Lindbergh: impeachment of Federal Reserve & Chamber of Commerce

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD – HOUSE

FEBRUARY 12, 1917

Pages 3126 to 3130

QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE.

MR. LINDBERGH. Mr. Speaker, before I use the high privilege that I have here, to prefer these articles of impeachment, I ask the unanimous consent of the House to proceed for four minutes.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Minnesota asks unanimous consent to proceed for four minutes, prefatory to his motion of impeachment. Is there objection?

There was no objection.

Mr. LINDBERGH. Mr. Speaker an fellow colleagues, in preferring these articles of impeachment, which I am about to begin to read, I realize that I am taking a serious and important step. But I have given much thought and consideration to the step which I am about to take. I shall make no motion after I have read these articles of impeachment, but shall leave it to the House to act upon that question. I realize that often a motion to lay upon the table is what follows the reading of important articles, and I think these are of that character; and if they are disposed of in this way I wish to say to the membership of this House that that is not the way to dispose of these articles which I shall read. It would not be doing justice to the country if it is done in that way. Either I am right in presenting these articles of impeachment or I am wrong. If I do injustice to the House, if I do injustice to the country in preferring articles of impeachment which ought not to be preferred, then it is the duty of the House to discredit me for doing that thing. I do not, however, expect to be discredited, though undoubtedly powerful influence will be used to prevent favorable action on the articles of impeachment.

Therefore, I shall proceed with the reading of the articles, and at the close I shall ask unanimous consent for the privilege of extending my remarks upon this question and the incidental questions that are involved in it.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman asks unanimous consent to extend his remarks. Is there objection?

Mr. MANN. Reserving the right to object, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman can ask that at the conclusion of his remarks.

The SPEAKER. I thought he was asking it now.

Mr LINDBERGH. No. I wish the House to know what is in the articles of impeachment before I ask that privilege.

The SPEAKER. All right.

Mr. LINDBERGH. Mr Speaker and the House of Representatives, I, Charles A: Lindbergh, the undersigned, upon my responsibility as a Member of the House of Representatives, do hereby impeach W. P. G. Harding, governor; Paul M. Warburg, vice governor; and Frederick A. Delano, Adolph C. Miller, and Charles S. Hamlin, members, each individually as a member of the Federal Reserve Board, and also all of them collectively as the five active working members of said board, of high crimes and misdemeanors.

I, upon my responsibility as a Member of the House of Representatives, do hereby impeach the said W. P. G. Harding, governor; Paul M. Warburg, vice governor; and Frederick A. Delano, Adolph C. Miller, and Charles S. Hamlin, members, and each of them as members of the Federal Reserve Board, and also impeach all of them collectively as the five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board, of high crimes and misdemeanors in aiding, abetting, and conspiring with certain persons and firms hereinafter named, and with other persons and firms, known and unknown, in a conspiracy to violate the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the just and equitable policies of the Government, which said conspiracy developed and grew out of and was consummated from the following facts and acts, to wit:

Fist. On or about the month of July, 1906, the exact date being unknown to the relator, the late J. P. Morgan, of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Co., and the said firm, private bankers and brokers, with their main office in New York City and doing business all over the world; Paul M. Warburg, of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., also private bankers and brokers, doing business all over the world, with their main office in New York City; Lee, Higinson & Co., also private bankers and brokers, doing business all over the world, with their main offices in Boston and New York; Kidder, Peabody & Co., also private bankers and brokers, doing business all over the world, with their main offices in Boston and New York; the National City Bank of New York, with its office in the city of New York and doing a general banking business, domestic and foreign; and various others persons and firms, known and unknown to the relator, did conspire with each other to devise a means through social, political, and other ways of strategy and by general chicanery, to deceive the people of the United States, the Congress, and the President of the United States for the purpose and with the object to secure an act of Congress providing for a new monetary and banking system, to have in it a provision for a managing board vested with unusual and extraordinary powers, and to secure the appointment upon the board of management that should be provided for in the act persons for membership on the board who would, by subterfuge, manipulation, and false administration, so manage as to avoid the spirit and the purpose of the people of the United States, the Congress, and the President aimed at in the passage of such an act, and instead of administering the act to meet with the spirit and comply with its terms, to induce and secure such board to enter into the conspiracy aforesaid, to administer the act for the special benefit and advantage of all of the said conspirators hereinbefore named, and their associates, and contrary to the letter, intent, and purpose of the act itself and in contravention of the Constitution and law; that in order to start the campaign with a plan well matured to succeed in said conspiracy, Paul M: Warburg, now vice governor of the Federal Reserve Board, but then a member of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., was a most active participant in drafting the main features and principles which should be embodied into whatever bill might be put through Congress, and did also assist in a plan for a secret campaign, to be kept from the knowledge of the President, with the appointing power, and from the Senate, with the confirming power in the selection and confirmation of all high Federal appointive officials, in order that a board of administration should, when the time came for its selection, be appointed that would carry out the designs of the conspirators aforesaid; that there were many secret meetings held by the conspirators for this purpose, which under the very circumstances would be screened and kept from the public and made practically impossible to discover, but nevertheless made certain of the fact because of the acts which point back to their creation; that one of such meetings – which your relator does not undertake to verify the truth of its holding, but is reliably informed that it was held- is described in Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly Magazine in the October19, 1916, number thereof, which is hereby referred to as showing the method most likely to have been followed for planning the then contemplated act of Congress, which is now the act known as the Federal reserve act.

Second. That in pursuance of said conspiracy to promote the object of the conspirators aforesaid and as a part of their general scheme to induce Congress to legislate upon the monetary and banking system as stated hereinbefore, said conspirators caused to be organized the so-called Citizens League, with headquarters in the city of Chicago, to act as a mother organization and promoter to induce organization in the several States of auxiliary and affiliated leagues, and by misrepresentation to the public as to the origin of the said mother league and its purpose to induce citizens who should have no knowledge of the said conspiracy and would be innocent of any wrong intention, and whose motives and intent would be to act in the common interests of their country, to join in the formation of auxiliary leagues throughout the several States in order to give the outward and surface appearance of respectability and honor, and that in pursuance of that plan the conspirators succeeded in organizing affiliated leagues in 45 of the States; that when organized the conspirators hereinbefore named, themselves directed who should be sent to these organizations as speakers and instructors, and also the kind of literature that should be distributed to the members and to the general public, the design of which was to have only such speakers, instructors, and literature as would discredit the then existing banking and currency system and prejudice the people in every way possible against it: but notwithstanding the then existing banking and currency system was bad and unfitted to the demands of the Nation and the needs of commerce and trade, such campaign was by its conspirators aforesaid directed not to designate to the public what sort of a banking and currency system would be adopted in its stead, but the promoters of the conspiracy should pretend that the object of the campaign was to aid in every way to create a new monetary banking and currency system to take the place of the then existing bad one, and, as far as it could be done, the conspirators should prevent the people getting together to prepare a plan of their own to be presented to Congress; that the purpose of the conspirators was simply to make the public believe that a new banking and currency system was absolutely necessary and at the same time keep the public from finding out what would be its form and details, all this for the reason that the conspirators aforesaid had their own preconceived plan prepared as a part of their conspiracy, which they would secretly manage in their own way to have presented to Congress as the plan in response to all this public sentiment which the conspirators themselves had ingeniously worked out through the campaign aforesaid, and with the intent that Congress and the President would legislate the conspirators’ said plan into effect; that it was a part of said plan to create many offices and positions with lucrative salaries, which offices and positions would be equivalent to a bid for the ambitious to support it, because these offices and positions would be filled by the leaders and most active persons who would join in the campaign to put the conspiracy into effect and influence Congress and the President for the purpose of securing the legislation.

Third. That in further pursuance of said conspiracy and to be in control of the information and literature that should be distributed throughout the Nation, the said conspirators then having control of a large number of magazine, newspapers, and publishing companies, used all of these, and proceeded to procure control of as many more as could be purchased or subsidized to publish articles prepared by subsidized writers who would criticize the then existing banking and currency system so as to create public sentiment against it; that of the thousands of country newspapers, a majority of them use so-called “patent” articles not edited or even practically controlled by the owners of the papers, which patent articles are commonly called “boiler-plate” stuff, and no responsibility as to the influence such articles have upon the public attaches to anybody; that those writing this “boiler-plate” stuff so published, many of them were also subsidized and controlled by the said conspirators, so that the small newspapers were practically forced to carry on a campaign against the then existing banking and currency system along the same lines of the others referred to hereinbefore; that readers generally do not have the opportunity to distinguish between “boiler-plate” articles and the articles which the editors of the smaller papers write themselves; that the news-distributing agencies through the telegraph and telephone were then and still are largely controlled by said conspirators, and the operators of the news agencies have been allowed to report only such news relating to a new banking and currency system as would promote said conspiracy, and required to suppress any and everything in the way of information or news that would tend to encourage the people to prepare for themselves a concrete plan for banking an currency in the interest of all the people; that the general plan of the conspiracy was to suppress every article, statement, and thing, so far as possible, which would give any information as to the existence of said conspiracy, all of which was for the purpose of enabling the conspirators aforesaid to deceive the people as well as Congress and the President, in order that said conspirators might finally consummate their aforesaid conspiracy.

Fourth. That in consequence of the campaign carried on by said conspirators stated and recited in paragraphs named “First,”, “Second”, and “Third”, in these impeachment articles, and numerous secret, clandestine, and underground methods employed by said conspirators, the people of the United States, the Congress, and the President were deceived, and as the first official act in the consummation of the objects sought by said conspirators Congress did legislate and pass an act of Congress which was signed by the President, and is known as the Federal reserve act, which act is substantially the plan prepared by the said conspirators as aforesaid.

Fifth. That immediately upon the passage of said Federal reserve act the said conspirators disorganized the so-called “Citizens League” and all the affiliated leagues in the 45 States referred to in the paragraph named “Second “ herein; that prior to such disorganization the said conspirators had by secret and underground methods, and for the purpose of using the same in completing and perpetuating their conspiracy, organized another “association” and called it the “United States Chamber of Commerce”, giving it that name in order to deceive the public by making it appear that it is a department of the Government, which organization is administered with more intricate machinery for management than the so-called “Citizens League” was, and with a purpose of taking up the work of coordinating everything social, political, business, and other, to work for the benefit of the said conspirators in carrying out their plan to force the masses of all mankind into absolute and abject industrial slavery; that the methods and the design of the “United States Chamber of Commerce” are set forth in remarks which your relator placed in the Congressional Record March 10, 1916, and are hereby referred to for more specific detail; that the influence of the “United States Chamber of Commerce” is one of the agencies being used as an aid to further consummate the conspiracy charged in these articles of impeachment.

Sixth. That the said Federal reserve act is so framed that it has the possibility and contains the provisions which, under proper and impartial administration, would furnish a remedy to some of the faults that existed in the banking and currency system which it superseded, but also contains provisions which, under a bad and improper administration, makes it more dangerous to the public welfare, than even the old banking and currency system was; that the main feature of the said Federal reserve act is giving effect to it is the authority vested in the Federal Reserve Board and the discretion entrusted to the members thereof in its “administration”; that the “administration” of said Federal reserve act is vested in the Federal Reserve Board, advised by the Federal reserve advisory council made up of 12 persons, 1 selected by each of the 12 Federal reserve banks; that the 3 active working members of the Federal Reserve Board are the said W. P. G. Harding, governor; Paul M. Warburg, vice governor; and Frederick A. Delano, Adolph C. Miller, and Charles S. Hamlin, members; and that the Federal reserve advisory council is formed by the following persons, to wit: Daniel G. Wing, of Boston; J.P. Morgan, of New York; Levi L. Rue, of Philadelphia; W. S. Rose, of Cleveland; J. N. Norwood of Richmond; Charles A. Lyerly, of Atlanta; J. B. Forgan, of Chicago; Frank O. Watts, of St. Louis; J. R. Mitchell, of Minneapolis; E. F. Swinney, of Kansas City; T. J. Record, of Dallas; and Herbert Fleishhacker, of San Francisco; that the said Federal Reserve Board and the said Federal reserve advisory council held many meetings and are now and have been ever since the Federal reserve act was passed, fully advised as to the financial and business conditions, domestic and foreign; that the members of the Federal Reserve Board and the members of the Federal reserve advisory council are men with enormous business interests, and each of them have been for more than 15 years last past, and are now extensive operators and speculators for individual profit and gain in the markets, and control several of the largest banks in the country; that J.P. Morgan jr is the leading member of the firm J. P. Morgan & Co., one of the firm hereinbefore charged with being a party to the conspiracy aforesaid; that several of the members of the Federal reserve advisory council own stock in the National City Bank of New York and the First National Bank of New York, they being the two banks charged hereinbefore with being parties to the said conspiracy, and said members also own stock and are interested in business managed and controlled by the parties specifically named as the conspirators in the paragraph hereinbefore designated as “First”; that Paul M. Warburg, a member and vice governor of the Federal Reserve Board, was at the time of the original formation of the conspiracy aforesaid a party to the said conspiracy, and a partner and member of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., one of the conspirators; that each of the members of the Federal Reserve Board and of the Federal reserve advisory council are associated with and form a part of a group of promoters and speculators, the individual members of which reside in various parts of the United States, principally in the large cities, and a few of them live in Europe, which said group individually and collectively deal in credits, stocks, bonds, securities, and various promoting enterprises from which they have made billions of dollars in profits, and still operate and propose to continue their operations for the purpose of making still greater profits upon their future dealings; that in further pursuance of their said purpose, they joined in the original conspiracy aforesaid and it was planned as a part of the said original conspiracy to create several great business and financial centers in different parts of the United States in order to facilitate and celerify a coordination of all big business and all financial control, for the benefit of the said conspirators in carrying out their plan of personal gain in contravention to the public welfare; that said group instigated the campaign which finally resulted in the passage of the Federal reserve act; that in the administration of said act by the said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board, and through the influence exercised over them by the members of the Federal reserve advisory council, and collectively all of the members and membership of both the Federal Reserve Board and of the Federal reserve advisory council, a part of and influenced by said larger “group” in this paragraph designated as having joined in the conspiracy aforesaid, the said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board, each individually and all collectively, at all times since they became members of the said Federal Reserve Board, knowingly and intentionally have been improperly influenced by the said “group,” and because of such influence have failed to administer the Federal reserve act in accordance with the spirit, letter, and intent of Congress and the President when the act was passed; but, on the contrary, the said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board hereinbefore specifically named as such, with intent to evade and set aside by “administration” all the purposes of Congress and of the President in the passage and approval of the act, and of the act itself, have administered, and are now administering, the Federal reserve act with the intent to coordinate “big business” and “speculation” for the benefit of the said “group” of operators and speculators hereinbefore designated as having taken part in the original conspiracy; that said National City Bank hereinbefore named, in which many of the other conspirators own stock, acts as the “official mouthpiece” for them all, to give technical information to enable them all to act in concert; that to facilitate its distribution said bank issues a monthly bulletin; that in its February, 1917, bulletin, in an article dealing with the present plethora of money and credit available, among other “tips” intended for the conspirators to act upon, is the following - and I would like the House to hear it - this is what is contained in the bulletin which the National City Bank issued:

Under the circumstances money promises to be in abundant supply, but if bankers have a proper regard for their responsibilities it will not be correspondingly cheap. Compensatory rates for money and ample reserves should be consistently maintained.

That said bulletin was sent to the Federal Reserve Board, to all the Federal reserve banks, to all the larger National and State banks and trust companies, in order to “tip” off to the conspirators and those acting in concert to tighten the rates of interest; that such “tips” are a common practice and do prevent the reduction of interest rates to borrowers for legitimate business, contrary to the intent and purpose of Congress an the President and in contravention of the act itself and to the enormous loss of the people and injury to the general welfare.

Seventh. That there are approximately 20,000 State banks and trust companies in the United States, incorporated and organized under the State laws of the respective States in which their offices and places of business are located, and doing a general banking business, State and interstate, many of which are eligible to became members of the Federal Reserve System, and many not now eligible could become so without an increase of their capitalization; that of those now eligible and that could

quality for membership in the Federal Reserve system without an increase of their capital, they have more than half of the capitalization of all the banks not now included in the Federal Reserve System; that the capitalization of State banks and trust companies which are not members of the Federal Reserve System exceeds the capital of the banks which are members of the Federal Reserve System; that the governors and other high and administrative officials of the 12 Federal reserve banks, through their influence with member banks, wittingly or unwittingly, but most of them wittingly, became accessories to the said conspiracy of the said persons and parties named in these articles of impeachment in the paragraph herein designated as “First” and have caused a boycott of all banks not members of the Federal Reserve System by influencing the member banks to hamper, inconvenience, and annoy the patrons of the nonmember banks by discrimination against them in the clearing of checks drawn upon them and otherwise; that they threaten and seek to cajole the nonmember banks in an attempt to force them to become members of the Federal Reserve System; that the said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board are cognizant of the same; that the intent, purpose, and aim of each and all of the said conspirators aforesaid is to compel the State banks to join the Federal Reserve System for the purpose of bringing the said banks under the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve Board in order that all of the banks, National and State, may become one gigantic combination with an absolute and complete monopoly and have the power of exploiting the people for the benefit of the conspirators aforesaid.

Eighth. That Congress in creating the Federal Reserve Board had in mind, and it is the spirit of the Federal reserve act, that the said board should keep a guardian watch over the operations of the banking and currency system and report to Congress and the country from time to time such facts and occurrences relating to banking and currency as affect the business of the people in trade and commerce exchanges, domestic and foreign, so that Congress should receive information that would give to Congress the facts upon which to base any necessary amendments to the act in order to make it responsive to the general welfare; that, contrary to the spirit of the Federal Reserve act,

the aforesaid five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board have willfully failed to keep the public and Congress informed of the inflation of bank credits and the effect of it that has taken place under the “administration” of the said act, and in violation of the spirit thereof said members have conspired with the members of the Federal reserve advisory council and their business associates hereinbefore named and have aided and abetted in a conspiracy to a systematic inflation of bank credits for the benefit of the said conspirators and against the public welfare; that in consequence of said unlawful acts and misfeasance in office of the said members of the Federal Reserve Board the banks have, for private gain, increased the bank credits of the country since the passage of said act approximately seven thousand millions of dollars and without effecting a corresponding reduction in the interest rate, thus increasing the aggregate amount of interest paid by the people to the said banks equal to that charged upon said sum; that the effect of the inflation of bank credits has been and is to also increase speculative credits enormously more than equal to the inflation of bank credits, and that such increase since the Federal reserve act took effect has been billions of dollars; that the increase in the aggregate sum of interest paid to the banks upon the said inflated bank credits and the increase caused by the said inflation in the speculative values upon commodities required to supply the necessities of life for the people has been many billions of dollars, which have been added to the cost of living for the people to pay; that said increase in the cost of living is mainly the profits that the conspirators have added to their individual fortunes to the equivalent loss of the people generally and to the Government as well.

Ninth. That as part of the said conspiracy and in furtherance of the same the said aforesaid conspirators, in violation of the Nation’s heretofore established economic policy of conservation of material and natural resources, conspired with European speculators to draw upon the material resources of this Nation for export with no correlation between the value of the materials exported and the value of the materials imported; that in consequence of the conspiracy to affect said export of material resources belonging to this Nation and to the people of it approximately eight thousand millions of dollars in value of the material resources have been exported since the war in Europe began; that as a result thereof the said conspirators acted with the said five members of the Federal Reserve Board in manipulating bank credits, and through credits the markets increased the cost to American consumers in the same period approximately sixteen thousand millions of dollars in excess of the real values, which extra cost has mainly been the profits that have been added to the fortunes of the aforesaid conspirators; that as an additional and future loss to the people of this Nation in consequence of the facts aforesaid, the natural material resources of the Nation are forever less, and the costs made forever higher that they would be if trade and commerce were not manipulated through a false administration of finances.

Tenth. That to further carry out the said conspiracy the aforesaid conspirators have, ever since the Federal reserve act took effect, sought to influence, and in fact have influenced, said five members of the Federal Reserve Board in an attempt to further deceive Congress to secure legislation granting to the said board enlarged powers of “administration”; that in the Sixty-third Congress the said board, concealing the real purpose to aid said conspirators, deceived the Senate Banking and Currency Committee to get it to report for passage the then Senate bill 6505, and it passed the Senate and subsequently came before the House Banking and Currency Committee and was favorably reported, your relator, however, filing a minority report in opposition. Later, on the floor of the House, the chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee withdrew action on the bill; that the aim of said bill was to give the Federal Reserve Board greater “administrative” power over the gold supply, so that it could, whenever the conspirators aforesaid wished it, inflate still further the banking credit by an issue of the Federal reserve notes for the benefit of said conspirators; that again in this Sixty- fourth Congress said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board alleged, repeatedly sought the House Banking and Currency Committee to report a bill giving greater “administrative” powers to said board than is authorized by the original act; in fact, to give said board power to force from banks all over the country the gold in their vaults and into the 12 Federal reserve banks, there to form a basis upon which to issue still more Federal reserve notes and further inflate credit without causing a reduction of interests that in the aggregate would equal the charge made on the inflated currency, but serving mainly as a guaranty to reenforce the conspirators hereinbefore named in exploiting of the people for private gain.

Eleventh. That the Federal reserve act obligates the United States to redeem in gold at the United States Treasury all Federal reserve notes, and as a part of the said conspiracy and in furtherance of the same, and to extend the speculation of the operators and perpetrators of the said conspiracy to include Europe and other foreign territory, they, most of them being international as well as domestic bankers, seek to dominate the relations of the United States with foreign countries and to selfishly influence the same by means of the control of finances, and in furtherance of said branch of their speculations have conspired with the said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board to secure aid from the Federal Reserve System for said selfish purposes and not in the interest of the public, the conspirators in connivance with the said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board had the said board select and appoint, through the Federal reserve bank of New York, the so-called Bank of England as its agent, thus putting the credit of the Government of the United States back of this foreign corporation, organized for private gain, which is no longer able to make payments in gold and fails to give a statement of its true conditions; that said Federal Reserve Board is threatening to permit and also to render aid to the international bankers in America who dominate the banking system, to enter into further entangling alliances with bankrupt countries of Europe at the very time this Government contemplates issuing hundreds of millions of dollars of interest-bearing bonds upon the credit of the people of the Nations to meet the Government expenses.

Twelfth. That during the Civil War the Government of the United States issued money commonly called “greenbacks”; the same being issued upon the credit of the people of the Nation; that of said “greenbacks” so issued there have been ever since their issue and now are outstanding and in general circulation based upon the credit of the people of the United States $ 346,681,016, for which a reserve of $ 150,000,000 in gold is held by the Government to guarantee their redemption if demanded; that said circulating “greenbacks” have already saved the Government from paying approximately $ 1,000,000,000 interest during the time they have been in circulation and are now saving the Government approximately $ 6,000,000 annually; that in furtherance of said conspiracy in these articles of impeachment alleged and as a part thereof, the conspirators have sought and by secret connivance now seek to have the said “greenbacks” retired and the $ 150,000,000 of gold guarantee placed in the Federal reserve banks on which to base the loaning of “bank credits” as a substitute for the money owned by the people; that if the Federal reserve banks are allowed to secure possession of said gold, when the time comes that the conspirators aforesaid shall be able to use additional bank credits to their advantages in exploiting the people, the same would become the basis for additional bank inflation, directly and indirectly, to the extent of over a billion dollars upon which the banks would collect a great sum of interest, and the speculators would scalp even greater profits from additional manipulation of the markets, all of which would be added to the cost of living for the people to pay.

Thirteenth. That in furtherance of the said aforesaid conspiracy and as a part of the same the said five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board, in their capacity as members, have arbitrarily all times and with intent to prevent the legitimate business interests of the country securing the advantages that Congress sought to give by the passage of the Federal reserve act, and in connivance with the big reserve and central reserve banks controlled by the conspirators aforesaid, established rediscount rates for member banks desiring to borrow from Federal reserve banks above the rates charged by the reserve and central reserve banks, which creates an excuse

for the member banks in the country to charge higher rates of interest to legitimate borrowers than they otherwise would; that the interest rates charged by the reserve and central reserve banks, on the one hand, and the higher rates charged by the Federal reserve banks on the other hand, is maintained at certain times when the conspirators aforesaid desire to draw the reserves of the country banks to the reserve and central reserve cities for the interest that these reserve banks pay on deposit balances and in anticipation of times when the country banks may wish to rediscount paper with said banks; that by following the arbitrary practice of rediscounts aforesaid the said conspirators are enabled to and do go on with their speculations, manipulate the markets, and exploit the people, and whenever they find themselves in financial stress they can raise the rates of interest in the reserve and central reserve banks, which they control, above the Federal reserve bank discount rates, thus forcing the country banks, which may have rediscounted with reserve banks in order to give accommodations to their borrowers, to rediscount with the Federal reserve banks to enable them to repay the reserve and central reserve banks, in order to create free money and credit for said conspirators to carry on their speculations; that the Federal reserve act contains several provisions which when applied under the “administrative” power of the Federal Reserve Board serve as a means of taking or imposing a toll in the nature of discriminatory interest rates in order to force a shift of money and credits from one section of the country to another, or out of the country and to foreign countries; that this discriminatory power vested in the Federal Reserve Board is willfully abused by the said five active working members of the said board for the benefit, and in the interest of the said aforesaid conspirators; that the people of the United States have been injured to the extent for several billions of dollars by reason thereof.

Fourteenth. That in furtherance of said aforesaid conspiracy and to give the said aforesaid conspirators complete practical power to carry out and put into effect their purpose of making the masses of mankind absolutely dependent upon “big business,” and in order to create industrial slaves of the masses, the said aforesaid conspirators did conspire and now conspire to have the Federal reserve act “administered” so as to enable the conspirators to coordinate all kinds of “big business,” and to keep themselves in control of “big business,” in order to amalgamate all of the “trusts” into one great trust in restraint and control of trade and commerce, and thus be able to exploit the masses and take from them their earnings, except what they would require for bare subsistence; that to that end and to give them power to accomplish the same said conspirators have marshaled all of the different kinds of “big business” and induced those in control to use their means and whatever kind of patronage and favors they have to give in such way as to promote the objects and purposes of said conspirators and to enslave the masses of humanity; that at the same time that the said conspirators marshal their own “big business” supporters by a coordination of all their interests they have used every trick an subterfuge possible to create friction among the masses and divide them into hostile contending factions, thus keeping the masses from coordinating their affairs to promote the general welfare; that the said aforesaid five active working members of the Federal Reserve Board have all the time, by a willful and wrongful “administration” of the Federal reserve act, aided and abetted the said aforesaid conspirators in promoting and carrying out the objects of their said conspiracy and have refused, and failed to so administer the Federal reserve act as to have the same promote and operate in favor of the general welfare.

Fifteenth. That the Federal reserve act is void and unconstitutional, but that, notwithstanding, the conspirators aforesaid have so manipulated things as to prevent the question of constitutionality of the act from being brought before the courts.

CHARLES A. LINDBERGH

Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman a question.

Mr. LINDBERGH. I suppose my privilege stops now, does it?

The SPEAKER. It does.

Mr. LINDBERGH. I ask for five minutes in which to answer the question of the gentleman.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman asks five minutes. Is there objections ?

Mr. SHERWOOD. I understand the gentleman to say the National City Bank now controls the official action of the Federal Reserve Board.

Mr. LINDBERGH. I said they have that effect, along with the other parties associated with them.

Mr. SHERWOOD. In case the Senate should sit as an impeachment court, you have evidence to establish that charge?

Mr LINDBERGH. I want to say this; I have spent enough time and made enough investigation of this case to know that I can demonstrate - not accurately, I may say, but to a mathematical certainty - that the charges in this impeachment are substantially true. I may not be able to establish by direct proof that some of these meetings to which the impeachment refers were held, but that the charges are substantially true, I will certainly show.

Mr. SHERWOOD. That is, by substantial evidence?

Mr. LINDBERGH. By substantial evidence, and by effects which the business of this country demonstrates beyond question.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I ask leave to insert, following the reading of these articles, my remarks upon them and the questions that are incidentally involved in the impeachment articles.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman form Minnesota asks unanimous consent to extend his remaks in the Record. Is there objection?

Mr. SIEGEL. I object.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from New York objects.

Mr. KITCHIN. Mr. Chairman, I move that the impeachment articles be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and on that I demand the previous question.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from North Carolina moves that the impeachment articles be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and on that he demands the previous question.

The previous question was ordered.

The SPEAKER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to refer.

The question was taken, and the motion was agreed to.