The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-15
LOOKING FOR A CRISIS.
Stock Markets Cannot Soar Always.
Previous Crises.
From the New York Press.

Previous Crises.
From the New York Press.
Men in Wall street do not want a crisis
just now. but they are looking for one,
and in every ear there is a whisper that
its bound to come" 1t is a safe sort of
tip to give out. OF course things cannot
go on thus forever. What goes up must
come down 1t is only question of when.
Cautious brokers are advising customers
to go slow.
The first great money crisis through
which this country passed was the panic
OF 1887, caused, primarily, by craze for
speculation, which swept like a great
wave all over the country. Paper money
was so plentiful, owing to excessive issues
by irresponsible state banks, that men
were loaded down with lucre and all gam
bled in stocks-just as the entire country
is doing to-day with the currency of the
realm. The distribution of the surplus rev.
enue was cause of arrangement, and
the last straw was the governments order
that all payments for public land should
be made in specie. All the banks in New
York suspended specie payments, and
those in Boston Providence, Hartford,
Albany, Philadelphia and Baltimore fol-
lowed suit
Over 800 failures took place In this city In
short time, involving a loss of millions
In two days houses in New Orleans stop
ped payment. owing an aggregate of ST.
100000. In Boston 16S failures occurred in
less than six months.
BLACK Friday" Sept. "a, 1869-is remem-
bered by nearly every broker in the street,
some of whom still speak of it in whisp-
ers. Gold went up, manipulated by
bull clique, from 131 to 1874 Money got
tight Stocks fell New York Central
,l,,,, 90 %
River fell Is points. Margins were wiped
out Scores of Spectators and weak
houses went to the wall. 1t was known
that the clique heldain gold and contracts
for delivery, $12000G0O0, while all the cur
rent gold in New York did not exceed
$2O, 100000. It was believed that the Pres
ident and members of his cabinet were in
league with the clique. Suddenly man
rushed into the gold room and exclaimed
that the government would sell gold. The
price dropped from 1874 to 1856, and the
power of the clique was broken. It's
members were obliged to conceal them
selves for safety. n 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 a subse-
quent balance of trade of some $6S0OO,0O0
and an unprecedentecr activity in the pro
motion of boom towns, caused, partly and
principally, the panic of 1873 We stepped
a little over ourselves and got 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
yad from % n RI cent
Thousands of workmen were thrown out
of employment and thousands 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. Oar
ing 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 mis-
err 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 sew
eral large firms were destroyed on Nov.
10. In this crisis Decker, Howell & Co.
failed for 81 100000 Over in England
guarantee fund of $50 100000 was raised
by bankers to save Barring Bros. from
bankruptcy.
The time is ripe for another Credit Mo-
bilier. Object-Nicaraguan canal What
glorious opportunity. But have we an
Cakes Ames and a Schuyler Colfax In
Congress to-day? Have we even so mis-
cradle a man as Brooks of New York?
Strange was Ii not, that New York should
have furnished the two men so deeply i'm
plicated in the scandal-Cofax and
Brooks? Pretty good thing! Credit Mo
boiler paid as high as 60 per cent. on
the capital invested. Shares sold as high
as $500 Colfax was speaker at the time,
and Brooks was a government director of
the Pacific Railroad. Ames had pretty
knack of letting congressman in ION the
ground floor" but he was censured by the
House, along with Brooks
The capital stock of the Credit Mobilier
was 81, 500 900, afterward increased 50 per
cent. 1t was the biggest thing of its day,
yet what an utterly Insignificant affair
when compared with stock companies and
corporations of to-day, with capital stock
of $500, 0OO0 600. Any old thing in the shape
of a trust nowadays is regarded as of no
consequence unless Its stock is above $685.
0O0 000