The morning call., 1894-10-20
PLENTY OF MONEY
Yet All Business Stood
Still.
HARRISON ON THE PANIC.
What Led to This Strange
State of Affairs.
PEOPLE AFRAID TO Go AHEAD.
There Could Be No Security While
Uncertainty Existed as to
the Tariff.
PEOPLE AFRAID TO GO AHEAD

INDIANAPOLIS. Oct. 19-Ex-President
BENJAMIN Harrison started on lis second
and last speech M aking tour for the pres
ent campaign over the Lake Erie and
Western at 9:20 to-day. His main speech
was delivered this evening at Fort Wayne.
but half dozen tweniy-minute stops were
made en- route.
FORT WAYNE, Ind, Oct. 19.-After a
day of phenomenal audiences General
Harrison arrived in Fort Wayne about an
hour later than he expected, finding a
crowdithat exceeded anything he had pre-
viously seen on this or his last weeks
trip. The sidewalks and streets out to the
carriages which bore the party to the
Aveline Hotel were densely packed with
people, who kept up continuous cheer
ing The ex-Presdent was escorted i'm
mediately after reaching the hotel to the
balcony, from which he spoke TO a crowd
of fully 5000 people. This was another
speech outside of the schedule. arranged
especially for the benefit of the farmers.
who could not stay for the night meeting.
At o'clock he was waited on by the
committee and. attended by an informal
procession, escorted to the skating rink,
in which 6OO0 people had sandwiched
themselves TO hear the great Indanian.
When he entered the hall an extraordinary
scene ensued. The great building shook
with applause. Hon. Charles ID. Everett
chairman of the County Committee. intro
duced General Harrison. who said in sub
! stance:
My Fellow. citizens: When we have debate
| on l always like to find in the first place the
| points OF argument. so We may go on TO discuss
| these things about which we differ. L hnd
! there is a very general argument among RepuD-
| licans and Democrats upon TWO propositions.
! One is that we have had very wide and dis
| astrous panic, in which all our people have
| shared; the second is that one party or the
| other, Democrats or Republicans, are In a con-
siderable measure responsible TO the people for
| these evil times.
Now, that makes the discussion easier
| little. We have had and We are still In the
shadow OF very evil times. The farmer has felt
| them, the merchant has felt them; above all,
the man who was dependent upon his daily
wages tor his living has felt them, because
| when he lost his job he lost everything, whereas
the merchant. when his goods were marked
down, had still something left. There were
| one or two features about the panic that want
TO talk TO you about. In the first place want
| to say 10 you that in my opinion IL was not one
| Of those panics which sometimes come from
over-trading aud over-speculating 1t was not
| a relapse from some DdllOOn cutofDIlSe lDdt VIC
| had entered into We have had such pancs as
that in this country, and they we're always
| characterized by a great deal of litigation in
| our courts. In the panic OF 1878. where the
courts OF all our country were crowded with
| collection suits, men were being sued OD notes
and mortgages were being fOreclosed. That
state of things has not characterized
this panic through which we have just
| gone. 1t was not oyer-tradlng and over
speculation; it was not wild eating in business
that brought this panic on us. II II had been
| we would have seen the necessary incidents
| and concomitants OF that sort OF thing in the
| collection of notes and foreclosures of mort
cages all over the country. When this panic
began we had more money In circulation per
capita than we have had for many years. This
had come about In this way. In the first place
under what is known as the Sherman law, the
silver purchasing law. under which we bought
four and half million ounces OF silver every
monl b, we issued large amount of what was
called treasury notes, so the money iD circula-
tiOn had been increased by about one hundred
and fifty millions by this new currency that had
been put out among the people.
The money In circulation had been enormous
ly Increased by the reduction OF the surplus IN
the treasury. You remember, my Democratic
friends-I hope we a.e all friends-you remem.
ber when they made a campaign on the theory
that the country was being ruined because
there was so much surplus. They said: You
nave taken this money out of The pockets OF
the people and locked 1t up, and 1t is not doing
anybody any good"
That surplus had been by the purchase OF
Government bonds, reduced enormously, and
the money was out among the people doing its
| work; and then by The increased pensions
which / am glad to say Republican Congress
voted and 1 approved with pleasure and have
never apologized for-an enormous additional
|
The people until our Democratic friends
changed the form OF the indictment against
us. They indicted us for having too much In
, tn3 treasury. and now they say we left too lit
tie. My point is that the money In circulation
was so largely increased that 1t could not have
been lack OF money that brought that panic
on. 1t was not any lack OF confidence on the
| part OF the people IN the money that was In
circulation. 1t was not because they dou bted
. the value OF the bills or the coin they had in
their pockets. 1t was one OF the curious feat.
ures OF that panic that men had money and
, went 10 the bank 10 get il. They did not care
what kind of money was paid them-whether II
. was silver certificates or not. They did not
stop to look at il, but just wrapped IL up In
newspapers and took 1t home and hid 1t under
the bed, took 1t to savings deposit com.
pany, hired a box and stuck 1t in there. The
result was great scarcity OF money, but pres
emily the people got their fear of the
banks and they brought The money back. But
, the banks could make no use of it-nobody
wanted it. There were no solvent borrowers
who could use the money, and from that time
on this has been ths situation OF our country
2 All our banks have been filled with money by
g people who did not want TO use 1t. What is the
I cause Of all this? 1t was the uncertainty tha
the Democratic success OF 1892 introduced
The Democrats said they were going TO destro;
: this protective system. They were going t.
tear down this house that sheltered us. From
that time to this the people have stood, won
dering, fearing, dreading what might be don,
" on this question.
There was great applause when tn,
u speaker concluded.
: m