Paul Warburg, The Federal Reserve System, Its Origin and Growth, Volume I, p. 58, Macmillan, New York, 1930

CURRENT OPINION, December, 1916, p. 382

7

is, during the Congressional debate on the bill. Forbes’ story was also dismissed, by those "in the know," as preposterous, and a mere invention. Stephenson mentions this on page 484 of his book about Aldrich.9

"This curious episode of Jekyll Island has been generally regarded as a myth. B.C. Forbes got

Some information from one of the reporters. It told in vague outline the Jekyll Island story, but

made no impression and was generally regarded as a mere yarn."

The coverup of the Jekyll Island conference proceeded along two lines, both of which were successful. The first, as Stephenson mentions, was to dismiss the entire story as a romantic concoction which never actually took place. Although there were brief references to Jekyll Island in later books concerning the Federal Reserve System, these also attracted little public attention. As we have noted, Warburg’s massive and supposedly definite work on the Federal Reserve System does not mention Jekyll Island at all, although he does admit that a conference took place. In none of his voluminous speeches or writings do the words "Jekyll Island" appear, with a single notable exception. He agreed to Professor Stephenson’s request that he prepare a brief statement for the Aldrich biography. This appears on page 485 as part of "The Warburg Memorandum". In this excerpt, Warburg writes, "The matter of a uniform discount rate was discussed and settled at Jekyll Island."

Another member of the "First Name Club" was less reticent. Frank Vanderlip later published a few brief references to the conference. In the Saturday Evening Post, February 9, 1935, p. 25, Vanderlip wrote:

"Despite my views about the value to society of greater publicity for the affairs of corporations,

There was an occasion near the close of 1910, when I was as secretive, indeed, as furtive, as any

Conspirator. . . . Since it would have been fatal to Senator Aldrich’s plan to have it known that he

was calling on anybody from Wall Street to help him in preparing his bill, precautions were taken that would have delighted the heart of James Stillman (a colorful and secretive banker who was President of the National City Bank during the Spanish-American War, and who was thought to have been involved in getting us into that war) . . . I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyll Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System."

In a Travel feature in The Washington Post, March 27, 1983, "Follow The Rich to Jekyll Island", Roy Hoopes writes:

"In 1910, when Aldrich and four financial experts wanted a place to meet in secret to reform the

Country’s banking system, they faked a hunting trip to Jekyll and for 10 days holed up in the

Clubhouse, where they made plans for what eventually would become the Federal Reserve Bank."

__________________________

9 Nathaniel Wright Stephenson, Nelson W. Aldrich, A Leader in American Politics, Scribners, N.Y. 1930, Chap. XXIV "Jekyll Island" p. 379

8

Vanderlip later wrote in his autobiography, From Farmboy to Financier:10

"Our secret expedition to Jekyll Island was the occasion of the actual conception of what

Eventually became the Federal Reserve System. The essential points of the Aldrich Plan were

all contained in the Federal Reserve Act as it was passed."

Professor E.R.A. Seligman, a member of the international banking family of J. & W. Seligman, and head of the Department of Economics at Columbia University, wrote in an essay published by the Academy of Political Science, Proceedings, v. 4, No. 4, p. 387-90:

"It is known to a very few how great is the indebtedness of the United States to Mr. Warburg. For

It may be said without fear of contradiction that in its fundamental features the Federal Reserve

⇐ Предыдущая12345678910Следующая ⇒

Поделиться: