The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-18
MURRAY HILL BANK FAILURE.

No anti-silver man has yet had the
temerity to charge the recent heated
spell in New York to the free silver
agitation, bun charges almost as alb
surd have been made. Last week the
Murray Hi1l bank of New York failed,
and two anti-siiver papers, the Conn
mercial Advertiser and the Mail and
Express, of thet city, charge the failure
directly to the free silver agitation.
The Commercial Advertiser, after quot
ing what the president of the concern
says, i'm which he Jugs in something
about the SILVER scare" says:
Here right on the threshold of
Bryan's presidential campaign, an OBJ
ject lesson showing the inevitable re-
suits of his crazy policy of reputation,
sitares him in the lace. What has hap
pened to the Murray Hin bank would
happen to hundreds of similar ingtitu-
tons if anything approaching a general
belief in Bryan election should gain
currency. The silver campaign is es-
sentially a fight against the confidence
and credit Which is the basis of all
prosperity. The Nebra shan candidate
and his managers body declare that
they want TO make it possible for every
debtor in the country to repudiaite AZ
per cent CT his obligations Such
programme Of confiscati5n and robbery
can have but one effect i 1T should sue
coed. 1t would fill the land with panic
and beggary from one end to the other.
Then the paper raves and metaphor
ically, tears its hair and consoles. itself
by calling Mr.. Bryan a repudinEor and
demagogue.
The Mail and Express also thinks the
immediate cause of the suspension was
the agitation for free silver. It says:
The condition of the bank has been
dangerous for months The direct
cause of the suspension was that uae
RESERVE had fa:4en 10 Is per cent. of the
liabilities, whereas the law directs THAT
il saali be maintained at Is per cent.
The circumstances leading to this state
CL affairs were due to the unwlse adj
min5etreotion of former president in
the matter of investEn entS, the present
head of the bank enjoying the absolute
confidence OF the financial world We
emphasize the fact that the trouble
originated in unwise investments, be-
cause we wish to emphasize equally the
declaration that the pqecipitatlng cause
of Che closing OF the bank was the free
silver agitation.
A little further on it says that many
depositors on the Wild silver talk in
the west, sought to draw out their
money in gold; one in particular, HAY
ing on deposit $4,000, which he was de-
sirous of protecting by investment in
English consols.'
This latter statement conveys a very
erroneous impression. Whae President
Hopkins of the bank said was: Only
a few weeks ago one of our depositogs
came to me and asked me to get hisn
$40, 900 in gold, frankly confessing that
he wanted to store 1T away in safe
deposit vault 1 sent him TO a broker
and he got his gold" The bank did not
furnish that gold, but a broker
The Mail and Express admits that
the condition OF the bank had been
dangerous for months and says that
the direct cause of the suspension was
that the reserve had fallen to 10 per
cent. of the liabilities, whereas the law
directs that it shall be maintained at Is