New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-10-02
ONsEOuENCES OF VICIOUS TEMPER.


Refusal of lenders to renew mortgages on
Western farms and city lots has been a Tuit-
ful cause of commercial and banking disasters
this wear. The reason for that refusal in many
cases is stated in the following notice which Is
nublished as having been sent by the Proyident
Trust Comnany TO its agent in Great Bend
Kan:
Wa ore closing all our Kansas business as fast
as loans mature. and an extension Is out OF the
question Almost all companies dong BUSINESS AZ
Kansas are pulling out as fast as they can-ho' ioi
want OF business but for the reason that the ies
isIation, sentiment and general antagonists iee'
ing toward a loan company is vicious ana Vihoic
tive Kensas loans will not sell In the East oeea"
the confidence In them IL all gone
The temper which has been shown in Kansas
legislation has also been manifested III large
degree in other Western States, sometimes IN
Legislation. sometimes in the way in which laws
have been enforced. and sometimes in votes
for the Popust or the Democratic party The
consequences are worth noticing Inc la,eS'
statements of bank failures this year show that
the greatest number in any State has been IN
Kansas. namely. 50. Next in number was
Illinois with As, and then Colorado with AZ,
and then Indiana with Al and then VISION
sin with 81. But New-Yorll, though the larg-
est State in the Union, had only - failures,
PENNSYLVANIA only 10, and Massachusetts only
2. No other State in the Union had so many
hank failures as the five Western States Just
named.
Wisconsin escaped with fewer IN number
than the four other Western States named,
and vet in the aggregate of liabilities OF banks
offt han
in the Union. having over S14,60O.OOO re-
ported. California had more failures in num-
her than any Eastern State, though only %,
but in amount Of liabilities of banks failing
il WAS close to the top with Sl2.0OoOO0. IL
is MT exactly fatality" nor strange CO.
incidence but the natural effect OF we'll
known cause. that all these States went over
to the Populists or the Democrats in the elec-
tions last fall. Because Of the popular temper
and character which such votes recorded, men
who had money invested in those States began
70 draw il out when they could, and all the
more anxiouSy when the financial disturbance
began.
Western States have been largely created
Inv the Use of borrowed money. Throughout
that section only a Jew years ago the epidemic
Of land speculation ragged. and vast quantities OF
real estate changed hands with mortgages based
on new and greatly inflated valuations. Yet
the inhabitants of these same States, though
they owed even the existence OF their farms
and towns to money invested there III railways
and in other forms by Eastern lenders, seized
every opportunity to make war upon the IN
vested capital of the East. The underlying
idea of the silver coinage craze and OF the
popnlist movement was simply This, to make
war on the money lenders. Legislation in
Kansas was perhaps more shamelessy unjust
than in any other State, but in Colorado the
treatment of those who attempted to enforce
their rights has been the sabject of severe
comment for long time. and in other Western
! States as we'll the party recently predomlnatinG
in political power, Ak fast as it has been able
to get control of county governments, or OF
courts, or of local authorities, has used that
power to plumber the men whose investments
or loans have made Western prosperity pos
sible.
1t is a natural consequence OF this state OF
things that since trouble came in consequence
of the voting last November and the theories
Of Western m, ney cranks. the severest conse-
uences have fallen upon the very States in
which the conduct of the people has been such
as to destroy the confidence of investors most
completely. 1t is not by accident that the
Stats which have suffered worst are those in
which injustice toward investors and capitalists
has been most discreditably manifested. There
is no feeling of personal spite or vindictivcness
undeilving the fact that the lender who is un
fortunate enough to have money placed in such
State tries to get it cut as soon as he can.
The only marvel is that the people of such
s ates knowing how greatly they are dependent
upon the confidence OF capitalists elsewhere.
have labored 50 zealousy to destroy that con-
fdence.