PRESIDENT LINCOLN ON DEFLATION.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Your March 25th number had a letter under the head of "President Lincoln on Deflation" which implied that the private bankers of America in 1921, on a capital of $103,000,000, earned $122,000,000. The gentleman who wrote the letter does not evidently understand the United States Federal Bank Act. While the Federal Banks of this country probably earned the amount stated by your correspondent, those profits were of no benefit to the private banks, who own all the capital stock of the Federal Reserve Banks. Under the law the Federal Reserve Banks cannot under any circumstances pay more than 6 per cent. per annum dividends. After a surplus equal to 50 per cent. of the capital has been accumulated, the balance of the earnings go to the Federal Government, so that instead of the bankers of this country gaining any benefit from the earnings of the Federal Reserve Banks it is the people of the
Previous page
