The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-23
BANKERS BEHIND IT
DECISIVE STEP TAKEN TO STOP
THE RAID ON THE GOLD RE
SERVE.
MORGAN HEADS THE MOVE.
NO MORE GOLD WILL BE SENT
ABROAD ATT THE PRESENT
TIM
INTERNATIONAL BANKS INVOLVED
Details of Plan Not Made PubIfc
But 1t Is Expected to Prove
Effective.

NEW YORK, July 22.-The strain
upon the resources and temper Of the
financial community, for some time,
owing to the steady shrinkage of prices
OF stock exchange securities, has re-
Gently been intensified by political and
other causes. In consequence values
| nave steadily melted away, on a panic
scale, though without visible excite
ment or open disaster. The market
mas appeared to be entirely unsupport-
ed' and its only mainstay during the
| past few weeks has been spasmodic
buying of our securities, at times on a
| large scale, for foreign account The
fact that the commercial balance of
trade is in our favor and that but for
the prevailing gloomy sentiment
the movement of gold should be
toward, instead of aginst the United
States, aggravates the situation.
f! Ihe dominant pressing influences
nave been the steady exports of gold
! and the constant depletion Of the gov
ernment's gold reserve. On July II the
| free gold held amounted to $1OO, 293, 1888.
by July Is the reserve had fallen
to S96, 7O3,6 21, and at the close of bust
ness yesterday it stood at $89, 7sO. 1870.
This total was further reduced today
| by withdrawals Of gold amounting to
2,975,OOO, including 100000 for export
tomorrow, bringing the total down to
$Sf,4O5,lS9. The decrease in the eleven
days amounted to nearly $13, OOO, OOO
The continued strength Of the foreign
exchange market clearly indicated a.
| steady outflow of gold and the trans
fer of credits from this country to Eu-
rope. The judgment Of the best f1nan-
clal authorities is that the government
| could market a further issue Of either
4, AZ or per cent bonds at par, but
| the policy Of such action is admitted
| to be bad
The sharp declines in securities re-
| Gently had created sentiment of pro-
| found encouragement in Wall street.
and the gravity of the situation was
| keenly appreciated in high financial
and banking circles. President Fred
erick P. Tappen, of the Gallatin Ma
| t1onal bank, who is the chairman Of
the Clearing House association of the
New York associated banks, began to
work a few days ago among his brother
| bankers, with view to securing
pledges to protect the rapidly dwindling
treasury gold reserve by placing at the
! disposition of the government a sub
| stantial part of their holdings Of gold,
in exchange for legal tender notes, and
succeeded in obtaining offers aggre-
| eating about $13,0O0,000 Conditional
offers of about $5,00O,00O have also been
received from other New York and
Boston and Philadelphia banks.
| The successive reports Of the progress
| that was being made helped to rally
the stock market to a partial extent,
| although, in the opinion of many
| financiers, the remedy was not likely to
be of more than temporary effect.
The street had previously witnessed the
| d1SapDearance of enormous sums Of
] gold, owing to almost exactly similar
conditions to those now prevailing, but
admitted that if the interval before the
crop moving season would furnish sup
plies of exchange sufficient to turn the
| gold current, it might be bridged over
successfully in the manner indicated.
Today complete change in the
| financial temper took place when 1t be-
| came known that ]. P. Morgan had
called a conference of the great bank
| ing houses with a view to concerted
action OF prevent exports Of gold with
in the next sixty days. The meeting
was attended by representatives of all
OF the leading international banking
houses, including Lazard Freres, L.
Won Hoffman, & Co., Brown Brothers
mont & Co., Ladenburg, Thalman &
Co., Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Co.,
Hallgarten & Co., and Speyer & Co.
There were also present President John
A. Mccall, of the New York Life In
surance; w. H. Crossman, of w. H
Gresham & Brother; Harvey Fisk, Of
Harvey Fisks Sons, representative
government bond house, and other
fnanciers. J. Pierpont Morgan pre-
sided.
The conference lasted about an hour,
and after adjournment, it was an
nounced that an agreement had been
outlined and committee appointed to
elaborate the details of a plan for the
protection of the treasury gold reserve.
The committee consists Of J. Pierpont
Morgan, chairman; John Crosby
Brown, of Brown Brothers & Co.; A.
Luttzen, Of August Belmont & Co.;
Jacob H. Schiff, of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. !:
w. Salmon, of Speyer & Co.; H. Ickel-
heimer, of Heidelbach, Ickelheimer &
Co., and E. Mayer, of Lazard Freres.
No details of the proposed plan were OBJ
tainable, but the popular impression In
the street is that pool for the sale of
Sixty-day bills will be formed This is
mere conjecture, however.
At all events, the practically joint ac-
ton of the New York banks and of the
of the first Importance, and is expected
to cause a decided change for the bet
ter in the situation. BY September 1
grain and cotton bills will be in the
market to a sufficient extent to exert
an important favorable influence on
the market.
In the last hour of business, it became
known that the banks, in pursuance Of
their agreement were turning substan-
tial amounts Of gold into the subtreas-
ury. The effect Of the news and Of the
agreement reached between the gold
shipping houses was to impart decided
buoyancy to the stock market, and
prices closed at the top figures of the
day. London appeared to have had an
inkling of what was forthcoming and
was today a fairly large buyer of Sc
curities.
The exact amount Of gold turned into
the subtreasury today by the banks in
exchange for legal tender notes, was
$7,750, 000 The larger contributors were
the City National bank, $4,000, 900; Han
over National, 81, 500, 900; National Park,
81, 000, 900; Bank of New York, $500, 900;
Mechanics National $4O0, 900, and Gal
latin National. $40O, 900.