The Portland daily press., 1873-09-30
NEW York. Sent. %. 1873


The "panic" continues to be the theme of
universal conversation here. Men gather on
the corners of the streets, in the corridors of
the hotels at the lunch rooms and other places
of resort and discuss with anxious faces and in
excited tones, all the phases of the situation.
Hundreds of plans of relief are proposed, of
the most opposite and irreconcilable nature
and bearing no resemblance to each other save
in their futility and ahsurdity
The truth is, people have got frightened, and
have lost in great measure their reasoning
faculties. Men, ordinarily sensible and clear
headed. have been rushing around for the past
ten days, predicting all sorts of calamities,
such as entire suspension of business, uni
versal bankruptcy, discontinuance of railway
travel, the rottng of the cereals of the coun-
try in the granaries, and perfect Pandora's
box of evils more appalling than ever before
threatened doomed nation.
Much consideration of course ought to be
felt for those whose fortunes and solvency
are imperilled in such crisis 1t would be as
unreasonable to ask man to be stoical and
calm in the rapids of Niagara, as to expect a
banker, broker, or speculator to preserve his
tranquility with drafts at sight draining the ex-
chequer, calls Of loans threatening suspension,
or fall in prices wping out the last penny of
the boarded margin which was recokned on
as the nucleus of a speedy fortune.
Terror is contagious, and every man who
loses his nerve in the face of financial danger
is sure to impart his apprehensions to his neigh
bors He cannot keep still. He must be on the
move all the time, and he is sure to be predict
ing every species of disaster. He sees the dark
side of everything and no other. Much of the
preternatural alarm which has been flying like
pestience through our thronged highways, is
attributable to the lugubrious talk interchanged
between men who, scared by rumors they them
selves largely help to circulate-many of them
false, and all exaggerated-fan the flame they
would fain allay.
L have no desire to underrate the gravity of
the revulsion. 1t is not only painfully serious,
butts ramifcations extend far beyond the con-
fines of our own continent 1t has already
brought down several enterprsing and honora-
BILE houses, whose standing hitherto has been
high, and whose numerical integrity was
dearer far to them than money. In common
with almost all the business community felt
personal grief in the suspension of the house
of Henry Cews because that gentleman is one
Of the most large-hearted, public spirited gen.
erous and useful citizens we have. Simple in
his habits, frugal in his individual expendi-
lures, affahe to everybody, and free from the
smallest symptom of affecsation, his purse was
always "open as day to m elting charity" He
is one of those men who is intensely loyal to
his friends and will do anything in honor to
serve them. He is a society man." and
yet it is extremely rare to find person
in New York SO primitive in his mode of
| life. He goes early to bed and rises with
| the sun He breakfasts early and lightly,
| and repairs to his Bank in time to supervise the
clerical corps before the actual business of the
day begins. All day long, and often after dark,
he is at his post, accessible to everybody, meet
ing all comers with kindly smile, but attend
| ing diligently to the details of the affairs of
the house, the cares Of viii CHI minute and null
tifarous as they are, never ruf1e his serenity,
or impair his good nature. Mr. Clews is really
character in the financial world His ca
reer has demonstrated that he has great capac-
| ity, his success during the dozen years he has
been on Wall Street having astonished every
| body. His industry is remarkable and there
are few parallels to the assiduity with which he
| pursues his vocation. He gives away at least
| five times as much as he expends upon himself
| He has in more than one instance made a sim
Gle donation of double the sum which would
| be required to support him for year. He
gives with the liberality of a prince, he lives
| with the frugality of peasant.
That the star of such man should go into a
temporary eclipse, that his pride, his sensitive
ness should be touched by the bitter necessity
of failing to meet his obligations on demand,
occasions genuine sorrow to those who know
him. 1 havn't doubt that he would have
cheerfully sacrificed every dollar of his surplus
aye, mortgaged his future earnings if he could
have kept that more precious treasure, COM
mercial honor. In mercantile affairs honor is
technical term and means payment at matur-
ity. The man who can truthfully say he al
ways paid his debts when they were due with
out abatement, renewal or extension will
prize that feature of his life just in proportion
to the Inconvenience and sacrifices he has
been obliged to submit to to keep faith with
his creditors, but in any event it will console
him for losses and reconcile him to priyations.
But when devastating panic sweeps like q
simeon over the whole country, the babke,
who holds all his deposits subject to sight
| drafts and whose assets are locked up in secur.
tiles utterly inconyertiDle on any terms, mus