Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-07-03
THE ONE THING NEEDED.

The hopeful tone In which the
NEwson Saturday spoke Of the inan.
clal outlook proves 10 have boen fully
justified In the results. Today the
feeling IL materially improved and the
situation generally IL much easier.
People are recovering their sober
senses, they see there ia no occasion for
especial excitement, and that all that
Is needed IL calmness, patience aud a
little confidence 20 extricate us from
the crisis which really absurd nerv-
business seemed likely to precipitate
upon US. with the restoration
Of the normal feeling that It Ia
now our pleasure TO report, the
time seems appropriate for n word Of
comfort aud OF advice upon the all-pre.
vailing topic.
The two factors that either In com.
blnation or In antagonism constitute
the difficulty alluded TO, are the banks
Of a community and the community
Itself. Both are subject TO sudden i'm.
pulses, are influenced Mt times by
trivial causes, are In such cases FREE
quently their own worst enemies; and
both accordingly have plain and
unmlstakRble duty which common
sense and self.preservation should
promp, them TO perform.
We are bound 10 say thst the com.
munity ia In the majority Of cases the
chief offender. Its members scare at a
shadow, aud In the mad rush 10 save
themselves from the impending
danger, they pull down upon them the
ruin that otherwise would never have
come. Rather than trust their money
In the banks In times like the present,
they Chamber over ono another Ia
get TO the window 10 draw II
out; and having obtained Il, they sneal,
of home, hide their cash under the
bed or bury II, and think they are
wonderfully sagacious. Yet there has
never been = day In the banking his.
tory Of Utah when tho money was not
ten times safer In the banks than 1t
was In the hands OF ils owners. This
We say with the disaster Mt Park Clly
and the two at Provo Immediately In
mind. IL one exolaims, banks some
times fail, we reply: that il true; but
where there has been one bank failure,
have there not been hundred fires
ana n hundred burglaries aud Tobber.
les In private houses2 Admit.
ting that Mt times bank may
DO forced to n suspension; do not the
figures show that 1t will be able
with little time 10 pay out not only
dollar for dollar but even two for one?
IL this not the case with the banks
alluded TOT Read the statements OF the
two Provo institutions. Every sane
person will have to admit that their
condition was good. The plain fact is,
their patrons forced suspension upon
them. The same foolish tactics are
responsible for the majority OF failures.
In the very nature OF things this must
besoiit cannot be otherwise less there
ia actual dishonesty In the bank itself,
which In the case OF our Utah lnstilu.
tions has never even been limited At.
People forget apparently that their
bank officials are solid men In the
community; that all their interests are
at stake; that their homes and faml.
lies aud peuonal honor are part
Of the community. They for.
get that these men have been
among them for many YEAR; that
their word lie everywhere uushskon
and uusullled; that they are not al.
ventures and speculators and thieves.
All this Is brushed away by silly
rumor; the rush begins, depostors 10
wild, and the strongest bauk Is made
to tremble. Could folly further 20?
Gu the other hand, the banks hav,
A. IN their power to help restore conH.
dence by showing 1t themselve..
Al the financial anchors Of
the community they must on
their part exhibit iorbearRuce anu
patience. To force collections when
III debtor Is rn,old.time patron or d
man or firm whose responsibility and
o or are uuquestioned, /. to increase
the distrust and hasten the peril from
which they themselves have most to
fear. As they expect confidence
from otherS, they must extend It TO
others. 1.-THE public can be taught to
feel that the banks are all right, their
resources abundant, their Integrity
above reproach, the bank. can surely
manifest an equal feeling Of security