don't say that it's true, mind you. I wouldn't be at liberty to say
it even if I knew it; but there are certain things that I have seen,
and I have my suspicions of others. And you must realise that a
half-dozen men now control about ninety per cent of the banks of
this city."

"Things will get worse before they get any better, I believe," said
Curtiss, after a pause.

"Something has got to be done," replied the General. "The banking
situation in this country at the present moment is simply
unendurable; the legitimate banker is practically driven from the
field by the speculator. A man finds himself in the position where
he has either to submit to the dictation of such men, or else permit
himself to be supplanted. It is a new element that has forced itself
in. Apparently all a man needs in order to start a bank is credit
enough to put up a building with marble columns and bronze gates. I
could name you a man who at this moment owns eight banks, and when
he started in, three years ago, I don't believe he owned a million
dollars."

"But how in the world could he manage it?" gasped Montague.

"Just as I stated," said the General. "You buy a piece of land, with
as big a mortgage as you can get, and you put up a million-dollar
building and mortgage that. You start a trust company, and you get
out imposing advertisements, and promise high rates of interest, and
the public comes in. Then you hypothecate your stock in company
number one, and you have your dummy directors lend you more money,
and you buy another trust company. They call that pyramiding--you