Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-12
A SERENE PROSPECT.
Business Sailing Along Smoothly,
With No Signs of a Squall.
FARM MORTGAGES REPUDIATED.
E1-Treasurer Spinner Gives the Rise and
Fall of Two Notable PanicS.
HEROIC TREATMENT SAVES MILLIONS

Business, although devoid Of exciting feat
ures. is decidedly bullish. This is an
earnest of continued activity. While there
is some complaint of small margins of profit,
evidence of the increasing volume of trade
keeps accumulating on every side, and it is
remarkable how large and constant the ad-
ditions are. Bank clearings and railroad
earnings furnish very good indications of
general nature, and in both cases the re-
turns are of the most satisfactory character.
President Clark, of the Thomas Iron Company,
announced on Saturday that he had just sold
several thousand tons of steel rails at S32 81 per
ton, the highest price reached in three years,
and which was an advance Of 81 cents per ton
in "a hours. Quotations for iron reached all
the way from SI6to SIS, the latter price being
easily obtainable for immediate delivery. In
connection Mr.. Thomas said: 1--WE are not |
offering any iron, because we have none for
SALE We never shipped more iron in the same |
period than in the last three months"
While these are'strong points for the opti- |
mistic side of the business situation, there are |
those who hold that the top of prosperity has |
been reached and that speedy relapse is in |
eVitable. Said a prominent business man on |
Fifth avenue yesterday: II am afraid times |
are bOO ROOU 70 IL ID llUle " IOOA Oub AOA |
squalls" Squalls may come, but they have SO |
far failed to give war ming in advance. 1t busi-
ness were spasmodic, if it were confined to a
limited area, if it were largely made up Of
speculation, if overproduction were excessive,
and If the circulating medium were inadequate
to the large demand, there would be reason to
apprehend squalls and severe ones at that, but
none of these things are true. Business is
onfiva world damand shows evil |
dence of safety, speculation is narrow, and
there is an abundance of money.
Under these conditions, and with the rapid |
growth of population and necessary expansion
of busin ess in the United States, there is no
ground upon which to predicate a collapse. |
There may be a lull in mid-winter, as there |
nearly always is, but that a material reaction |
is threatened is contrary to fact and to the be-
lief of the best posted among business men.
Holders of Western farm mortgages will be |
interested in the statement that farmers in |
Southwestern Kansas, who mortgaged their |
property before they had settled with the Gov |
ernment for their homesteads now, under |
stress Of hard times, object to paying their |
mortgages on the ground that they are illegal. |
Any well-informed lawyer should have known |
that it was not equitable or lawful to mortgage |
plOpSAb1 DCAOlO ~ hdc IN IuO pOooCoolOu VI JuS |
mortgagor. If aVarice has tempted some |
Western mortgage companies to advance
money under such circumstances, it will be |
a just retribution if such mortgages prove to
be invalid.
A great deal of Eastern money has been
invested in Western m ortgages, and where the |
investment has been properly made it is
entirely safe. The ambition to secure large
number of mortgages at high rate of interest
has probably led some companies in the West /
to overdo. the business. but those that have
been judiciously and conservatively managed
will not be disturbed by the latest reports from
Southwestern Kansas.
Ex-Treasurer of the United States, F. E.
Spinner, in an article on "Panics," says:
"Panics, commercial, financial and monetary,
may, perhaps not improperly, be placed in
three classes: the fictitious, the artificial, and
the real OF the panics that may be classed as
fictitious, one that occurred about 1885. which
had its origin in speculation in pine timber
lands in the State Of Maine, is fair specimen.
1t occurred at time when the monetary and
financial condition of the country seemed to
be, an6 probably was, in a perfectly healthy
state. There was at that time no complaint of
a scarcity of the circulating medium, neither
was il superabundant. Wild and reckless
speculations in these Maine pine timber lands,
amounting to a craze, had been going on not
alone IN the State of Maine, but had extended
into other sections of the Union. Sales of
these lands, 'unsight unseen at ever increas-
ing prices, were constantly made at a sort of
board of trade and exchange in the city of
Boston.
IA pony express was established between
Portland and Boston that conveyed the news
of the daily sales and the price per acre from
one Of these cities to the other. The craze
grew from day to day, the price of these lands
constantly increasing until it became fabulous
The streets of Portland were thronged with
enthusiastic pine-land spectators. No lodg-
ing places could be had for them; many re-
manned in the street, without rest, the whole
night long. Now there came along a plain.
common-sense fellow, who had not lost his
head. He stuck pin in the speculation blad-
der, the wind oozed out, the bladder collapsed,
speculation was at an end, and perfect panic
set in. All were anxious to sell, but there were
no buyers at any price.
"Under the head of artificial panics would
place one that occurred during the Presidency
of Andrew johnson, cannot now fix the exact
time. Hon. Hugh McCulloch was the very
able Secretary of the Treasury. 1 held the
off ce of Treasurer of the United States, and
nOu du O9Chs uOSb |
was the Assistant Treasurer in New York |
This trio crushed panic. for which there was
no real monetary cause, before it had been able
to do much mischief. A band of genteel rob-
bers had combined to make a scarcity of the
circulating medium by Withdrawing their de-
posts from the banks and locking up all the
money they could control, thus incapacitatIng
the banks to accommodate their regular Gus.
toners.
These robbers hoped to make some thou
sands by the injury they knew it would bring
by millions upon others. was at the time on
a short leave of absence, for the second time
in many years, beginning in 1851, at my home
in Mohawk. While there 1 received a tele- |
graphic dispatch from Mr. McCulloch, direct
ing me to Immediately go to New York, meet
Mr.. Van Dyck, and help devise way TO arrest
the panic. left by the first train, met Mr.
Van Dyck at night, and agreed to meet him at
the United States Treasury in New York the
next morning before breakfast In the mean
time we let it be known that we would so meet
and for what purpose, by order the Secretary
Of the Treasury. A newspaper announced
these facts"
1--WE met as agreed. The Office was soon
crowded with bankers brokers and other Wall
street saints Bulls and bears alike were there
Mr. McCulloch had asked what amount of
called treasury notes remained uncaneeled in
the Treasury. This was a hint that at once |
brought a conclusion to the minds of Mr.. Van {
Dyck and myself. We announced that there
were many millions of such notes in the Treas '
ury that would be Immediately placed on de- '
posit with the depository banks of the city. 1t ]
was urged that there was no law authorizing Z
such proceeding. Mr.. Van Dyck was a man
Of nerve, and answered. Law or no law it will 5
be DONE had no trouble of mind in regard l
to the matter, for 1 had frequently placed
millions to the credit of paymasters and quar-
termasters of the army, when on an emergency
it became necessary to move an army on the
mere verbal request of that great man of the