Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1873-10-16
The Suspension Of Jay Cooke & Co.
What q New York Paper has to say on
tho Subject.

What q New York Paper has to say on
tho Subject.
The city, says the New York Herald,
had q veritable sensation in the an
nouncement of the suspension of the
banking house of Jay Cooke & Com
pany. In the circular issued by the
firm it is stated that the suspension
was caused by advances having been
made to the Philadelphia house Of the
company and from heavy drain on the
deposits here. This, it is said, was the
immediate cause. But what was the
remote cause, should it be more than a
temporary suspension Temporary or
not, however, the probability is that
there are causes of a general character,
and dating back some time, affecting. all
the establishments, branches and busi-
ness of the Cookies. The dispatch from
Washington announcing, Immediately
after the suspension of the bank here,
that the banking house of Henry D..
Cooke & Co. had closed doors and sus-
pended at noon, gives a serious aspect
to the matter, and leads to the infer
ence that previous circumstances have
been operating to produce the catas-
trophe.
The pressure must have been great to
have caused such instant action OF the
First National Bank of Washington;
for, as the dispatch says, parties were
at the counter drawing out funds when
the order was given to close the doors
and people to leave the premises. Such
prompt action after the short run upon
the bank indicated that the firm was in
bad condition.
The Treasury Department, if not
alarmed, has taken the precaution to
prevent losses or discredit from its con-
nection with the Cooke houses. The
United States Treasurer has ordered
the payment of gold drafts on Jay
Cooke, McCulloch & CO., London, to be
stopped. 1t is to behbped the govern
ment is not in any way involved and
will not sustain any loss. We are aware
that the Cooke firm in this country and
Cooke & McCulloch, of London, have
had the handling of vast amounts of
government money and securities.
They have, as the famous Syndicate, or
the most important part of it, had q
great deal to do with negotiating the
loans, as they are called, for the fund.
ing OF the new FIVE per cents. OF the ma
tional debt; have had hand, also, it is
said, in the fifteen million five hundred
thousand Alabama claims payment by
England, and have been the financial
agents or medium of the Treasury De-
partment in other important tlansac-
tions. If, therefore, the government
should escape loss in this tremendous
crash it will be fortunate. That we
have yet to learn. Or if the London
house can stand the shock, that will be
as gratifying as surprising. It is but
lair to say that the firm here asserts
that the house of Jay Cooke, McCulloch
& Go. in London is entirely separate
from the houses in this country, that it
is thoroughly solvent and that it has q
large cash surplus on hand.
More satisfactory than anything the
suspended banks may say is the author
lied announcement, according to the
Washington dispatches, of the Treasury
Department that the banking house of
Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co., does not
owe the government cent, but that,
on the contrary, it overpaid in the last
settlement.
Many rumors are afoat as to the
amount of the liabilities of the Cooke
banks, some stating them to be twenty
millions, some more, and others less.
1t is known their transactions were on
large scale, but how much they owe
or will be able to pay is not yet ascer-
taied. Hopes are held out tC deposi-
tors and other creditors. Though one
of their banks. may say 1t was compell-
ed to suspend in consequence of the
demands of another upon it, there is no
doubt they were LINKED up in the same
difficulty, and that was principally the
embarrassment caused by the Northern
Pacific Railroad. This Northern Pacific
Railroad was a stupendous speculation.
The Cookies were either short-sighted
in not seeing the doubtful character of
the enterprise, and the burden they
would have to bear, or they calculated
upon tempting the market and public
to take the load off their hands by ex-
tensive advertising and the prestige OF
their financial standing. AS to the dis.
turbances of the stock or money mar
ket, or the alleged unusual drafts of
the depositors, having much to do with
their suspension, seems to us doubtful.
There has been no such crisis calcula-
ted to shake any great, substantial and
we'll managed bank. How far these
suspensions will affect other banks,
stock-jobbing firms or the market, we
have yet to see. The panic resulting
from them, as on all such like occa-
sions, has prostrated some spectators
and firms. Richard Schell was one OF
the victims, and the firm of Robinson
& Suydam was unable to meet its con-
tracts at the Stock Exhange. There
are runners of others being embarrassed
and likely to succumb. Stocks tumbled
down more or less according to their
supposed intrinsic or speculative value,
and Western Union run down more
than ten per cent. Gold, of course, felt
the shock, but fuctuated little more
than one per cent, which rather indi,
Gates no very great trouble is to be ap'
pretended.