Nexus - 0218 - New Times Magazine-pages

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The historical saga of the battle between interest- charging and non- interest-charging banking empires, is one you will not read in the history books today! tence. This story begins more than 200 years ago. In 1780 the United States had two interest banks. Prior to this time it had none. The people didn't believe in ‘interest since it was forbidden by their Christian religion. By 1800 perhaps 20 of these banks had come into existence. Tt was during this 20-year period that events occurred which shaped the history of the country. These events caused the War Between the States, the rapid settling of the West by bankrupt Easterners, and World War II. These two decades made inevitable every- thing that has followed since. 1780 The forcible ejection of the British and their banking activities left a vacuum in America. Immediately a rush was underway to fill that vacuum, Alexander Hamilton presented three arguments for a central bank. He wanted to do to the brand new United States what the Bank of England had done to England, and he wanted it done by himsclf and his backers who were reputed to be the Rothschilds and their Bank of England. 1781 The private Bank of Pennsylvania’ in Philadelphia was replaced by the Bank of North America. It was later absorbed into the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance in 1923. Cornwallis surrendered the British Army at Yorktown, Virginia. Events then moved fast. 1784 Bank of New York founded—a Hamilton creation. Oldest existing commercial bank in the country. The Massachusetts Bank also formed. Virginia settled her countics of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and spun them off as states. Virginia, an unwilling slave-state, also saw that a law was passed prohibiting slavery in these new states. 1786 First major economic depression brought on by these new banks lending 10 and demanding 11 in payment. Banks foreclosed debtors, forcing them into poverty and debtors’ prison. The state of Massachusetts had heavy debt and levied heavy taxes on its citizens to pay interest on this debt. This was exactly the same thing England had been doing. It ruined many of her own farmers. Led by Captain Daniel Shay, 2,000 of these desperate men seized Worcester, Massachusetts and other towns. This uprising threatened the establishment of interest banking in North America. The Governor of Massachusetts quickly took the field against the ‘rebels’. “Shay's Rebellion” was suppressed on 27 February 1787. The interest system had won its first victory. 1787 The Constitution was fittingly put together m Philadelphia, the home of the Bank of North America. Next, New York City, the home of the Bank of New York, was pro- claimed the temporary capitol of the country. 1789 Washington was elected President. In a move toward conciliation he appointed Alexander Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. This put the fox in the hen-house and it doomed Washington's beloved Virginia to be devastated by a war of assimilation 71 years later. 1791 First Bank of the United States was chartered. This was a private bank to which all the government's money was entrusted. Its charter was for 20 years and was also Hamilton's creation. Rep. James Madison of Virginia on 2 February opposed the bank because he said that it would: 1) banish precious metals through inflation of the money supply, and 2) result in runs on banks and bank failures. When its successor, the Second Bank of the US, went bankrupt 50-odd years later, it was discovered that 64% of the bank's 25,000 shares were owned by foreigners—mostly British. Friends of the Bank of England had been active in America, Madison had been right. I: the "1920s Turkey Shoot", over 16,000 banks folded or were merged out of exis- Extracted from the book War Cycles - Peace Cycles by Richard Kelly Hoskins Published by The Virginia Publishing Company PO Box 997, Lynchburg, VA 24505, USA 30¢NEXUS FEBRUARY - MARCH 1994