Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-05-26
BANKS I'm a - RE CITY
THE PRESSING NEED OF MONEY IN
ASTRicKENs COMM UNITY. st. !.

e
: a S,,: ASTRiCkEN. COMMUNITY. .s@ FL
Experience of Chicago Financial
L House In 1S71-Grced Of Depositors5
and How 1t showed ItseIf-An Un-5
expected Proposition. IN NJ. yS#
Whenever IA great fire devastates a.
large city the first effort of those con-
cerned with the work of restoration is
to get the banks open SO. that the press.
ing needs of homeless population
may be cared for At such times bust
ness is done on a strictly cash basis,
and. everything sells at a premium.
The consequence is an extraordinary
demand for hand to hand money, since
the merchant can use the poor mans
dollar to better advantage than the
rich mans credit in buying supplies to
replenish his fame emptied warehouse.
The struggle that ensues to obtain
all the cash in sight is full of human
interest 1t has its picturesque fea-
lures On Monday, Oct. 10, 1871, when
all Chicago trudged downtown to see
what was left of the city, great crowds
b>>sieged the banks. Some men were
crying, others talked incoherently, and
everybody seemed half dazed. An Off
GER of one of Chieago's greatest banks,
who fought his way through the smol-z
dering embers to the white marble hall
which surrounded his vault, gave the
following description Of what occurred:
although the iron door Of the vault
had been somewhat expanded by heat,
found that the combination worked
perfectly. That reassured me, and aft
er hunting about the debris I fished
out one or two iron crowbars and by
wedging them in finally opened the
vault door. The Enclosure smelled
smoky, but 1 soon found that the cash
was all right, and so We're our books.
That made me feel good, and got
down to work in short order: The first
thing did was to look at the balance
sheet and see what our exact resources
were. A glance showed me that by
collecting what was due from out Of
town creditors the bank, could pay ev-
erything it owed and declare 10 per
| cent dividend besides, even If it lost
Eevery dollar due from its Chicago eli
ents. That was all wanted to know.
I "On leaving the vault / saw four men
waiting for me In what had been the
cashiers Office They were among our
| largest depositors, and I knew well
enough what they wanted. They were
Of very different types a shrewd
money lender who had $4,000 to his
| credit on our: books, another was a
! school treasurer in an outlying district
| who would have been ruined had we
not been able to pay him 25000, a
third was an out of town banker with
$500 to the credit Of his institution
| in our bank, and the fourth was a man
who has since become one OF Chicago's
! greatest capitalists and who had always
protested his sincere friendship for me.
! It was trying ordeal and one calculat-
| ed to make each OF my visitors show
| the real stuff that was In him. As
events proved, this did not take long. A.
| 1.-THE little money lender grabbed me
| first. With q strange little wink he
forced ME one side and said in a half
| whisper, DO you know how much
have in your bank?' SIS ~
/ II said, Yes, about $50, 600 N 4.
."ttt'Well, I will give You $4,000 il you
will give me the cash right away
1 81 won't do that, said ]. our
1 money is all right, but you will have to
/ wait a week for it until we get in
shape again. % III u ES ss 3s5S
-. What he fairly gasped, do you5de
1 cline $4,000? That is d good deal OF
money in a city that has gone to de.
struction.'
~ answered no, that would not,
and told him in plain English what ]
thought Of him. said: T am not knave
enough to take your bride and give you
4 an unfair advantage over the other de.
positors, and I am not fool enough to
q do 1t, because / know as soon as you
discover the bank paid its claims with.
In a week You would sue me for the
i 900. Get out of here right away N
4 That was the last Of him. He took
! his money when the week was out and
Il kept clear OF the bank after that. Then
the school treasurer came to me with q
straig forward story Of how his bonds
8 men were anxious to know how hs
stood. When told him that his money
was safe and that he would not Iose q
3 cent he burst into tears, saying the
news was too good to be true. The out
Il of town banker was also very nice
q saying that he did not care to with.
q draw his money SO long as he knew Il
q was safe. Then the man who has since
]. grown enormo usly wealthy accosted
!. me with the remark that he had come
d down to see how things stood That
I gave me chance to test him, SO \ said
& brusquely
ass You know how things are as wei
I as / do. Can't you see the~position W.
are I'M, aOh yes, YES, he answered
hastily. 4 don't care about the fire. W.
\ are all IN the same fix. But want Il
h know how You stand personally. Have
you plenty OF ready cash You canno
q get credit these days, 50 IL you meet
anything from the grocer's you wan
u nard cash. brought you q little .ss