St. Paul daily globe., 1893-09-15
BANQUET OF BANKERS.
COMPTROLLER EcKEkS DiRE0 81
MONEY L0ANERS
OF THE WORLDS FAIR CITY

Prosperity Is Returning and Dis
asters Disappearing Much
Praise for Bankers-Nearly All
of the 154 suspended Banks
Are Resuming PAYMENT Again
bright Outlook.
CHICAGO, Sept. 14.-AIound a ban
quet board shaped like a horseshoe.
emblematic of the good luck that at
tended Chicago during the panicky days
OF July, gathered the bankers of Chicago
tonight to do honors to their guest,
Comptroller James ii. Eckels. The men
present at the banquet were the mOst
prominent in Chicago and Western
financial circles. LII reply to the toast
in his honor, Mr.. Eckels said to his Chi
cago hosts:
IL trust the representatives of the
banking interests of Chicago will be-
lieve that indulge in no formal senti-
mentS of gratitude when | return to
them my thanks for this nights hOspi-
tality. Under the heavy burden of
great expenditures made necessary
by the evolution of your marvel
ouf fair, you have yet maintained
such financial standing as has not only
drawn Bto you the admiration of the
people here and elsewhere. but has been
OF inestlmable value i'll preventing wide
spread disaster, AS an Illinoisan and
your fellow citizen. should he unjust
to you and untrue to myself il / failed
to give warm expression to the pride
which tonight feel in this Queen City
of this, MY native state.
One of the great dailles of New York,
in the Introductory to an account of a
dinner there given two months since at
which l had the honor to be the guest,
said: Amid the crash and topping of
WESTERN BANKS,
the bankers OF New York, Republicans
and Democrats alike. last evening gave
expression to their faith in the linon-
cial stability of our country" 1t can
not but be a source of mutual congratu-
latlon that the gathering of to-
night is under other and different
circumstances. The disasters then
threatening, happily for US all, have
passed away. Affrighted depositors,
seeing that they have done an injustice
to themselves and feeling that the
thousand of banking institutions which
they suddenly aud without cause
doubted are yet as solvent as in the
years of their implicit confidence
in them, are returning their money
that it may 10 longer lie in waste
full ldieneSs, but again entering the
channels OF trade, give life to deadened
industries. On eryhaHd is evidence
OF Utitereti condition, ss0, marked That
he who runs may read. The paral-
ysis offear which SO insi1iuous came ON
the people is surely leaving them. 1t
yielded 10 degree when thu presi-
dent called an extra session of
congress to repeal the culminat-
ing cause.-the Sherman silver act.
The advance has been marvellous
since the heroic treatment accorded it
in the house OF representatives and the
recovery will be complete when the
senate under the coercion of public
opinion confirms the action OF the house.
From the lat of January to the 18th of
August l54 national banks. under the
pressure of various causes, closed their
doors, but more than 3, 800 remained un-
shaken. Surely the percentage of
CLOSED BANKS
was not sufficiently large to make the
most deSpOndent believe the system was
falling. Was. there not cause for en-
couraging opinions nhen it was found
that almost 100 of the number were alb
SOlutely solvent and would reopen for
business? Should the prompt resump-
ton of siXty-0lIe - banks, stronger
than at the closing aud the knowl-
edge that more than half that number
were preparidg to do the same lead to
any other opinion than that the outlook
must be Frightening? Should reports
OF deposits largely i'll excess of with
drawals at each reOpened bank, and
returning confidence in each conlmu-
nifty where located be source of de-
preston instead of an Inspiration to
hope? could not nave spoken
other than l did and maintained the
truth. In conclusion let me bespeak
what | know to be the sentiments of the
American people when | say that to the
conservative and jndicious course
pursued by the bankers of this country
is due in large measure the fact
that there has not been greater
depression. The politician and the
carping critic may find fault. but the
thoughtful critic, unbiased and unprej-
udiced, seeking neither votes nor noto-
riety, knows that the course which has
been pursued here and elsewhere bv
the interests here represented has
prevented a pauic that would
have gathered within it's sweep
every business interest in the
country. In great emergency, the
bankers of this country have risen to
the full measure of their responsibility,
and, meeting it, have earned peoples
thanks. The experience through which
we have passed has been so costly that
hereafter 10 party will juggle with the
country's interests for the sake of po-
litinaI anNantaup -