A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“You’re legally allowed to park in a handicap spot if you get back with your ex more than twice” (3/18)
“You can legally park in a handicap spot if you get back with your ex more than 2 times” (3/18)
Entry in progress—BP2 (3/18)
“It’s hard to save money when food is always flirting with me” (3/18)
“Don’t use a big word when a singularly unloquacious and diminutive linguistic expression…” (3/18)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from August 19, 2011
“Money is gold, and nothing else” (“Gold and silver are money—everything else is credit”)

“Money is gold, and nothing else” was said by John Pierpont (J. P.) Morgan on December 19, 1912 at the Pujo Committee of the House of Representatives that was investigating the power of Wall Street. Morgan’s statement was featured in newspapers the next day.
 
“Money is gold” is often misquoted as “Gold is money.” Modern misquotations of Morgan’s remarks include “Gold is money—everything else is credit” and “Gold and silver are money—everything else is credit.”
       
 
Wikipedia: J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. After financing the creation of the Federal Steel Company he merged in 1901 with the Carnegie Steel Company and several other steel and iron businesses, including Consolidated Steel and Wire Company owned by William Edenborn, to form the United States Steel Corporation.
 
Morgan died in Rome, Italy, in 1913 at the age of 75, leaving his fortune and business to his son, John Pierpont “Jack” Morgan, Jr., and bequeathing his mansion and large book collections to The Morgan Library & Museum in New York.
 
At the height of Morgan’s career during the early 1900s, he and his partners had financial investments in many large corporations and was accused by critics of controlling the nation’s high finance. He directed the banking coalition that stopped the Panic of 1907. He was the leading financier of the Progressive Era, and his dedication to efficiency and modernization helped transform American business. Morgan redefined conservatism in terms of financial prowess coupled with strong commitments to religion and high culture.
 
Wikipedia: Pujo Committee
The Pujo Committee was a United States congressional subcommittee which was formed between May 1912 and January 1913 to investigate the so-called “money trust”, a community of Wall Street bankers and financiers that exerted powerful control over the nation’s finances. After a resolution introduced by congressman Charles Lindbergh Sr. for a probe on Wall St. power, Arsène Pujo of Louisiana obtained congressional authorization to form a subcommittee of the House Committee on Banking and Currency.
(...)
The Pujo Report singled out individual bankers including Paul Warburg, Jacob H. Schiff, Felix M. Warburg, Frank E. Peabody, William Rockefeller and Benjamin Strong, Jr.. The report identified over $22 billion in resources and capitalization controlled through 341 directorships held in 112 corporations by members of the empire headed by J.P. Morgan.
 
Although Pujo left Congress in 1913, the findings of the committee inspired public support for ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, passage of the Federal Reserve Act that same year, and passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914. They were also widely publicized in the Louis Brandeis book, Others People’s Money—and How the Bankers Use It.
 
House of Morgan partners blamed the April 1913 death of J.P. Morgan on the stress of testifying in the Pujo hearings, though other health factors were certainly involved.
 
wikinvest
Gold standard
(...)
79. J.P. Morgan, undeniably the most influential financier in history told Congress in 1912; “Gold is money. Everything else is credit.”
       
20 December 1912, Albuquerque (NM) Journal, pg. 1:
J. Pierpont Morgan Continues
Testimony Before Pujo Com-
mittee Investigatingthe So-
Called Money Trust.

(...)
Later Mr. Untermyer touched upon the basis of money control.
 
“Thecontrol of credit involves the control of money, does it not?” he asked.
 
“No,” said Mr. Morgan. “What I call money is the basis of banking.”
 
“But the basis of banking is credit, is it not?”
 
“Not always,” said the witness. “That is an evidence of banking, but it is not the money itself. The money is gold, and nothing else.”
 
20 December 1912, New York (NY) Times, pg. 1:
MONEY MONOPOLY
AN IMPOSSIBILITY,
MORGAN ASSERTS
Financier Tells Pujo Committee
He Doesn’t Know He Has Vast
Power and Doesn’t Seek It.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—Alert and refreshed after a good night’s rest, J. Pierpont Morgan, the most influential factor in the American financial world, to-day resumed and completed his testimony before the Pujo Money Trust investigation committee. The marble committee hall was packed with several hundred spectators, most of whom had to stand throughout the long examination ofthe financier. Immediately after the session Mr. Morgan and party went directly to the Union Station and left for New York on a special train.
 
Mr. Morgan’s testimony was ofa most absorbing character. Whether stating his personal views respecting control of credit, when he insisted that “money is gold, and nothing else,” or ridiculing the idea of there being a money trust and telling Mr. Untermyer “You can control business, but you cannot control money,” or asserting that he had many times drawn his check for a million dollarstomen who did not have a cent, but who had character, Mr.Morgan always riveted the attention of those who heard him testify.
   
Library of Congress—American Memory
Testimony of J. P. Morgan
Before the
Bank and Currency Committee of the
House of Representatives, at
Washington, D. C.
Appointed for the Purpose of Investigating an
Alleged Money Trust in
“Wall Street.”
Cross-Examined by Samuel Untermyer, Attorney
for the Committee
December 18 and 19, 1912.

Pg. 48:
CONTROL OF MONEY DOES NOT CONTROL CREDIT
Q. I want to ask you a few questions bearing on the subject that you have touched upon this morning, as to the control of money. The control of credit involves a control of money, does it not?
A. A control of credit? No.
Q. But the basis of banking is credit, is it not?
A. Not always. That is an evidence of banking, but it is not the money itself. Money is gold, and nothing else.
Q. The basis of banking is credit?
A. Yes.
 
Google Books
Why the Capitalist?
A refutation of the doctrines prevailing in conventional political economy.

By Frederick Haller
Buffalo, NY: The Author
1914
Pg. 198:
The late John P. Morgan said to a committee of Congress that only gold is money.
 
GoogleBooks
The Value of Money
By Benjamin M. Anderson
New York, NY: The Macmillan Company
1917
Pg. 149:
Here everybody was talking about the theory of money in 1896—not necessarily very intelligently!—and here, moreover, such phrases as “good as gold,” and propositions like that which came from Mr. J. P. Morgan in his testimony before the Pujo (Pg 141—ed.) Committee that “gold is money, and nothing else,” would seem to indicate that a very great part of our people might utterly distrust such a money as Professor Kemmerer describes.
 
Google Books
The Chase Economic Bulletin
Chase National Bank of the City of New York
Volumes 5-7
1925
Pg. 15:
The elder Mr. J.P. Morgan gave expression to this view when testifying before the Pujo Committee, in his famous sentence, “Gold is money and nothing else”.
   
Google Books
Gold: The Once and Future Money
By Nathan K. Lewis
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley
2007
Pg. 98:
Gold is money. That’s it. —J. P. Morgan
 
The Motley Fool
TMFSinchiruna’s CAPS Blog
J.P. Morgan: “Gold is Money. Everything Else is Credit.”
January 26, 2011
No, that’s not a capitulatory concession by Jamie Dimon, but rather a quote from the company’s namesake from the year before the creation of the Federal Reserve. It’s as true today as it was then.
 
The Burning Platform
QUOTE OF THE DAY – J.P. MORGAN EDITION
Posted on 23rd March 2011 by Administrator
“Gold and silver are money. Everything else is credit.”
J. Pierpont Morgan
 
The Golden Rule
August 18, 2011 · 12:25 pm
“Money is gold, and nothing else.” JP Morgan, 1912
As gold is hitting all time nominal highs, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a stroll down congressional memory lane.  I have here a government supplied document with JP Morgan’s testimony before congress in 1912 – one year before the passing of the Federal Reserve Act which forever changed the course of American history.  Millions of investors, economists, hedge fund managers and day traders may wonder why stocks continue to fall today and Gold continues to rise.  I have the answer here, and it comes from one of the most influential financiers in world history.  Therefore, I think it would be wise to heed the words of someone actually involved!

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityBanking/Finance/Insurance • Friday, August 19, 2011 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.