cases to be assessed by the honest men of the neighbourhood." 'Amercement' meant a fine. 'Contenement' refers to that which is indispensable for a man's support and maintenance, according to his rank or social condition. . . . 'Wainage' was the crop or tillage of the villain or husbandman." (Taswell-Langmead's "English Constitutional History.")
These elementary rights have been abolished in New Zealand by the "progressives." Power was shifted from one group of dictators to another group. This legislation went further, it gave the Minister of Finance absolute power to discriminate between individuals desiring sterling for overseas trading. Trades were at the mercy of Mr. Nash, and when a protest was made, the Governor-General, acting on the advice of the Attorney-General, disallowed any appeal to the courts to test the constitutionality of the measure.
DEBT AND TAXATION INCREASE
In case someone suggests that the Government could use all these dictatorial powers for the good of the people, the results belie any such implication. A "liberal credit policy" has certainly been introduced - but, credit is issued as a debt, carrying interest charges. The result has been a drastic increase in taxation and rising prices. This is part of the Finance-Socialist plot. Exponents of this "new order" have often stated that the people must be kept quiet with sops while their liberties and institutions are taken from them. Millions of pounds of debt-money provide the sops. "Taxation is the chief means," says Britain's socialist Fabian Society in its Tract No. 127, adding that "to the Socialist, the best of governments is that which spends the most."
This is all part of a world program laid down by the Bank of England and other international banking institutions. New Zealand is doing very nicely from their point of view.
Even the late Mr. Savage was a great believer in taxation - and compulsion - as witnessed by the following statement made late in 1939:"The Government believes in freedom of speech, but it is determined that that freedom must not be abused. Persons who advise others not to pay rent or taxes are enemies to the country, and will be treated accordingly."
Mr. Nash visited London during 1939 to arrange for the conversion of a loan which was falling due. He was feted by the "City" in London, and did exactly as he was told. He went back to New Zealand, and the debt and interest racket went on, while more and more restrictive legislation was introduced. War was declared and still more dictatorial powers were taken by the Labour Government. Finally, compulsory loans were introduced! No wonder some Socialists believe that New Zealand will become a second Soviet Russia without bloodshed.
Surely New Zealanders will assert their British rights, even at this late hour, and take action to bring their representatives under their control. They will then get the results that they desire and not what someone else thinks is good for them.
SIR OTTO NIEMEYER VISITS AUSTRALIA
In 1930, Sir Otto Niemeyer arrived in this country in order to give us some "advice," on matters pertaining to finance. The result of his "advice" was the further enslavement of the people by the private bankers. Accompanying Sir Otto was Professor Theodor Emanuel Guggenheim Gregory, a member of the teaching staff of the London School of Economics, a nursery of Socialism and staffed largely by individuals of foreign extraction.
Sir Otto Niemeyer was an adviser to the British Treasury from 1906 until 1927, holding the post of Controller of Finance from 1922 to 1927. In 1927, he joined the staff of the Bank of England.
He was also concerned with the disastrous American Debt Settlement plan. He addressed a conference of Commonwealth and State Ministers in Melbourne on August 21, 1930.
The following extracts are from the Melbourne Argus of the following day (significantly enough, the Argus had Niemeyer's address reprinted in brochure form for free distribution):"There is also evidence to show that the standard of living in Australia has reached a point which is economically beyond the capacity of the country to bear without a considerable reduction of costs resulting in increased per capita output."
Ye gods! We were producing more real wealth than ever before, and we could have doubled the output if desired.
"I should, perhaps, add certain alleviating factors. Australian stocks have for years enjoyed a privileged position in London as trustee securities under the Colonial Stock Act, and she has, to that extent, an advantage. There is a general desire to assist a Dominion and, indeed, the mere fact of my presence here and of the growing co-operation between the present Commonwealth Bank and the Bank of England as a sister central bank may, I think, be claimed as a sign of goodwill from responsible authorities."
Who were these "responsible authorities"? Certainly not the millions of Australian people who suffered cruelly as a result of Niemeyer's instructions.
"But the fundamental question is the extent to which Australia herself will make it possible for the present picture to change. Australia must reassure the world as to the direction in which she is going, financially and economically, and no one else can do that for her."
Australia must reassure the world! Why? We are not told. As long as we pull in our belts and live on short rations Sir Otto and his Bank of England friends will have confidence in us! Did someone say something about a self-governing country?
The Government representatives said that they would face the position and balance their budgets. There was to be no more borrowing; which meant that, apart from the fact that the banks were calling up overdrafts everywhere, the Governments would have little money for public works. The inevitable result was increased unemployment. Although this plan meant a ruthless attack upon the living standards of the Australian people, the conference actually carried the following resolution unanimously: "That the conference tenders its sincere thanks to Sir Otto Niemeyer and his colleague. for the valuable assistance given by them in the solution of the problems with which the conference has had to deal."
Sir Otto left us late in 1930 and next visited New Zealand, giving the people of that country similar advice, before leaving for South America to tell the people of that country that they, too, had to pull their belts in and "balance their budgets."
PROFESSOR COPLAND AND THE PREMIERS' PLAN
The result of Niemeyer's advice - or demands - to balance budgets was the famous Premiers' Plan. Sir Herbert Gepp said on July 20, 1936: "Professor Copland has done notable work for Australia and the Empire. He and Professor Giblin had been leaders in mapping out the details of the Premiers' Plan, and in persuading influential sections of the community to agree to its adoption. Professor Copland had also been an inspiring force in the University of Melbourne, and a leader of thought in the community."
However, in spite of the fact that he was a "leader of thought," he admitted on May 20, 1932, that "I can make the confession, now that the election is over" (Lyons, the bankers' puppet, had been elected to power) "that the Premiers' Plan has admittedly been a disappointment up to date."
In the Brisbane "Telegraph" of April 7, 1936, appeared a remarkable article with the headlines: "Premiers' Plan a Mistake," "Cuts Prolong the Depression." This article was written by J. L. K. Gifford, M.A., Lecturer in Economics at the University of Queensland. The following extract is worthy of careful reading:". . . The wage reductions . of the Premiers' Plan . . . not only contributed to a permanent lowering of the Australian price level, but also to a quite unnecessary temporary impoverishment of Australia. . . . All the earnestness and all the Ruskinian eloquence used to persuade poor John Smith to accept wage reductions, could have been put to better use. . . . If the economists had agreed on a credit and exchange policy designed to maintain the level of money incomes, there would have been few harmful repercussions from the decline in export prices, little unemployment, and few hardships."
Mr. Gifford was one of those responsible for enforcing the Bank of England's deflation policy. Apparently he repented.
Professor Copland carried on with his "expert advice." In March, 1933, he left for Europe and America. It was reported that he met Mr. Montagu Norman in England, and other representatives of the International Banking Ring. The following appeared in the Melbourne Herald of April 13, 1934:"Professor Copland has just returned from a world tour, during which he made an intensive study of conditions overseas, and came in contact with all the leading men of affairs who are tackling the big economic problems of the day. He attended the World Economic Conference in London, the Assembly of the League of Nations at Geneva, conferred with the Governor and economists of the Bank of International Settlements at Basle, met the members of the American Economic Association at Philadelphia, whom he addressed on the Australian policy during the depression, and lectured at Harvard, Toronto and Cornell Universities."
The overseas financiers certainly have a very good apologist in Professor Copland.
Australians should never forget the leading part he has played in implementing the bankers' policy in this country; and he still wields considerable influence in influential circles.
LANG'S CHALLENGE TO "SOUND FINANCE"
 Money and Liberation: The Micropolitics of Alternative Currency Movements; by Peter North [*Amazon*] |
On March 11, 1927, the Wall Street Journal>said: "Empire borrowing, especially that of Australian States, has been closely regulated by the Bank of England. . ." However, there was one Australian State and its Premier that the Bank of England will remember for a long time. I refer to New South Wales and Mr. J. T. Lang. Probably no other Premier in any part of the British Empire - with the exception of Mr. Aberhart, of Alberta, Canada - has ever caused the financiers so much apprehension. Even in 1936, with Mr. Lang no longer in office, this fear still existed.
Mr. B. S. B. Stevens (now Sir Bertram), next Premier of New South Wales, while in London meeting Mr. Norman and Co., was reported by the Melbourne Herald of May 23, of that year as follows:
"I find discouraging antagonism by London
financiers to New South Wales, because they fear a return of the regime of Mr. J. T. Lang. I have been able to clear the atmosphere greatly. It is an uphill fight, but there is a growing recognition of the country's recovery."
To understand the financiers' hatred of Mr. Lang and the campaign of inspired abuse conducted against him, it is essential that we understand what Mr. Lang really stood for. First, he opposed the disastrous Premiers' Plan, which was the result of Sir Otto Niemeyer's advice. Lang's policy, as stated at the 1930 New South Wales State election, was comprised of the following three major points:
- That until Great Britain (The Bank of England) agreed to fund Australia's overseas debt in the same manner as America dealt with Great Britain's debt to her, no further interest upon overseas debt should be paid by Australia.
- That the interest rate to Australian bondholders should be reduced to 3 per cent., and that all interest rates on private finance should be correspondingly reduced.
- That the existing system of currency be altered from that of a nominal
gold standard to a system more suited to modern conditions, preferably the goods
standard.
Mr. Lang believed that human beings were more important than financial systems. A policy of sacrifice in a country literally stacked with real wealth did not appeal to him as common sense. He refused to sacrifice the people. The banks saw the danger and the fight was on.
The Press denounced Lang as a swindler and a thief.
THE RUN ON THE N.S.W. SAVINGS BANK
The Government Savings Bank of New South Wales was, in 1930, the second largest bank of its kind in the British Empire. Its assets exceeded £104 million, and it had a net income of approximately £400,000. Controlled by the New South Wales Government, it started to finance homes for the people, and also to assist primary producers by means of advances through a trading branch known as the Rural Bank. This policy was in direct opposition to the deflationary policy of the private trading banks.
And the policy of the private trading banks was the policy of the Bank of England.
Even the Australian Royal Commission on Banking admitted in Paragraph 93 of its Report that the Australian banks were accustomed to follow the lead of the Bank of England. The Sydney Evening News and the country papers of October 24, 1930, stated: "Lang will confiscate Savings Bank deposits,"
"Lang will smash the banks and seize your savings."
The leader of the National Government stressed this point during electioneering, making it necessary for an official of the bank to personally appeal against such tactics, as a run had commenced upon the deposits. It has been stated that, apart from press propaganda, people were hired to walk continually in and out of the Bank's premises as if a run had started. Finally, the people were stampeded, and rushed to withdraw their savings. Now, this bank was like every other bank: It could never pay all the depositors in legal tender, as the bulk of deposits were no more than figures in its ledgers. This was not known by the people through their ignorance of banking practices. (They know a little more nowadays.) They believed that they could all obtain their money in legal tender if they demanded it. The private banks knew that if they could persuade enough of the depositors of the New South Wales Savings Bank to demand their money, the Bank would have to close its doors. The bank put up a great fight for seven months, paying out in that time all its liquid assets amounting to £22,000,000.
Unfortunately for the private banks, this campaign against the Savings Bank in New South Wales had the effect of inducing depositors in other banks to start drawing their money.
This was serious. Even Professor Hytten, an apologist of the banks, admitted before the Tasmanian Monetary Inquiry in 1935 that a general run on the banks would mean that "they would go west then."
In order to save the position, Sir Robert Gibson, former chairman of the Commonwealth Bank Board, made a dramatic national broadcast on May 31, 1931. He said: "The Government Savings Bank of New South Wales was forced to close its doors because the people who had deposited their money in that bank were led to believe by the foolish statements of those who should have known better, and the statements of those who desired to bring about disaster, that that bank was not in a safe position.
. . . The Government Savings Bank of New South Wales was in a perfectly sound position. There was no good reason, on account of lack of soundness, why it was compelled to close its doors."
He also said: ". . . the Commonwealth Bank had control over the note issue, and command of resources, in the form of currency, to any extent, which, in the opinion of the Bank Board, is deemed necessary."
In other words, if the people did continue to demand their money, the printing machines would be put in motion. That admission is historic.
After the New South Wales Savings Bank had closed its doors, Sir Robert Gibson was prepared to talk business with the New South Wales Government. The following extracts are from Australia's Curse, by S. C. Barnes:"The first merger terms, which included a refusal to have anything to do with advances for homes or the taking over of the Rural Branch, were so scandalous that the State Government refused to accept them. In the meantime an organisation, called the Government Savings Bank Rehabilitation Committee of Depositors and Citizens, had come into being. Growing rapidly in strength, it became embarrassing to the money power, working through the Commonwealth Bank, and amended merger terms were offered and accepted, unwillingly, by the State.
The terms appeared to include the taking over of the Rural Bank as a going concern. The State Bank was then re-opened, and in a few days was prepared to pay depositors in full. . . . Had Sir Robert Gibson, a .year previously, uttered half a dozen words in support of the Bank, untold misery and death would have been avoided.
. . The Rural Bank, with nearly 200 branches competing with the private banks in every town in New South Wales, was endangering their policy. It had to be destroyed, and the National (Commonwealth) Bank was the instrument used to bring about this destruction."
It is interesting to note in passing that the Western Australian Savings Bank was absorbed by the Commonwealth Bank under similar circumstances. Although Lang was branded "the arch-repudiator, swindler and thief, whose proper place was in gaol," the fact remains that, whereas previous Governments had borrowed approximately £8,000,000 from the Government Savings Bank, Lang repaid £1,200,000 of this money during his brief term of office.
It has been asserted by some that direct pressure to dismiss Mr. Lang was brought to bear upon Sir Philip Game, Governor of New South Wales at that time, by a representative of the financiers. Mr. Lang was dismissed to the accompaniment of a tirade of abuse by the press. Mr. Lyons and others joined the campaign, and it is fair to say that a deluded public heaved a sigh of relief when Lang went. Mr. Stevens was the next Premier, and when he paid his first visit to England it was reported by the press that he spent two hours with Montagu Norman.
New South Wales had been "saved"!
Mr. Norman said that its "credit" was good again, and he was prepared to do business with them!
BANK OF ENGLAND AND AUSTRALIA
Let us now devote some space to an examination of the tie-up between Australia's financial system and the Bank of England. Since 1924, the Commonwealth Bank has been under the direct domination of overseas interests. Prior to that time it was used to some extent on behalf of the Australian people. Until 1923 it was controlled by a Governor, Sir Denison Miller. The bank's outstanding act was to refuse to sacrifice the Australian people in 1920 at the instigation of Montagu Norman and his international banking friends, who had held a conference in Brussels early that year. Although Mr. Norman was able to make his policy felt in every other part of the Empire, he struck a "snag" in Australia.
The private bankers in this country started to restrict the nation's credit supplies and depression threatened. However, Sir Denison Miller foiled this move by using the Commonwealth Bank to issue £23,000,000 between June and December of 1920. This was a threat to the private banks, who then curtailed their deflation policy. Sir Denison Miller died in 1923. (See The Story of The Commomnwealth Bank)
In 1924 the Bruce-Page administration took the first step in making the Commonwealth Bank a Central Bank, controlled by the Bank of England and the Bank of International Settlements. This was in line with Mr. Norman's policy of a chain of central banks throughout the world. In June, 1924, Dr. Earle Page introduced a Bill in the Federal House to amend the Commonwealth Bank Act by taking the control of the Bank out of the hands of a Governor and placing it under the control of a directorate, consisting of six persons "actively engaged in agriculture, commerce, finance and industry." In presenting the Bill, Dr. Earle Page referred to the discussions which members of Cabinet had with the private bankers!
'That Page was not ignorant of the banking swindle will be seen by his remarks on June 13, 1924, when introducing the Commonwealth Bank Bill: "A very great power is exercised by the banks in the creation of credit in their control over business, and in their effect upon wages, as well as other conditions." (Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 106, P. 1270.)
After admitting this, he was a party to the establishment of a dictatorial Board which gave the banks still greater power. The Directorate of the Bank Board was and still is, comprised of nominees of the private trading banks. The private trading banks in this country are owned by the three monopolies known as the Sugar-Tobacco-Gas Monopoly, the Metal Monopoly, and the Overseas Group. Mr. Bruce was personally connected with the Overseas Group, whose three banks - the Australasia, the E. S. & A., and the Union - have their headquarters in London!
Mr. R. G. Casey, a member of the Metal Monopoly, which controls the National, the Commercial of Australia, and the Bank of Adelaide, was appointed liaison officer to London by Mr. Bruce in 1924; Mr. Casey maintained close contact with the financial interests there until 1931.
After this training (?) he returned to Australia and entered the Federal Parliament, later becoming Federal Treasurer. He faithfully carried on the work of enslaving the Australian people; then went to America, where he was in close contact with Wall Street. Time will show what further plans are being drawn up for our further enslavement to the International Financiers. The Bank of New South Wales, the Queensland National, and the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, belong to the Sugar-Tobacco-Gas Monopoly and have a direct representative, in the person of Sir Claude Reading, as chairman of the Commonwealth Bank Board.
MR. BRUCE VISITS LONDON
Soon after the emasculation of the Commonwealth Bank, Mr. Bruce left for London, where he dined and wined with his financial friends.
I have no hesitation in saying that no man has betrayed his own nation more to International Financial interests than "Australia's Noblest Son"; his record on behalf of the financiers since 1924 should be made familiar to every loyal Australian.
Upon his arrival in London he told a group of bankers at a dinner that the Commonwealth Bank had been transferred by his Government to the control of "a board of directors charged with the duties of central banking."
The London Times reported him as follows:"The intention is that the Board shall control credit in Australia as the Bank of England regulates it in this country, and advice is now being sought from officials of the Bank of England as to the exact steps necessary to bring about a fully effective central banking system."
It was just about this time that the late Sir Robert Gibson, who was connected
with the Metal Monopoly and had just been appointed chairman of the Commonwealth
Bank Board, made the following statement:"The Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Bank has given consideration to the advisability of conferring with the mother bank of the Empire, the Bank of England, on matters connected with central banking. In this connection, the late chairman had important discussions with Mr. Norman, the Governor of the Bank of England, by whose courtesy it has been arranged that Sir Ernest Harvey shall pay a visit to Australia with a view to investigating . . . and making recommendations that . . . the central banking system of Australia may be co-ordinated with that of the Bank of England and other central banks of the Empire."
Sir Ernest Harvey, a director of the Bank of England, actually travelled to Australia with Mr. Bruce to further our enslavement. In 1927 he gave the final directions in connection with the Commonwealth Bank. The Bruce-Page Government was asked to pass a Bill to deprive the bank of its Savings Bank business. One speaker in Parliament said that this Act "took away the bank's cash reserves, which had enabled it to compete with private banks, terminated its trading operations, and reduced it to a bankers' bank - not a 'reserve' bank, because no bank was compelled to keep its reserves there - so that it became neither a trading bank nor a savings bank, nor yet a reserve bank, but a thing of shreds and patches, at the mercy of private institutions."
This Bill became law in December, 1927. To make the Money Power supreme, Mr. Bruce got the Financial Agreement incorporated as part of the Constitution. This Agreement paved the way for the formation of the Loan Council to control all Government borrowings.
In 1933, when Attorney-General for Victoria, Mr. R. G. Menzies said: "Five years ago Victoria entered into the financial agreement with the Commonwealth and the other States, with the result that the financial policy of the State is controlled by the Loan Council. Money cannot be borrowed without the permission of that Council, which is the governing body of Australia today."
Mr. Menzies has changed his ideas considerably since entering Federal politics.
MR. BRUCE VISITS AUSTRALIA IN 1934
Mr. Bruce paid a visit to Australia in 1934, on behalf of the financial oligarchy in the "City" of London: his mission was to advise us to restrict production and introduce "planning." (We have already examined the origin of this "planning" and its connection with the Bank of England.)
By 1934 there was growing dissatisfaction with the financial system in Australia. and thousands of people were beginning to ask why we should have widespread poverty amidst plenty.
Upon his arrival, Mr. Bruce told us that although our "credit" now stood high with our overseas creditors, we must not relax our "wonderful" efforts.
Who were these creditors that Mr. Bruce spoke of?
While "representing" us in London he has been closely connected with the following people: Sir Harry Strakosch, Sir Felix Schuster, Mr. Beaumont Pease, Sir Otto Niemeyer, Sir Ernest Harvey, Sir Alan Anderson, Lord Craigmyle, Sir Clive Baillieu, the Nivisons, and Professor Guggenheim Strakosch was at the Brussels Conference in 1920 with Mr. Norman, and is connected with several international banking firms. He was responsible for the establishment of the Central Bank in South Africa.
Schuster (fine British-sounding names some of these individuals have!) was responsible for the establishment of the Central Bank in India, and has always worked in close collaboration with Sir Otto Niemeyer. The other individuals I have mentioned are all connected, directly or indirectly, with the Bank of England.
The Nivisons are the people through whom all Australian loans from "Britain" were negotiated.
The real object of Mr. Bruce's 1934 visit to Australia was revealed in an editorial in the London Times on April 2, 1934. It might be as well to mention here that the Governor of the Bank of England is one of the controllers of the London Times. The editorial told us that the Canadian farmers were making great sacrifices to gain security, and that Mr. Bruce's proposals for Australian farmers would probably be even more drastic. The proposals were the establishment of Boards to regulate production. This was the first move by the Bank of England and the International Financiers to introduce planning into Australia. Although the finance-controlled press in England was saying what a great man Mr. Bruce was, and the high prestige he had in Australia, the Yorkshire Post criticised his proposals and said "it is remarkable that even he dared to make such proposals." Having paved the way for "planned production" in Australia, Mr. Bruce left us.
On the eve of his departure, one Melbourne paper came out with headlines on the front page: "RESTRICTION OF PRODUCTION NECESSARY". A report of his address to the Melbourne Chamber of Manufacturers also appeared in this same paper. He said that all sections of the community must co-operate to enable Australia to enter the competitive fight for world markets! . Having given his instructions on behalf of Mr. Montagu Norman & Co., Mr. Bruce left us and did not visit us again until 1939.
MR. BRUCE'S 1939 VISIT
Accompanied by a great press campaign, Mr. Bruce left England late in 1938 to again visit Australia. The international situation was, by this time, becoming increasingly critical. The International Financiers in Wall Street, together with the Bank of England, and the Bank of International Settlements, were laying their plans for the holocaust which was to burst upon the world in September of 1939.
As we have already seen, the financing of the totalitarian Powers, while Britain's defences were neglected, was a direct result of the financial policy pursued by the International Financiers. It was, therefore, significant that Mr. Bruce should call on the Wall Street bankers in December, 1938, on his way to Australia. Why? We can only speculate. We might remember that Mr. Bruce is a close friend of Mr. Casey, who has since been hobnobbing with these same financiers.
While here in 1939, Mr. Bruce travelled around talking to many different people - particularly members of Parliament. There is not the slightest doubt that the real object of his mission was to see how the Planned Economy plot was developing.
Back on April 3, 1934, the London Times published an article headed, "Planned Empire Marketing," in which the following appeared: "Mr. Bruce's experience in London has convinced him that the economic salvation of the Commonwealth and, indeed, of the whole Empire, depends upon a concerted policy of trade production, in which the Governments will combine with the leaders of agriculture industry, commerce and finance."
Well, we are being socialised rather rapidly in this country now. Boards are being established to control every primary industry, small industries are being absorbed in big centralised finance-controlled monopolies, while the individual is becoming more and more a victim of that soulless abstraction called the State.
The reader might well ponder over the following extract from the chief journal of the Political and Economic Planners PEP (issue of October 4, 1938):"We have started from the position that only in war, or under the threat of war, will a British Government embark on large-scale planning."
In other words, we are having a deliberate policy of socialism foisted upon us under cover of war. Members of all parties are unanimous that Governments should have more and more control over industry. The following extract from the Melbourne Age of March 3, 1941, is worthy of careful thought by those who believe that the U.A.P. is a bulwark against socialism.
Mr. Menzies was being interviewed in Britain: "Mr. Menzies is reported to have said:'I always tell my Opposition friends that the only difference between us is that I am theoretically non-Socialist, yet an amazingly practical Socialist, while they are theoretical Socialists. People will take things from us they wouldn't take from the Labor Party. That is outstandingly true in Australia. It is a question of speed. ... You get two views which, in theory, are violently opposed. In practice, the extreme course of today is a commonplace of tomorrow."
In conjunction with this, the following report from the Melbourne Age of March 12, makes sinister reading.
Professor G.L. Wood, one of the gentlemen responsible for the implementation of the Premiers' Plan, is reported as having said in an address to the University Committee of Convocation,"that it was a common belief in Australia that economic freedom and individual liberty would be restored after the war; that the shackles of Governmental control would be lifted. The idea was a sample of the triumph of hope over experience. They had to realise that the pre-1939 status quo would never be restored. They were condemned to a system of Governmental control where almost every aspect of economic life would be subject to interference. That was inevitable, unless the problem of correlating the functions of primary, secondary, and tertiary workers, and of restoring a spirit of team work and co-operation to the world was tackled now."
There can be no voluntary co-operation - which is the basis of democratic government - while the financial domination by private monopolies under the control of the Bank of England continues.
The monopoly of credit must be broken; otherwise we will be one big trust run by the private banks. There will be no essential difference between our society and that which the Russians and Germans exist under.
MR. REDDAWAY VISITS AUSTRALIA
In order to further prove that the Bank of England is not averse to Socialism, I shall deal briefly with the visit of a young man by the name of Reddaway to this country a few years ago. It is not generally known that Professor Copland (one of our 'experts' who implemented Niemeyer's deflation policy back in the 1929-32 depression) set off, in March, 1933, to tour America and Europe, and that he was reported to have had interviews with Mr. Montagu Norman and other prominent financiers.
It was soon after this that Mr. W.B. Reddaway, one of the intelligence officers of the Bank of England, was sent out from England. He gave evidence before the Arbitration Court in 1937 and was, of course, applauded by all the apologists of the present financial system.
In addition to describing him as brilliant, the Melbourne Argus reminded us that Mr. Reddaway was "only 24 years of age".
I heard Mr. Reddaway speak on several occasions and questioned him.
One of his most interesting admissions in private conversation was that he was a Socialist! He had visited Russia and he expressed some admiration for the system in operation there. He is the author of a book on Russia's financial system.
Having completed his work here, he returned to England late in 1937 to resume his work with the Bank of England.
CONCLUSION
I think that this short history of the Bank of England and its debt-and-taxation system, although not as comprehensive as it might be, deals with all the salient points in its history since 1694. The facts which I have related should be known by everyone interested in discovering the cause of the breakdown of our civilisation.
The more I study history, the more convinced I become that it will all have to be drastically re-written and the influence of money in social development clearly revealed.
Even H.G. Wells has written: "When I wrote the Outline of History I slowly gained the conviction which crystallised itself later on into a positive idea, that the great Roman Empire was ruined not only from outside by the storming barbarians; but also by the internal financial difficulties, by the indebtedness of all social classes, and by the heavy burden of taxation, until, under these financial burdens, the whole scaffolding of imperialism broke down.
It is dreadful to watch how gradually the same symptoms of decadence become visible in the great empires of the modern world.
Do we desire the British Commonwealth of Nations to be destroyed by "the enemy within"?
If not, we must use every endeavour to have our financial system altered and arrest the slide towards the abyss of destruction into which other civilisations have plunged in the past.
That we can still save the situation, I have no doubt.
BankWatch is published by the Australian League of Rights, Box 1052. G.P.O. Melbourne 3001.
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