Editing Federal Reserve (section)

=== The Public Relations Campaign ===
There was only one problem: the utter lack of enthusiasm for their proposals outside of a narrow circle of bankers. In Warburg's opinion, "it was certain beyond doubt, that unless public opinion could be educated and mobilized, any sound banking reform plan was doomed to fail."<ref name=":1" /><blockquote>To this end, the bankers formed and financed the National Citizens' League for the Promotion of Sound Banking, a nationwide public relations organization, intended [according to Warburg] to "carry on an active campaign of education and propaganda for monetary reform, on the principles ... outlined in Senator Aldrich's plan." Although the league appeared to spring from grass roots in 1911, it was from the outset "practically a bankers' affair." Great pains were taken to keep New York's role in the league hidden, given prevailing populist prejudice against Wall Street. Warburg recognized that "it would have been fatal to launch such an enterprise from New York; in order for it to succeed it would have to originate in the West."<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>With this purpose in mind, the organization was funded by the various clearinghouses. Quotas were assigned: $300,000 to the '''New York Clearing House''', $100,000 to that of Chicago, and the rest of the estimated $500,000 price tag to various others.20 The league published 15,000 copies of "Banking Reform," a book on currency reform. A fortnightly journal of the same name with a circulation of 25,000 was also established. They published 950,000 pamphlets of pro-Aldrich Plan statements and speeches, and flooded newspapers across the country with "literally millions of columns" of copy.<ref name=":1" />