Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-12-05
Wise Policy of the Bank Of
ficials Made Easy
Sailing.
CHECKS WERE CASHED
On Presentation and Bust
ness Went on as
Usual.

Perhaps no city in kentucky or
elsewhere felt the effects of the
late money panic less than Hopkins
vile. Indeed there was really no
marked difference in the general
run of business. 1t is true that the
bank officials in their wisdom and
their desire to throw around their
patrons every safeguard for any
contingency that might have arisen
were continually on the qui vive:
yet all checks were paid on preser .
tation.
The holding Of balances due coun-
try banks by city banks, and refusal
to ship them currency led to tie
general local stringency-and yet
was but natural, when we trace the
trouble back to New York.
In their efforts to draw currency
from country towns the banks in the
larger cities, while their efforts were
perfectly legitimate, probably
Inconvenience indirectly some Of
the patrons and the people generally
of the smaller banking concerns
throughout the country along the
railroad lines.
And there was "a reason" back of
the city bankers. The railroads
centering in Louisville are managed
by far-seeirg men. These men
knew that while the whole of the
United States was in a panicky con-
dition pay days would roll around on
Schedule time" and their employees
would have to be paid. The railroad
companies stood hand in glove with
the banks, and it was right.
When it is remembered that one
company had to pay $4,000 to get
its hand on $1,OOO,OOO in currency
with which to start the pay cars
over the system, it is no wonder that
the effort was made to centralize all
of the currency in the country banks
in Louisville. 1t was business saga
city and perfectly legitimate.
But the banking men of Hopkins
vile also exhibited their wisdom in
holding on to the currency in their
hands as much as possible. And no
one that we have heard of was put
to inconvenience and business, in no
department, was in the least stagna-
ted by the bank officials in their eff
forts to conserve the interests of
their customers and the people gen.
orally.
The banks have had, all the time,
and now have, all the money they
needed for local uses. Their policy
was to keep all the currency possible
here, so as to meet all busieess de-
mands. In so doing they have
wpn the gratitude of our people and
the comparatively easy condition of
affairs in Hopkinsville during the
time that banks in New York, and
elsewhere were trembling and top
ping to the ground is traceable only
to to the business ragacity and wise
policy of the men at the head of our
banking institutions. From the day
Of the collapse of the Heinz bank for
$50 100000 which was overladen
with copper" and followed by the
Knickerbocker Trust Co. up to the
present time, the current of bust
ness here has not been disturbed by
a single ripple Of distrust.
There has been no diminution in
deposits, no Withdrawals for safe
keeping at home, and business has
in no way been dampened by the
panic that has hung like a pail oyer
the country for six weeks.
Whef we read in the great dailies
such sentences as the following, I
4 L,,..<.t ~, l.,,, ,,ot 49,. =. Al.