Yeah. That was the excuse, to prevent money panics.
But they knew what they were doing. It was about yoking the gullible rubes to a credit and taxation scheme that would make the moneylenders rich beyond anyone’s dreams as they soaked the most successful economic model for everything that had been created since the settling of the colonies.
Thus both the income tax and the reserve bank were created at the same time. That’s not an accident.
Your comment has spurred my renewed interest in studying this subject further. Thank you.