Page 118 - Fruits from a Poisonous Tree

102 Fruit from a Poisonous Tree

A small group of newspaper reporters were waiting to interview some
VIPs. None were sure who they were or what they could possibly want in this
small Georgia town. As the train came to a noisy, steamy stop, the reporters
gathered around the sealed car with the drawn windows.
Down through the clouds of steam stepped Senator Aldrich to lead the
resistance and offer answers to the annoying questions he knew were sure
to follow. The reporters gathered around and to his side listening to the
senator’s story on the glory of duck hunting at Jekyll Island. Meanwhile, the
other members of the coach disembarked and silently entered the waiting
cars, unseen and unidentified.
The “duck hunters” included: Benjamin Strong, known as J.P. Morgan’s
lieutenant; America’s recent German immigrant, Paul Warburg; Charles D.
Norton, president of the Morgan-dominated First National Bank of New
York; Shelton, Aldrich’s private secretary; A. Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury; Frank Vanderlip, president of the National City Bank of
New York and Rockefeller’s agent; and Henry P. Davison, senior partner of
J.P. Morgan Company.
Jekyll Island was a pleasant getaway from the turmoil of a busy banker’s
day. You can imagine how exhausting the denial of loans, foreclosures on
homes, and collection of bad debts can be. Several years prior to the meeting,
the island had been purchased by J.P. Morgan and a few of his wealthy New
York banking and industrialist friends for the purpose of a vacation spot,
spicy parties, winter golf and an occasional duck hunting expedition. The
launch trip to the island was uneventful and relaxing after the rail car journey
from New York. This was the perfect spot for such a high level meeting,
which would direct the course of future human events. The owners of the
Jekyll Island Hunting Club, in and of themselves, represented one-fifth of
the total wealth of the world and some of them were soon to get richer.
Of course there was no intention for this group of high rollers to duck
hunt. Their agenda was strictly focused on the development of a central bank
and its funding. Out of this gathering were to spring plans for implementing
the 16th and 17th amendments to the United States Constitution and a
central bank (Federal Reserve Bank).
Senator Aldrich was expected to develop a monetary reform plan to
submit to Congress. The “plan” that was to be developed here by these
assembled must, by any means, keep the author’s identities secret from
Congress and the American people. Southern Senators would rebel if it were
known that the very people they feared (Wall Street bankers) were developing
the plan, the same plan that Congress had just rejected.
The heart of the reform plan was the creation and funding of a central
bank. Approximately one year prior to the meeting, joint resolutions had been