The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-07-16

cent. The city began to suspect some
tnlng was wrong. 'Argentines'' fell
sharply and became practically unsaI-
able. In August an attempt was made
to form a South American trust to which
all securities of that name were to he
turned over, the ultimate purpose being
to unload them on the public The at
tempt was failure, and it was openly
charged the principal mover in 1t was
the Barings. Still the prestige of the
mouse did not generally suffer- "Arge1-
tines kept on falling, but it was not I'M
til November that the Barings yIelieI
to the inevitable. They had accented the
drafts of S. B. Hale, another great pro-
noting banking house, for s4O,JOO 900. OF
this 900 came due about the mid
die Of November. Lord RevelstoKa went
to see Mr.. Lidderdale, governor of the
Bank of England, and told him the stu
alton Vague rumors that some great
mouse in London was in difficulties reach
&c the financial centers of that city. as
we'll as New York, Chicago, Paris and
Berlin within the next few hours There
were several days of suspense. broken
by brief announcement in The Times OF
Nov. 10 Of the failure of a large firm
whose name was not mentioned The
following Monday the whole world knew
the Bartngs had gone down, with liabili-
ties exceeding 100000, OO0-the greatest
failure in commercial history
TO AVOID A PANIC.
Mr.. Lidderdale. to whom Revelstoke
had gone, had acted promptly. 1t was
evident II no steps were taken 10 avert a
panic the like of which had never been
seen would run around the world car
ry1ng thousands to ruin He called a
meeting of great bankers and proposed a
syndicate should be formed which would
guarantee the Earrings liabilities and I'M
dertake their slow liquidation The Bank
of England signed the agreement and
below Its name followed those of the
Rothschilds, the London and Westmjn-
ster bank, the Hambros, the london
Joint Stock bank, GIyn Mills & Co, the
great Scotch banks and all the financial
aristocracy of the city The guarantee
was for G1O0,000,0OO. The Bank of Eng
land had to borrow 91500O,000 in gold from
the Bank of France and nearly $4,000 600
from the Russian government to meet
the crisis. 1t was the second time in his
tory the French bank HAD helped out lis
English neighbor.
The panic was sort and sharp I'm Lon
don when the fact was announced the
Earrings liabilities would be met The
erect was different In the United States
A financial crisis had begun in Novem-
ber which the Barring failure Increased
many fold. Railroad and Industrial stocks
broke from 10 to % points. Money rose
TO IL per cent a day on certain days
There were scores of failures all over
the country. Other concerns that wealth
cred the hurricane created when 1T WIS
known that London, the financial center
Of the world, was in the throcs acumn-
lated the weakness that ended in their
collapse in the panic of 1885 MANY con-
struction enterprises were in progress in
various sections. In the South dozens Of
new towns had been laid out, some were
half-built. Millions were involved in this
movement, which came to a sudden end
Railroads were under construction there
was strong mining fever and hundreds
of new manufactures were planned The
Barring collapse stopped everything 1t
had so wide and direct an effect that in
the panic of 1893 it was referred 10 rs
the latter's real beginning. There are
numerous bankers who say It's effects
were not wholly overcome until last year.
The members of the Barring firm gave
up their magnificent mansions and es-
tateS. The American branches Of the
house were reOrganized and the English
firm converted into a joint stock COM
pany. A remarkable evidence of the Ie-
Operative power of the English was
furnished. By 1893 they had wholly 1e-
covered from the Argentine disaster and
were engaged in the wild speculation in
South African mines which brought Bar
ney Barnato into the front, and later
In the industrial organization which made
Hooley a figure But the Barings Lave
not recovered their old prestige, and he
once first house in London, though still
in business no longer dictates investment
opinion.