The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-10
AvERTING A PANIC.
How the Big Men of Wall street
Saved the Day.

From the New York Journal, Sept, 8.
Wall street escaped a panic yester-
day. Several persons contributed to
this result. London was enjoying a
bank holiday New York, a summer
Saturday half-holiday. Other and
stronger reasons will be mentioned la
ter.
About a million shares of listed
stocks changed hands in the two hours
of business, at declines varying from
II TO / per cent.
The average loss did not exceed per
cent
The market closed weak, but not fe-
verish.
1t was, nevertheless, a field-day in
the street.
Every eye in the commercial world
was turned in the direction of Wall
street yesterday morning. Small and
large holders of stocks, in the city and
far away, felt the same anxiety re-
garding the prospective course of the
market.
The most conservative feared a pam
ic as is proved by the recall on Fri
day night of every bank president of
importance who could be reached by
wire.
Chairman Frederick D. Tappen of
the Clearing House, who has taught
the great banks the importance of
leaning upon one another, hurried back
from Lenox within hour after his
arrival there.
Several hundred brokers, who had
not presented themselves on the floor
of the Exchange or at their offices
since the hot weather began, We're on
the ground early, prepared for a des
perate struggle with destiny
Nearly every BROKERAGE office was
crowded with customers an hour be-
fore the Exchange opened.
Beg for Advice.
This was portentous. But more omin-
Gus still were the reams of kilograms
that greeted the largest commission
houses, cancelling buying orders, or
dering sales of long stock and making
frantic appeals for advice.
When brokers are told by hundreds
of customers in an hour to sell as you
think best, but for Gods sake save
me from loss" they grow nervous. They
generally close out such stock That is
what happened in countless cases yes
terday after the Exchange opened. But
it was a very bad hour for nearly
everybody from 8 until 10.
The hurried assemblage of the Clear
the brokers, but the general public
that owned almost the million shares
of stocks that were dumped upon the
market in the two hours of business
were not so well informed.
They were oppressed by deadly,
cver-mastering fear Of impending dis
aster, and there was a stampede to
get out of the path of the avalanche.
That this fear did not extend to the
Ill
the street from the widest panic.
The coming together of the Clearing
House committee was like a rally of
the Old Guard. Their names inspired
confidence. The first to arrive was F.
d. Tappan, of the Gallatin National
Bank. He is a veteran.
1t has rained before in Wall street
since Tappan got there! J. Edward
Simmons, who had summoned Tappan
from his Lenox home. came next
He has a wise head on his shoulders
If he does part his hair in the middle
There, too, was James Stillman allied
with the Standard Oil Trust by ties of
marriage and interest, and who owns
the Custom House in which this great
government does business in New
York
He inspired much confidence but the
big man in the gray clothes, who push
Cd INTO the marble doorway close be-
mind him, was confidence himself!
Morgan Arrives.
Banker J. Pierpont Morgan, the
Field Marshal of Wall street at the be-
ginning of this century. strobe onward
as II the approaching contest were
nothing for his shoulders. Yet, this
giant OF finance had been almost pros
trated on Friday afternoon when the
dreadful intelligence Of the Presidents
assault was communicated to him.
Lines in his face showed that he had
passed an anxious night, but every one
among the throng of brokers who had
gathered in Cedar street to witness the
rally of the strong took courage when
they saw their champion
They knew that the market would be
protected.
They returned to their offices, leaving
the committee of the Clearing House
In council. They went to face the
storm.
Field Marshal Morgan, though not a
member of the Clearing House Board
and only a private banker, was at the
head of the table at that council of
war.
The details of the momentous meet
ing are recounted lsewhere-though
little was done beyond pledging the
united support of the greatest bank
ing combination on earth to uphold
the stock and bond market In a crisis
that for its gravity has had no equal
in twenty years.
That was a gigantic undertaking;
but Banker Morgan left that confer
ence and said, almost patronizirgly. to
the presidents of banks, clippers of
coupons, slaves of the tape, lenders of
money and indorsers of notes assem-
bled together In a motley anxious
crowd upon the pavement:
The financial situation Is absolutely
good. There is nothing to derange 1t.
The banks will take care of the sftua-
ton. Nobody need worry about that"
Holding the Fort.
This was reassuring, because every
one within the sound of his voice be-
lieved that the field marshal meant
what he said. A moment later, in a
metaphor attributable to Song Writer
Bliss, or Cambrunne, of Waterloo
President Tappan, of the clearing house
added to the condition of hope. He
said; I'VE are holding the fort and are
going to continue to hold it,"
So much for the situation among the
banks themselves and in the neighbor-
hood of the great institution that can
support the market by an issue of if
ty millions of certificates, exchangea-
bic for gold or stocks at any bank in
this great metropolis Everything at
the clearing house was serene; nobody
could have guessed that an attempt
had hepn made hmm fha Iifa 1f A.