St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-13
THIS SECTION SOLID.
Bankers Unite in Saving the
Northwest Is Very
Prosperous.
The Recent Financial Panic
in the East Cuts No Fig
upe Out Here.
Some Interesting Opinions of
the Causes of the Wall
Street FURRY.
An Era of Good Times Dawn
ing Upon the Whole
Northwest.

is the simile used by President William
Dawson, of the Bank of Minnesota, yes
terday III discussing the financial situa-
ton. Mr.. Dawson is tinancier of wide
experience and mature judgment. aud
all uneasiness in this portion OF the
country could be set at rest when he
said emphaticaily:
''There is not particle of danger here, or.
in fact. anywhere. The panic is over, but
there never was any fear for the Northwest
On the contrary, we are in splendid shape.
am in the habit of looking on the dark side
of things, but ] tell you, sir, we are on the
eve of an ere of great prosperity-a period of
brightness, the edge of which is already
upon us. The best evidence of its approach
is the feeling of confidence which inspires
every line of commercial and industrial en-
terprise. 1t begins with the farmer, who
has had better crops and better prices; from
him il spreads to the country merchant, aud
through him to the country banks and the
city jopber, and thus over all Northwestern
collections are splendid. and the country
banks all have good balances. Why, Sir, one
of the large jobbing houses of st. Paul last
month collected over half a million of dol
lars. the largest months collections since it
has been in business. Thesesare the local in
dications of the improvement III business.
The entire nation Is prosperous. In The past
fifteen or twenty years the increase of wealth
in the United States has been marvellous.
We are the richest nation on the face of the
globe. If len-year bonds were issued now at
= per cent. think there would be no trouble
III dISpoSing of a hundred million dollars.
and that is more than England herself could
do"
What do you regard as the causes of this
late financial furry?''
There was really no excuse for it, when
you get down to the bottom. 1t merely illus
trated the power of a few men to create
panic The financial policy of the present
administration has been poor one, and is
largely responsible. do not. regard Mr..
Window as an able fnancier, in the hrst
place. and his policy and the shifting
of values caused by the Mckinley
bill were important factors in the trouble.
Stil say there was no real cause, for there
we're no real losses and no destruction of
property Take the panic of 1873. FOR in-
stance, and you can trace the direct relations
of cause and effect. That panic was the out
growth of the destruction wrought by the
two contending armies i'll the civil war, to
which was added the additional devastation
of over 100000, 900 worth of property in
the great Chicago and Boston fires That
panic was Inevitable, just as the panic of
1857 inevitably followed the general corner
lot speculation without the necessary backing
of actual population"
What do you think has been the financial
effect of the Mckinley bill:'''
vi he most disastrous effect has been in
the general unSettlemtnt of values, which is
more demoralizing than any other cause. If
the Republican party is wise ana has the
courage OF its convictions. it will repeal the
Mckinley bill at the next session. If it
should fail to do so, believe it will be better
for the real interests of the country for the
next congress to give the bill a fair trial be-
fore again unsettling business by repeating
it-allowing that it could do SOL
Il tell you the whole cause of this furry is
WINDOWS policy said Assistant Cashier
dent Cleveland's policy was to relieve the
money strrngency by loaning out the surplus,
about Slo,O0O,0O0 month, to the national
banks, taking government bonds for Sc
curiry. Blaine harped on this at the
and after Window had been in
Office for six months, he began on the other
line. He called in about 81 100000 of this
money, ana the result has been that there is
not enough circulating medium i'll the coun-
Try. That is tremendous sum to withdraw
from circulation in short time. Mr. Win
dom's claim that he has paid it out in pen
SONS does not hold good, as the pension in
crease under the Davis bill did not begin I'M
I'll the fiscal year beginning July L, and the
four months proportion of The increase
would not nearly absorb that sum.
President Straits Views.
A meeting of the board of directors of
the Germania bank was in progress
yesterday afternoon when a represent
alive of the GLOBE called to see PIesi-
dent II. B. Strait. That gentleman,
however, kindly consented to see the
reporter and answer auy questions in
connection with the panic in the East
ern stock market.
ITO what cause do you attribute the panic
of Tuesday in New York;
In my judgment, l think that it was
caused by reckless speculation at a time
when tight money market existed. You
must remember that money has been very
close for the last thirty days, and. naturally
any heavy speculation must result dlsas-
trously when there is call for heavy sums
to cover margins and they are not forthcom-
coming
DO you think that the panic will affect the
Northwest"
No; it will, of course, affect it in a slight
degree, but not to any heavy extent Busi-
ness is in very good condition in this part
of the country, and the reports from the
East just to hand show that the market is
gradually recovering its stability. Money
has been very scarce in London, but the for
eign powers are sending lerge sums to help
out in that city. IL the panic had occurred
when money was plentiful, it would GER
tainly have seriously affected the whole
country; but occurring when the money
market was tight. 1t was, to O certain extent
toreseen and provided against by many bank
ers."
Effect of Reserve Banks.
Frank A. Seymour, cashier of the
Merchants National bank, had the fol-
lowing interesting explanation to offer:
The recent financial disturbance in the
East-I say recent because the threatened
crisis has been averted-will not i'll any way
affect the banks of st. Paul. We are entirely
independent of the New York banks. The
MI E~n,, u
western banks-in fact, we are guided by the
money market in Chicago This trouble in
the East has been almost solely confined to
New York, and in any event il could only
have an indirect bearing upon our banks
How Well, in this way: The St. Paul banks
are reserve banks, and financial panic IN
the East might scare the country banks. lead
ing the managers to cali upon us for their
deposits. But there is no probability of any
ers know exactly the nature OF these New
York panics and that the Northwest banks
are entirely independent of them. The st.
Paul banks are in better condition to-day
than they ever were. We have considerable
more money on deposit, and so far as this
financial trouble affecting us, l might say we
have more money in the banks than we had
last week.
Came at a Critical Time.
Hermann Scheffer, Cashier of the
Commercial Bank
A stringency IN New York is always felt
here; but in my opinion. the worst is over,
Collections in the Northwest are better than
they have been for years. The whole trouble
has been that this stringency caught us right
in the midst of moving a very heavy crop,
and. consequently. every dollar that can pos
sibly be had is needed. do not believe that
| there is money enough in circulation for the
| business of the country, nor has there bee
| for five or six years last past. After three or
four failures, along came very heavy
| crop. The Mckinley tariff law caused the
| credit could stand, which was another ba /
| thing. Whether that law is good one or
not, know that 1t should not have been
passed at the critical time it was. Another
| cause OF this stringeney is doubtless due to
| revival in business After Jan, /. when we
have realized OH our crop. we ought to be in
very good shape.
''Our Corner
Hf,,.or Z