The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-03-08

were few things that could DE bought or soiu
that were not affected by it.
In the west it was confined to wild lands
and lands unimproved and town lots many
of which never had any existences except
upon the recorded plats. IL was speculation
similar to that in the timber lands Of Maine
few years before Lands bought Of the
government at 81. % per acre were soon sold
on credit ut 81, s. and In some cases $40,
Hundreds OF tracts were laid Off in town
lots where the original forests were still
standing. What took place under my own OBJ
servation seems now 10 be too absurd TO have
been real On the Maumee river from its
mouth on Lake Erie, there was for miles
succession of towns. Some Of them, like
Maumee City, Perrysburg, Manhattan and
Toledo, were realities, but most of them OK
isted upon paper only. In the spring of 1896
u young man whom / met at Maumee City
said To me that he had made great deal Of
money in few months To my inquiry how
he had made it, he replied, "By buying and
selling lots 'Maumee City," said he, "lies,
as you know, at the foot of the rapids, and is
destined to be one Of the great cities of the
west; property is rising rapidly in value, and
am buying and selling every day"
"How did you raise the money to COM
mence within
"Qh, very little money is required in this
business. pay when | buy, End | require
when sell lot u few dollars to bind the bar
gain; but nearly everything is done upon
credit
On my way from New York to Fort Wayne
in the same year stopped over night at
hotel in Toledo. After dinner noticed that
there was a gathering Of gentlemen in the
| in bn pf ba I
waited upon by one whom knew and invit-
ed to join it. Our rule, said he, is to admit
no one to these meetings who is not worth
100000 As you are a banker, you must be
worth at least that. This was far from being
the fact, but accepted the invitation. The
company consisted of gentlemen some of
whom knew personally and others by repu
tation. They were politicians, scholars, writ
| ers, and one or two Of them were authors of
consideral renown; but not one was there
whom recognized as being engaged in regu-
lar business pursuits. 1t was sort Of pri-
vate exchange, at which the members made
themselves rich by buying and selling to each
other lands and town lots. There was at
times good deal OF excitement, much like
that which is witnessed in the New York
Stock Exchange When the meeting closed
1
it opened In few brief months there was
not one of these hundred thousand dollar men
who was worth hundred thousand cents.
RESULTS OF THE SPECULATIVE MANIA.
| The same speculative mania prevailed to
some extent all over the country. 1t origi-
mated in unwise extension of the credit sys-
TEN, which was mainly the result of the re-
moval of the government deposits from the
| Mt hu ha n nf
| in state banks.
| When the deposits were removed there was
among conservative men great apprehension
that the effect would be severe financial
trouble To prevent this it seemed to be the
understanding between the secretary of the
treasury, acting under the direction of the
president and the banks-pet banks as they
were caled-that rs they had been favored
by the government in the use of the public
moneys, they should deal literally with their
customers. This they did, and as their CAPT
tails were sufficient to supply the demands of
healthy business, the loans of the govern
ment deposits were made to men who were
engaged in speculative enterprises Then,
too, many of the states were engaged in
works of internal Improvement, and were
spending large amounts of money which they
had obtained by sales of their bonds in
| Europe.
| In addition to the large volumes OF cur
| rency thus put into circulation bank under
the name of the Fennsylvan Bank of the
| United States was chartered by Pennsylvania
| ms the successor to the United States bank
with the same capital and mostly the same
managers, which not only loaned its money
| in manner which savored of recklessness,
but bought large quantities of cotton on its
own account Never were credits 50 easily
| obtained nor so unwisely used; never to the
| superficial observer had the country been so
prosperous
| In the meantime, however, industry was
| declining and all kinds of agricultural pro-
auctions were commanding exorbitant prices.
| Wheat went up from 81 to 81 a bushel, and
cotton from to 10 cents u pound specu-
| lative fever everywhere prevailed similar i'll
| character and as much more disastrous in
| consequences as it was wider in extent, to the
| South Sea bubble in England. Conservative
men, strangely enough, as well as adventur-.
| ers, were it's abettors and its victims.
| Banking institutions and especially the
government repositories, were in II great
measure responsible for 1T, and not few
| were ruined
call to mind one case which interested me
greatly. In the spring Of 1885 went to
city in state adjoining Indiana to make
with its leading bank exchanges of New York
and New England bank notes for its notes,
which were receivable at the government
land offices As knew the president person
ally, called upon him at the bank. after
banking hours. was kindly received, but
| noticed that he was in bad humor which he
did not try to conceal, the cause of which he
explained III have" said he for the first
time since became president Of the bank
been squarely overruled in a matter of great
importance | do not like" be went on to
| say. ''the business outlook. The people seem
to me to have gone mad, and if | am not
greatly mistaken they will soon find out
that the prosperity Of the country is unreal.
| We owe the government large amount
| of money, and as we have enough and some
thing more in the banks of New York to pay
il, at the meeting OF the board this afternoon
| introduced resolution in favor of paying
the debt and dissoving our connection with
tho government. In offering the resolution
| explained a. fully as | was able to DO my
reasons for doing so. was listened TO atten-
| lively, but when the vote was taken there