Smyrna times., 1873-09-24

tion was Tor the parents and children to decide, |
they being the parties personally concerned
that if they wanted it the public school ought |
to be as competent to give the instruction as
the select school; that there was no reason
why the public school should be behind
any other; that teaching Latin to children who |
do want it does not require any to learn it who |
do not want it, &c. The meaning, in short, |
in the resolution is that the public school shall
be as competent as any school. 1t is the |
school for the masses, one of our great Ameri- |
can institutions, and to be maintained must
meet the requirement of the masses.
-~<
The CRAsH.-Only such articles as pertain
to the great upheval among the brokers in
New York and Philadelphia, can now get an
audience in a newspaper. The great question
of finance is one that but few individuals and
fewer newspapers know anything about, but
when great crash like that of last week comes
upon US we must all have our say, let the say
be worth much or little.
Last Thursday, when finance and business
was moving along in the smoothest way pos
sible, all over the country, the news flashed
over the telegraph wires that Jay Cooke & Co.
no one thought of it; when no one could give
a reason for it when there was nothing in
business to foreshadow it. Not the most reck.
less newspaper has had the tenerity to say
& told you So" So astounding was the in
telligence that it could not wait for the news
Il haA kha 1b0l
hours in advance of the evening journals. 1t
was clap of thunder in the clearest sky-and
it was Jay Cooke He who, one hour before
the news came, would have been estimated
worth $l0,OOO,00O, or $4,000, 900, or S4O,-
100000 was a bankrupt. He who had fnan-
cered a war better than Grant had generated
it, was only to prove bankrupt in peace.
And before the country could ask any questions
about it, Fisk & Hatch failed then DeHaven
& Brother; then Z. w. Clarke & Co., and
then ss fast as the telegraph could announce
the names came the startling intelligence that
one broker was being crushed against another
in awful succession. From Thursday morning
until Saturday at noon forty-fve brokers in
New York and Philadelphia had failed, and in
their fall had taken down with them four bank
ing institutions. The utmost suspense existed
among the money changers and the money
lenders. 1t is impossible to describe the panic
that existed in Third street in Philadelphia,
and Wall street, New York. The daily papers
fill column after column, day after day, with
descriptions of the scenes as they transpired,
but we will have to let all this pass.
What was the cause? The daily papers tell
us that it was the Northern Pacific R. r. bonds
that knocked Cooke & Co., and they were the
big brick that upset all the rest in the row.
Financeering this heavy railroad scheme was
too big job for one firm to undertake, and yet
Cooke & Co. were trying to shoulder it. The
road was being constructed on the strength OF
their name They had taken, it is said, $685.
100000 Of the bonds of this road, at IS cents
on the dollar. They expected to sell the bonds
rapidly at a small advance on this very cheap
rate, and thus make good investment for
themselves and for those to whom they sold
the bonds. But instead of selling the bonds
out or nearly so, as they had fully expected,
they had managed to get rid of only from
$l5,OO0OOO to $lS,0O0,0OO worth, and at the
first of the present month they found the bulk
of the bonds still on their hands, with $3,000,-
600 in interest due on them. To meet this
payment the firm had little funds in hand.
They then saw how hopeless and impossible
it was for them to endure the load they had
agreed to carry, and closed the doors of their
banking Institutions In New York, Philadel
phia aud Washington. Such is the expIana
tion given in some of the leading daily paper:
before us, and from the tone Of the press there
is no cea-I,e ~ be cast upon the firm. Jay
Cooke was a firm believer in the Northern
Pacific; his firm stood Loyalty by the road, anC
put their own money into it, besides invitins
the investments Of the public. There is moth
ing discreditable, nothing doubtful in theil
connection with the company which ha,
brought them such disaster, and if they have
fallen it is gratifying to know that they hav,
fallen with honor. Such, we say, is the gen
eral tone of the press. Many rumors are afioa
as to the amount Of the liabilities of the firm
some stating them to be twenty millions, SOM
more and others less. 1t is known their trans
actions were on large scale, but how mucI
they owe or will be able to pay is not yet as
certained. Hopes are held out, as usual i
such cases, to depositors and other creditors.
Now that the panic has subsided and orde
has been restored more hopeful feeling
manifested. 1t is hoped that many of th
brokers' may resume in short time. AS
Jay Cooke & Co. it is feared they cannot rail-.
Their pane was the life of the railroad bono
in which they had so much invested But no
that their credit is gone all vitality in Il
bonds is gone also, and they are not mark etab
at any price. The thousands of people, ther
fore, who invested in the bonds, many of the
comparatively poor, and III able to lose Il
investment, must suffer loss.
There are several remarkable circumstance
connected with the panic. L was con6u,