Lightning Over the Treasury Building

John R. Elsom

• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781789124231
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

A clear and concise treatise of the banking and money system of the United States as manipulated by the international bankers, by whom governments are controlled, wars promoted, peoples exploited and the real wealth of the nation gathered unto themselves through the process of mortgage and foreclosure—together with a constitutional remedy for our national dilemma.

 

CHAPTER I—THE GOLDSMITHS

Once upon a time, gold—being the most useless of all metals—was held in low esteem. Things which possessed intrinsic value were labored for—fought for—accumulated—and prized. These things became the standards of value and the mediums of exchange in the respective localities producing them.

One of the most urgent requirements of man is a wife, and it used to be that one of the most prized possessions of a father was a strong, hardworking daughter; and she was considered his property. In those days he didn’t give a dowry with her to get rid of her—but if a young blade desired her he had to recompense the Dad before he could lead her away to his cave. Good milch cows were as scarce as good girls—so a wooer hit upon the happy idea, one day, of offering a cow to the “Old Man” for his daughter. The deal was made and cows became, probably, the first money in history.

Since that ancient date most everything that you can think of has been used for money. Carpets, cloth, ornaments, beads, shells, feathers, teeth, hides, tobacco, gophers’ tails, woodpeckers’ heads, salt, fish hooks, nails, beans, spears, bronze, silver and gold—and later, receipts for gold which did not exist,—have all been used for money.

The latter article was the invention of the goldsmith and has yielded greater profits than all other inventions combined. It all came about like this:

Women have always had a fondness for beautiful ornaments. The plainer women—the ones who needed decorating with trinkets—were the ones who received the fewest ornaments. This was because men were the ones who supplied them, and—as contradictory as it may seem—the more beautiful the lady was, the more ornaments she usually received. Rings for her fingers—rings for her toes—rings for her ears—and rings for her nose—bracelets, anklets, tiaras, throatlets, pendants and foibles of yellow gold were hung on her like decorations on a Christmas tree.

Gold was also used to beautify the palaces of the kings, and of the near kings, shrines and temples. It was held in such high esteem that the people actually began to worship it—making gods and goddesses of it. It became the most desired of all substances. Because of the high esteem in which it was held it superseded all of its competitors in the civilized world as a medium of exchange. The value of other goods was measured by the amount of gold for which those goods could be exchanged.

The yellow metal, for convenience sake, and because the gold itself—and not the ornaments which could be made from it—was in demand, was shaped into rings, bars, discs and cubes, usually bearing an imprint of the kingly or princely owner.

Every community, or city, had its king or ruler. These rulers were all eager to increase their hoard of gold. Raiding expeditions were promoted and the weaker tribes, or kingdoms, were looted of the gold which they had accumulated. At times they would become so prosaic and unromantic as to carry on legitimate trade with other communities and obtain the gold in that way—but that was usually too slow and unexciting.

When the king arrived home with the precious stuff, his worries were not over. There were thieves in those days. There were also goldsmiths. The goldsmiths were the manufacturers of the ornaments which the ladies wore, and they always had a considerable amount of the coveted metal on hand. To safeguard their treasures they built strong-rooms on their premises in which to store the gold entrusted to their care.

It was not surprising, then, that the custom grew for the leader, upon his return from his thieving expedition, to leave the hoard of gold which he had obtained, with the goldsmith for safe-keeping. The merchants, too, who had traded profitably with other nations, communities or tribes, as well as other merchants and raiders passing through the city where the goldsmith lived, found it convenient—and usually safe—to leave their gold in the strong-room of the goldsmith.

When the gold was weighed and safely deposited in the strong-room, the goldsmith would give the owner a warehouse receipt for his deposit. These receipts were of various sizes, or for various amounts; some large, others smaller and others still more small. The owner of the gold, when wishing to transact business, would not as a rule, take the actual gold out of the strong-room but would merely hand over a receipt for gold which he had in storage.

The goldsmith soon noticed that it was quite unusual for anyone to call for his gold. The receipts, in various amounts, passed from hand to hand instead of the gold itself being transferred. He thought to himself: “Here I am in possession of all this gold and I am still a hard working artisan. It doesn’t make sense. Why there are scores of my neighbors who would be glad to pay me interest for the use of this gold which is lying here and never called for. It is true, the gold is not mine—but it is in my possession, which is all that matters.”

The birth of this new idea was promptly followed by action. At first he was very cautious, only loaning a little at a time—and that, on tremendous security. But gradually he became bolder and larger amounts of the gold were loaned.

One day the amount of loan requested was so large that the borrower didn’t want to carry the gold away. The goldsmith solved the problem, pronto, by merely suggesting that the borrower be given a receipt for the amount of gold borrowed—or several receipts for various amounts totalling the amount of gold figuring in the transaction. To this the borrower agreed, and off he walked with the receipts, leaving the gold in the strong-room of the goldsmith.

After his client had left, the goldsmith smiled broadly. He could have a cake and eat it too. He could lend gold and still have it. The possibilities were well-nigh limitless. Others, and still more neighbors, friends, strangers and enemies expressed their desire for additional funds to carry on their businesses—and so long as they could produce sufficient collateral they could borrow as much as they needed—the goldsmith issuing receipts for ten times the amount of gold in his strong-room, AND HE NOT EVEN THE OWNER OF THAT.

Everything was hunky-dory so long as the real owners of the gold didn’t call for it—or so long as the confidence of the people was maintained—or a whispering campaign was not begun; in which case, upon the discovery of the facts, the goldsmith was usually taken out and shot.

In this manner, through the example of the gold-smiths, bank credit entered upon the scene. The practice of issuing receipts—entries in bank ledgers and figures in bank pass books—balancing the borrower’s debt against the bank’s obligation to pay, and multiplying the obligations to pay by thirty or forty times the amount of money which they (the banks) hold, is a hangover of the goldsmith’s racket and is the cause of most of the distress in America and the civilized world today.

The Bank of Amsterdam, established in 1609 in the City of Amsterdam, was, it seems, the first institution which followed the practice of the goldsmiths under the title of banking. It accepted deposits and gave separate receipts for each deposit of its many depositors, each deposit comprising a new account. The procedure greatly multiplied the number of receipts outstanding. The receipts constituted the medium of exchange in the country.

At first these bankers did not think of or did not intend to follow the practice of the goldsmiths in issuing more receipts than they had in gold, but their avarice soon gained control and that practice was introduced and pursued. The receipts were not covered by gold but by mortgages and property which they believed could be converted into gold on short notice, if necessary.

All went well for a time, but in 1795 the truth leaked out. It was found that the outstanding receipts called for several times the amount of gold which was held by the bank. This discovery caused a panic and a run on the bank resulting in its destruction,—because the demand for its gold far exceeded its supply.

The collapse of the Bank of Amsterdam should have been an object lesson to all posterity, but alas, avaricious men again took advantage of the forgetfulness and gullibility of the people and the fraud was revived and perpetuated.

CHAPTER II—THE BANK OF ENGLAND

For centuries, in England, the Christians were taught, and believed, that it was contrary to Christian ethics to loan money at usury, or interest. During those centuries the Church and the State saw eye to eye, for they were practically one and the same. It was, therefore, not only un-Christian, but also illegal to loan money at interest.

The laws of King Alfred, in the Tenth Century, provided that the effects and lands of those who loaned money upon interest should be forfeited to the crown and the lender should not be buried in consecrated ground. Under Edward the Confessor, in the next Century, it was provided that the usurer should forfeit all his property, be declared an outlaw and banished from England.

During the reign of Henry II, in the Twelfth Century, the estates of usurers were forfeited at their death and their children disinherited. In the Thirteenth Century, King John confiscated and gathered in the wealth of all known usurers. In the Fourteenth Century, the crime of loaning money at interest was made a capital offense, and during the reign of James I, it was held that the taking of usury was no better than taking a man’s life.

In view of these facts it is quite understandable how the Jews became, for the most part, the money lenders and the goldsmiths of England. They for some reason had no compunction of conscience on the matter. They lived outside the pale of the teachings of the New Testament and ignored the unmistakable commands of the Old regarding usury. It is true that they must carry on their business secretly, but carry it on they did.

But so vigorous was the enforcement of law against usury that the money lenders conceived the idea of conspiring together to hoard their money out of circulation. Through this practice they were able to cripple industry and cause depressions. They ultimately became so strongly entrenched, powerful and influential that Parliament found it necessary and expedient to lift the ban against the money lending business and to legalize it. With the legalization of the money lending business (about 1690), the viewpoint of the Christians underwent a change, until they, too, held no antipathy toward the practice and could become a goldsmith money lender as good as the best.

In the year 1693 England’s Treasury was empty. In order to carry on her four year old war with France she must have funds. Practically all of the money in the nation had been gathered into the strong-rooms of the money lenders.

Thus it came to pass that King William III, badly in need of money to subdue France and humble proud Louis XIV, appealed to the goldsmiths for a loan of $5,000,000, and the loan was granted.

During this period, toward the end of the Seventeenth Century, a deplorable state of affairs existed in England. The churchmen and the squire ruled the countryside. Territorial magnates monopolized the offices of State. They ruled the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Corruption was general. Goldsmith lenders became fabulously rich on their high rates of interest, and they, of course, pursued the goldsmith policy of loaning up to ten times the amount of money which they actually possessed by issuing receipts for gold which was not in their vaults. Merchants became wealthy through their profits on the slave trade. Trade monopolies flourished and kings and princes shared the plunder they amassed.

Only the common people had no privileges—except those of doing the work of the nation, fighting its wars and paying taxes and tithes. They had neither voice nor vote in national affairs. The agricultural laborer was little better than a serf, and coal miners were chattels, bought and sold with the mine in which they worked.

Those who exploited the poor and made profits out of human misery, (for the most part the Society of London), played and drank—and garbed swankily, drove their gilded carriages through the streets of the City. In London small evidence of the hideous state of affairs in the country, and the world in general, could be seen.

The year 1694 found the war with France still raging and the Treasury of England as empty as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. King William and his Parliament must obtain more money and there was only one source from whence it might come. Again they approached the goldsmiths. This time it was $6,000,000 for which they asked. England had laid the foundation of her national debt the year before; now it was merely a matter of increasing that debt and loading it onto the backs of the taxpayers.

But this time the money lenders were ready for them. During the autumn of 1694 a number of very grave and sagacious men met regularly in, of all places, Mercer’s Chapel, in London—to discuss matters of vital importance to England and to the entire world. Sir John Houblon and William Paterson, with a number of goldsmith colleagues, were busily employed working out the details in connection with the founding of a bank. When William III asked for more money, they stated the conditions, upon which the money would be loaned to the English Parliament were the following:

1. A Charter must be granted to the lenders for the establishment of a bank—to be known as “The Bank of England”—

and

2. That bank must be given the right to issue currency against the gold in its vaults.

On those conditions would the money lenders loan the English Government the badly needed $6,000,000.

Parliament agreed to the stipulated terms—the loan was made and the Bank of England was established.

By loaning “I-O-U’s” up to ten times the amount of gold which they possessed, and by charging interest on loans up to 33%, it is quite understandable how the Bank of England became the financial center of the world.

The Bank of England was (and is) a bank of goldsmiths who a few years before its establishment would have been hung by the neck until dead—or burned alive at the stake—if ca...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER I-THE GOLDSMITHS
• CHAPTER II-THE BANK OF ENGLAND
• CHAPTER III-THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD
• CHAPTER IV-THE BANKERS INVADE THE COLONIES
• CHAPTER V-A FREE NATION IN BONDS
• CHAPTER VI-MORE ROTHSCHILD STRATEGY
• CHAPTER VII-SILVER DEMONETIZED
• CHAPTER VIII-THE FEDERAL RESERVE
• CHAPTER IX-MONEY SYSTEM BASED ON DEBT FAILS
• APPENDIX-WHY? OH! WHY?
• REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER