The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-02-12
The Popular Loan.
Offers Aggregate More Than
Six Hundred Millions.

Washington, Feb 5 Bids for
500 100000 30-year4 per cent United
States bonds we're opehed at the treas
ury department. at noon today under
the conditions prescribed in the circular
issued Jan. 6 last by Secretary Carlisle
The principal condition is that the bonds
must be paid for iu gold. For the con-
venience of the purchasers the bonds
may be paid for 10 intallments as fol-
lows:
Twenty per cent at the time Of the
notice Of acceptance and 10 per cent at
the end Of each Is days thereafter.
The total number Of bids was 4, $40.
aggregating S6S4,269,S $50. but one
bid of 500, 900, 900 from a physician
in Michigan and one Of SIC, 900, 900
from Texas are evidently bogus.
Deducting these amounts leaves the ag-
gregate of genuine bids 1858, 269 $50.
At 8 o'clock it was generally understood
that the whole 500, 100000 of bonds
would briug 10 so and over. The
official average figure at which the
$100, 100000, will be awarded will not
be known until tomorrow.
The bids were opened in the room of
Secretary Carlisle, an apartment about
40 by 25 feet, A large table was
placed in the south end Of lhe room
overlooking the Potomac river and the
Washington monument, at which table
sat Secretary Carlisle, Assistant Sec
retary Curtis aud several clerks. In
front of the desk we're placed number
Of chairs, and every seat was taken by
those who bad come in person to present
bids, and many were compelled to stand
Hundreds of millions of dollaas were
represented 2 large number Of those
present as bidders came from New York,
but there was sprinklipg of 6nanciers
and bankers from Chicago. Cincinnati
and other western cities, and some from
Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston.
The first bid was received January
18th Of $500, at 10. The first bids
read out we're in small amount, rang
ing from $50 to SO, 900 each. Among
these was one Of $4,000 at 10, from
the Loan and Savings bank of Charlotte,
N C.
At the beginning of the reading
Comptroller Eckels announced that the
bids ranged from par to fraction above
119 The comptroller read until his
voice gave out, when be was relieved
by another member os the committee.
The treasury department was simply
overwhelmed by the enormous nun Der
Of bids received With Is expert
clerks at work scheduling the bids at 6
o'clock to night, they having worked
necessarily since O'Clock this morning,
1900 bids remained unscheduled.
They will be copied tomorrow. 1t will
take many hours of hard work to
straighten out the tangle as to the bids
received and the prices offered.
In spite Of the care exercised by the
com mittee which opened the bids, many
unavoidable errors were made 10 an
uoucing the bids. As proof Of this, it
may be mentioned that a number of
offers from prominent eastern financial
institutions. all apparently acting in
concert were read out as being at ITO.
IS. This had progressed for some
time, when the correction was suggest
ed by one Of the parties interested, that
all those bids were at 110.075. In fu-
ture readings they were so announced.
The official analysis of the figures will
determine the result, and this will he
necessarily work of great labor.
The great feature of the bidding was
the offer of J. P. Morgan's syndicate,
which as now composed Includes only
bis own banking house, the Deutsche
bank Of Berlin, Germany. and Harvey
Fish & Sons Of New York. They pro-
posed to take the entire issue at no.
6887. Only one other bid Of anything
like an equal amount was received.
Mr.. Morgan, after figuring on the bids
received. said tonight that be estimated
that be would be awarded on his bid
about so per cent of the 500, 900, 900.
He reached the conclusion simply from
hearing the various bids read, as he
did not think that more than $40, ,000,-
600 bids above that figure had been
made.
The number of small bids was quite
remarkable. The fifty dollar offers ran
up into the hundreds and at fairly good
prices, and over 1000 small banks and
private Individuals whose offers at the
highest rates Of acceptability ranged
from $500 up to $4,000 or $4,000 are
not included in the lists published.
The offers by all classes of small bid
defs below the 10 apd fraction limit.
which seems to shut eff the issue, wee
still more numerous.
A feature in these ctfers was that as