Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1906-10-19

THE PRESSING NEED or MONEY ~
A eTRlcKEN COMMUNITY.

NANANNEA = hANAN AAN ANNA'A-Nf -
large city the nrst effort Of those con-
rerned with the work Of restoration Is
to get the banks open so that the press
ing needs OF a homeless population
may be cared for. At such times busi-
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
r~eplenish his fame emptied warehouse.
The struggle that ensues to obtain
oil the cash In sight Is full Of human
interest 1t has its picturesque fea-
lures. On Monday, Oct. 10. 1871, when
all Chicago trudgcd downtown to see
what was left Of the city, great crowds
bcsieged the banks. Some men were
crying, others talked incohcrontly, and
everybody seemed half dazed. An OFF,
Ger of one of Chlcago's greatest banks,
who fought his way through the smell
dering embers to the white marble hall
which surrounded his vault, gave the
following description Of what occurred:
although tho iron door Of the vault
had been somewhat expanded by heat,
i found that the combination worked
perfectly. That treasured nc, and aft
or hunting about the debris / flshcd
out one or two iron crowbars and by
wedging them In finally opened the
vault door. The inclosurc smeIlcd
smoky. but l soon found that the cash
was all right, and so were our books.
That made me feel good. and I 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-
erythlng It owed and declare a 10 per
cent dividend besides, even II It lost
every dollar due from its Chicago eli
ents. That was oil l wanted to know.
"On leaving the vault l saw four men
waiting for me In what had been the
cashiers Office. They were among our
largest depositors, and 1 knew well
enough what they wanted. They were
of very different types-one 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 $4,000, a
third was an out of town banker with
$4,000 to the credit of his institution
in cur bank, and the fourth was a man
who has since become one of Chicago's
greatest capitalists and who had always
professed. his sincere friendship for me.
1t was a 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.
THE little money lender grabbed me
first. With a strange little wink he
forced me one side and said in a half
whisper, DO you know how much !
have in your bankT
81 said, Yes, about 100000
""Well. I will give you $4,000 If you
will give me the cash right away
81 won't do that said l. Your
money is all right, but you viii have to
wait. a week for it until we ges In
shape again
"'What,' he fairly gasped, do you de-
cline $4,000? That il a good deal OF
money in a city that has gone to de-
6tructlon.'
81 answered no, that 1 would not.
md told him in plain English what l
Thought Of him. I saids 4 am not knave
enough to take your bride and give you
nm unfair advantage over the other de-
p~ositors, md l am not fool enough to
dO it, because l know as soon as you
discover the bank paid Its claims with
IN a week you would sue me for the
$4,000. Get out of here right away"
'"That was the last Of him. He took
his money when the week was out and
kept clear of the bank after that. Then
ahe school treasurer came to me with a
straightforward story of how his bonds
men were anxious to know how he
stood. When | told him That his money
WAS safe and that he would not lose n
cent he burst into tears, saying the
news was too good to be true. The out
of town banker was also very nice.
saying that he did not care to with
draw his money so long as he knew Il
was safe. Then the man who has since
grown enormously We by ~aGcosted
me with the remark that he had como
down 70 see how things stood. That
gave me a chance to test him, so / sale
brusquely;
"'You know how things are as wei
as I do. Can't you see the position W
are inT oh, yes. yes no answered
hastily. 4 don't care about the fire. w
are all in the same fix. But l want Il
know how you stand personally. Hav'
you plenty Of ready cash? You canno
get credit these days, so II you neeC
anything from the grocer's you wan
hard cash. / brought you a little
"Wlth that tho man threw open his
coat, dlyed down into his pocket and
dragged ont a roll Of bills as big as his
hands could grasp. Then he straight
ened them out and divided them int,
equal piles, retaining n himself ant
handing me the other. He was dread
fully In earnest. but told him ] eoult
not accept the money and that
thought ! could manage without II
lie assured me that whatever he ha'
would always be at my disposal. Tha
man has always been one Of my bes
friends New York Post.