Evening star., 1901-06-28
Some Inside History Of the Seventh
National Bank.
SENATOR DEPEW'S TRIP ABROAD
Private Soldier Gives Humorous
Description of the Philippines.
PATENT TO PREVENT SUICIDE


Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK, June 27. 1901.
There Is curious and interesting inside
story of the election of Mr.. Edward R.
Thomas to the presidency of the Seventh
National Bank. AS the story runs 1t ap
pears that a large down town bank had
been in the habit of accepting the certih
cation of the Seventh Nationals checks.
When the certifying bank decided for good
and sufficient reasons that it could no
longer accept the Seventh certifcation,
President Kimbar found himself in an awk-
ward predcament. He first sought the
sIstance of two of his directors One was
reputed to be worth S15.OOO,OO0 and the
other S3OoO.OOO. One he could not reach
and the other could not see his way clear
to raise the cash within the clearing house
time limit. Mr. kimbali was much dis
tressed. He sought the needed cash else
where. He failed again. When, through a
quiet notification TO Frederick D. Tappen.
the Seventies troubles became known 10
the clearing house committee. they met and
called in other veterans of finance in con-
sultation- They found that the Seventh's
debit balance was $9S3, 900. Armed with
some facts concerning the Seventies busi-
ness, they began to ask for more.
Waited for the Cash.
They waited and waited. No cash had
come up to 80 o'clock pm. the time for
settlement. In the meantime Mr.. Kimball
was trying to pull together the banks re-
sources, and was still seeking the cash due
the other banks when he was summoned to
meet the bank presidents assembled at the
clearing house. He went. Throwing him
self practically upon their mercy, he told
his story and asked the assistance of the
banks. They refused. They said the bank
had unwiSely extended accommodation to
its customers They did not how the
Seventh could be helped out by concerted
action.
Now. here comes the most remarkable
part of the whole story. While Mr. Kim
ball was begging and pleading with the
banks for assistance, Influences were at
work to place the presidency of the Seventh
in other hands. Gen. Sam Thomas was
sick at home. but his bank account was
particularly healthy. His son applied for
a charter for the Empire Bank about a
year ago. Some hitch occurred and the
bank was never started. The Sevenths
predicament-so runs the story-was Mr.
Thomas opportunity He communicated
with his father. The old general took In
the situation at a glance, drew his check
for s9S3,ooO. and the payment was made
on the condition that Edward r. Thomas
should be the president of the Seventh Ma
toinal Bank of New York
Senator Depew Seeking Knowledge.
Before sailing today Senator Chauncey
NJ. Depew said among other things: The
requirement of information about the in
tention of foreign governments is to me
a pleasure. and 1 shall try to ascertain
what is going on in that line. 1 would like
to know what Is the real feeling in Eng
land about the Panama or Nicaragua
canal. l want to know what England Is
going to do on the Chinese question. 1t
would be interesting to know something
about the European commercial combina-
Ion pr9i n Gf iG ths2 Of
mercial war, and it sometimes looks as
though 1t was case of the whole of Eu-
rope against the United States with
America holding her own. There are
two men in France. three in Germany and
a half dozen in England who know ex-
actly what Is going on. If 1 can meet
those men-as 1 have been fortunate
enough to meet them in the past-I can
learn the real state of public opinion and
the real opinion of the few men who rule
the world. A few men in England, for in
stance influence the action Of the govern
ment and guided by public opinion-for
over there they watch the trend of affairs
as indicated by the reflections to the
house of commons-the government makes
few mistakes. An ambassador cannot al
ways find out what the English people
think of US. But a man who by long ac-
quaintance has won the intimate friendship
of public men in England is in position
TO know exactly what is really going to
be the attitude of that government toward
our canal or other projects.
he canal question is going to be a
most important matter In the next Con-
gress. 1 think before l return in Septem-
Der l Shall have ascertained pretty wei!
what is the real attitude Of the English
government toward that enterprise. AS
many other things as l can learn that will
| be of interest in our national legislature
shall pick up. You see. foreign statesmen
will not always tell our ambassadors every-
thing, because the ambassadors must tell
our government everything they learn In
matters of diplomacy. But other public
men from our country can learn many
things on the quiet. So my trip Is to be
for pleasure, with the requirement Of some
new ideas of foreign policy included, as a
part of my pleasure"
Private Soldier Wit.
Humor in private soldier is not an un-
known quantity, all men who know of
army life will testify: but 1t leaked out un-
consciously In the letter of q nrirat. i,.s.