The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-02-10
LOOKING FOR A CRISIS
On Wall Street Cautious Brokers
Advising Customers to go Slow.

On Wall Street Cautious Brokers
Advising Customers to go Slow.
New York Press: Men in Wall Street
do not want crisis just now, but.they
are looking for one. and in every ear
there is q whisper that otis bound to
some" 1t is safe sort Of a tip to give
out. OF course. things cannot go on
this way forever. What goes up must
come down. 1t Is only u question Of
when. Cautious brokers are advising
customers to go slow.
The first great money crisis through
which this country passed was the pam
ic Of 1887. caused primarily. by craze
for speculation, which swept like a
great wave all over the country. Pa
per money was so plentiful. owing to
excessive issues by Irresponsible state
banks, that men were loaded down with
lucre and all gambled in stocks-just as
the entire country Is doing to-day with
the currency of the realm. The distri-
button Of the surplus revenue was q
cause of arrangement, and the last
straw was the governments order that
all payments for public land should be
Illuut Ill SDtClt. AL lllc Julius III 4NcN
York suspended specie payments, and
Albany. Philadelphia and Baltimore
followed suit.
Over 300 failures took place In this
city in short time, involving loss Of
millions. In two days houses in New
Orleans stopped payment. owing nm ag-
Ercgate of $27 100000. In Boston 16S fall
ures occurred in less than six months
BLACK Friday"-September q, 1863
Is remembered by nearly every broker
in the street, some of whom still speak
of it in Il whisper. Gold went up. ma
npulated by n bull clique, from 131 to
16i. Money got tight. Stocks fell.
New York Central dropped % points in
20 minutes. Hudson river fell Is points
Margins were wiped out. Scores of
spectators and weak houses went TO
the wall. It was known that the clique
held in gold and contracts for delivery.
Sl2O, 600. 900. while all the current gold in
New York did not exceed s2O.000.000. 1t
was believed that the President and
members OF his cabinet were in league
with the clique. Suddenly man
rushed into the gold room and exclaim-
ed that the government would sell gold.
The price dropped from 164 to 1876. and
the power of the clique was broken. Its
members We're obliged to conceal them
selves for safety. Congress appointed
committee to investigate the charges
against the President. and they were
proved to be without foundation.
High living, the importation Of vast
quantities of merchandise and subse-
quent balance of trade OF some S6S,000,-
GOO against us, too much building of
railroads and an unprecedented activity
in the promotion of boom towns. caused
partly and principally. the panic of 1873
we stepped 4 little over ourselves and
got q hard fall The credit system
was entirely suspended Runs were
made on numerous savings banks, and
but for the thirty-day notice privilege
many would have gone under. The
New York Clearing House suspended.
Some railroad stocks fell 40 points.
while others dropped from 20 to 30 per
cent. Thousands of workmen were
thrown out OF employment. and thou
sands of others were put on reduced
pay. The effects OF the panic were felt
for several years.
The panic of 1890 was caused by the
theft of Russell Sage'S loan tickets.
Daring brokers got hold of them and
learned that certain prominent houses
in the street. known throughout the
financial world, were borrowing money
from the old miser at Is. 16 and even as
high as IS per cent. This enabled the
clique to put the screws on" as. the
phrase goes. and several large firms
were destroyed on November 10. In
this crisis Decker. Howell G. Co. failed
for $11. 100000. Over in England a
guarantee fund of $4,000, 900 was raised
by bankers to save Barring Brothers
from bankruptcy.