The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-03-30
LONDON'S LATEST HERO.
TEE MAN WHO RAISED Ss5,
600 IN FOUR SHORT DAYS.


For the First Time in England's Els
terry Banker Becomes a Popular
Idol-Honors Heapsd Upon the Mod
est Han Who Saved the Barring
Brothers and Averted a National
Calamity.
From the New York World
LONDON. March 13.-The greatest man in
London to-day in the estimation Of his
countrymen is neither a military hero, a
scion of royalty nor popular idol in state
craft. He is a plain, every day, typical
English banker. His name is Lidderdale,
and his position is that of governor of the
Bank of England.
The story of the financial difficulties OF
the house of Barring Bros. is still fresh in
the public mind, but the full details of the
manner in which they and scores of other
minor firms involved in their success or
failure were saved from disaster were not
made known until yesterday, when Mr. Lid
derdale submitted the facts TO the general
court of the Bank of England. The attend
ance was very large, and those present evil
IDENTIFY had an inkling of what was coming.
for they greeted the entrance Of the self
possessed banker with cheers, such as were
never heard before at a meeting of staId
| financiers and proyerbially suspicious stock
holders.
The story as told by Mr. Lidderdale, even
in the matter-of-fact language which he af-
fected, is full of dramatic interest when one
considers the fabulous amount of money
and the number of people concerned in the
Barring trouble. After making the usual
formal preliminary, Mr.. Lidderdale said:
Before asking you to consider the &C
counts think that the special circumstances
which have marked the past half year as an
exceptional one in financial history call for
| some notice on my part So much, how
ever. has already been said and written
upon the subject that | need not occupy
you very long. You must all have learned
| from the press that in the second week Of
| November it became known to the bank
that the great house Of Barring were in diff
| culties. Fer an announcement that the
| firm were embarrassed by their operations
| in South America the governor would, to
some extent, have been prepared, but not
for the actus' facts. The situation was at
once recog to be very grave, and to de-
mand promp. and decided action on the part
| of the directors. We had reserve ample
for ordinary requirements, but not for the
| demand certain to come upon the bank the
moment Messrs. Barlng's difficulties be-
! came known. Tho old and well-proved
remedy Of raising the rate would not have
met the urgency of the case, as the con-
dition of financial affairs in several countries
| in Europe, as we'll as in the United States,
made it certain that gold to the required
extent could not be attracted here except
slowly, and then only by rates sohigh as to
involve much suffering to cur own trading
| and mercantile community. 1t was there
fore decided to adopt exceptional measures,
even at a considerable sacrifice to the bank.
| "In the course of couple of days we se-
| cured, by sale of exchequer bonds to the
State Bank of Russia, the sum of & $50 COZ
in gold, and obtained from Paris, as a loan,
by the prompt and liberal action Of the Bank
of France, q further sum of 93,C00,000 as
| an addition to our resources. Four days of
tina week were occupied in the preparation
and examination Of a statement OF Messrs.
| Barings position, and on Nov. IA | was en-
abled to assure the heads of her majesty's
government that there was good reason "a
believe, without committing myself to def
mite figures, that the assets would yield a
substantial surplus over the liabilities, il
sufficient time were allowed for liquidation.
Without this belief in their full eventual
solvency nothing could have been done tc
save the firm.
when tell you that the liabilities of
Messrs Barring Bros. were over e2f 900, 00t
you will realize that the burden of carrying
over their difficulties was not to DO lightly
and that the risk of doing so was more than
the bank was called upon to bear alone. II
was necessary, therefore, to invoke the aid
and support of the financial community iu
forming a guarantee fund to Justify the
bank in providing the money required.
am glad to acknowledge the promptitude Of
the response made. [Cheers IL was nearly
5 O'Clock on the afternoon of Friday when
the guarantee list was opened and headed
with g, 000,00 by the Bank of England.
In half an hour the amount had reached
e3, $50, 900; by IL o'clock next morning
Saturday-it was $500, 900, and at 12 /
was able to announce that the liabilities of
the firm would be duly met. CHEERS
This, however, did not prevent large
further additions TO the guarantee fund
which eventually reached 4l7 $50, 600, rem.
dering it certain that, even il the liquida-
ton proved disappointing, the loss to any
individual guarantor could hardly be seri-
GUS. You will no doubt Wish to know how
the liquidation has proceeded, and will
therefore give an outline of the account.
On Nov. l the liabilities stood at about
921 ,000, 900, the assets, apparently, at about
R24, SOL, 900. Since then numerous entries
have been made on both sides of the ac-
count, additional drafts having come for.
ward and remittances been received
but on March l the liabilities to
the public had been reduced to
| I'd, 522OOO. The debt to the bank, how
ever, had reached e6.650,00O, making a
total of 9l0, liz, 900 still due. The assets in
bills and cash were on March / GS49, 900,
and the debts due to the firm G., 1854 900,
making total of 94213 900. To cover the
difference of nearly e60OO,OO0 there were
securities in hand to considerably larger
extent. OF these the partners lands. houses
and private property represent over 81 900, :
900, and the securities, of which the value
is readily ascertaInable, about e., 250, 900
The balance co lsists Of South American
securities, and these are much more difficult
to estimate. Wherever there are quota
tions we have taken tie very lowest; in
other cases we have put on low prices, and /
can only say again, without committing my
self to figures, that, although the market for
South American securities has seriously de-