The New York herald., 1866-06-17

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panic can bc matched agans, the story or tao Mer.
chants Rank at Wash hngtoD, just reported Tho
ganzat Of the banking systom "a ihe United Slates
has left one thousand a hundred and nfy national"
banks distributed tho country, and one of ihcss
was the Merchants Bank al Washington Tho e'isi.
os. s.o oo y y jolo' stock eonssrn s,,d % an ',a %
into its accounts then eslib.ied the following
resalts.-The liabilities o tho c.ncern ~gre
ieGeny appeared 70 BE- f2zs sol gut i1s was far
fayonbs conc.ur,on. Upwards q $4,000 of tLe pr
perry Turned as 'ssst consisted of dshonnrcn nni.s
and the household Iurnitare of the bank itse esii-
mated at prime cost OF su, - urtes were not
very readily convertible; and when tho corsrs OF tho
bank searched fur something nearly Tee
bling money IL 10 nd that tho entire fuudg of tho
establishment amounted tn no moro than ITO Even
ths reserve MT In the form Of cash Nearly Tour
hhs Of tthat Ia 10 say, the sum u Gh3 Was In Unod
States notes and the balances o. fl7, was 10 pcefac
stamps OF actual money coin of the realm the bank
had not so much az dollar to clnk ON the nter.
Bot this IA not The whole, nor even tho most striking
part, of tho story The Merchants National Bank at
Wash ncton, na ional III than t.t and
general constitution IL ognized "depositoFy'
OF pubic money The revenue now coll Htei from Amn
citizens Is exceedingly arge--haif ier
our ownand Of cour-e tho machinery Of tile revenue
departments IL pfuportlanaely extensive TIE tax coli
lec,ors, therefore, and the assistant easnrers In the va
rious States directed 10 crrtan specified hanks
iaplishments In VIII ch confidence may be pl,cd, and
With which they iodge proceeds OF their
colIectons One oi these "desi mated deposi.or,est
the Merchants Pank Washington, and
when its payments were sudicpiy sus ended u
WA. found hat sis7 600 Of the papl money had gone
with the rest Government In ac IL principal cr.d
tor, and 40 think we may add, had been ~ bcst Gus
toner On the 20h of last April the state or the bank
d scovered 10 he desperate and a consultation
held, The result Of which was that new depcst =
f40 900 OF government money obtained 20 which,
few days afterwards, added f2D 900 YET all
this could not save the concern and the crash took pa
IL will not surprise the reader Ia learn that Congress has
bccn rather startled by these rrycaions ami has nst
tinted an inquiry into the system 81 "po@,oric- aud de-
posits Much interesting Information Is expected from
he cles Of the committee charged with The cst
gaon but facts have already come to light which
viii probably astonish our hnancie.s Al home In ono
instance bank succeeded IN getting iisef dcsiRnaei
privileged "deposory,r and obtained forthwith from
the government agents dopogt ~ GOO 900 This monoy
Il immediately lodged tho sub Treasury New York,
Temporary loan 10 govcrDmsnt al nye per cent
interest; that the governmeBt mad. To barrow is
own money and the bank lnstend Of having on
the deposit actusy received 4 In another case when
the government alt paying money intoa depositoy,
wished TO take some ou again the bank rrnorra'ed
Indignantly against such tr.aimenL fhs money had
been advanced al good interest 10 other Customer nnd
the government had no busncs TO expect that u would
be kept IN ID. m In fact for three aeeks tho
mept drafts told remained dshonsred and Il N
not stated that they ever actually paid Generally,
it Seems, ~hen American banks Ia trouble they
looked TO goyernmen nt deposits Is their reserve"
Although, however, this feature ~ y culiar To the
of IN. deisntDg bank tho example before us
presents ,xdc, Counterpart 10 hs prdo,ne y our otrn
couasy The Merchants Bank AT Washington 'locked
up ts capital by '.nprudent advancer,n precisely as
British Finance Company might have done, the only
difference being that the 'iofk up was oomprr
hensve and tho disappearance OF ths stock entlr
exactly snoh story have heard dozrn times
during The last month. tn. bank had undertaken
70 "nnance srm OF specalaiors baltimore, and in
pursuance of his engagccn, had provided tho oompa
NY with upwards Of one hundred tho kand poundsm're 70
than double 10 whole proper cspialwhcn tn specula
| tion began " uDpruD,sinf aspcct. The Bait
more advsniurcrs reported thas tbey were slnkins.
and must become bankrup. immcdisieiy unIc.s they
ssns Ssss % ssn ho $ Isl go oa q sS a.po
1 IN April by government and then u,c balance Of tho
post This made eiso 900 IN tho wboIs sdy snced 70 sn
so speculative arm, doubt spiendid rnie o interest
calculated on papef but tho story oenpe,sy accounts
surprising The employment Of government mcney In
such transactions and he remarkable cshaust,on
which the hank had boon reduced before ts s,oppsxs
Ia point o. facl VA dssiin " amounted tha, ust v
'ananeed. singe company oa, q Asngie fund, en-.
iass than thsss = the Fenan Brosho. - nr. Aaoay
bad 10 h- sns ~ The .Ast sdvccs nearly 40 ~hsrss.
money beon ging 90 sovsspmcst could not have raid
in csEh check FOR Is II presented At the counter
"Finanring. IL IL evident, Is hazardous work
I aide Of the Atlantic ~ veil tho other, and even
Financing may deserve the disrredlt into which,
after the espereDce of the last few weeks Ia likely 70
fall one OF the evils OF panic u nc despondeney by
which Il followed That capital hA been mot injudi
ciousy lock ed mp late raDsacuon eyond question
that IN Instances u T. rlmpletey eEr
Gated ", doub, possible tu, in tn aiorty of
thrre reason 10 suppgs 'hi courage aud patience VIII
wss once At too o.orhi,snt premium u h. now a, to
eslrsvssant discount Money out of reach IL
not necessarily money ios', aud indeed. !.
many ~ tho srenaiions In which the money of
holders has been invested arc sTeculaiions sound
enough IN themselves II uoy had but bees approached
rpon better principle II tho company select
Investments Jadciously, can wait without ncons cnlencc
Tor the expected return hold its sharus st-siy and
md such additional money IL required, the business
ray 10 profitable enough th. end Tho mistake La.
been made 70 dealing largely with these
tpgrnclea koning upon additions Of capital .bch
not readily forthcoming and which cosii not bs
called for without creating alarm, and IN tas bring ng
credit and operations stop togetacr The
been unfortBnaie; bot n shareholders ui be- bold IN
theif resolutions and reasonable 10 their enpeoaions
need not ~ % calsmitous ~ has been apprelcudsd