Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-11-22
WALL STREET; THE
CRIME, A REMEDY
A LOGICAL SOLUTION OF THE
PRESENT CONDITIONS.
Roosevelt Did 1.-THE Gamblers
That Wall Street Couldn't Stand
For Say SO-S.tudtiOn Told BY
Saturday Evening Post in a
Short. Medty Article.

the present financial conditions that
strikes the keynote better than the
following meaty article which ap-
peared in the last issue of the Sat-
urday Evening Post. 1t shonld be
preserved by every person in the
United States. 1t deals with Wall
Street" The Crime and "A
Remedy" The Post says:
WALL STREET.
On Monday. Tuesday and We'd
nesday October Fl, 22 and 23).
call money was readily obtainable
in Wall street at rates averaging
about three and a half per cent.
The statement of the New York
associated banks made a favora-
BILE exhibit to quote the Finan-
cial Chronicle. The Treasury de-
partment has been steadily increas-
ing its deposits in the banks, the
total reaching I64 million dollars.
For more than a week the Bank of
France had been befriending New
York by refusing to advance inter
est on gold in transit, thus averting
exports of the metal from this
country. And London bankers,
by repurchasing American securities
which they had previously sold,
checked in advance in sterling ex-
change which threatened to draw
gold from New York to England.
Realizing the strain upon credit,
in short, the great fiscal agencies at
Washington, Paris and London
were extending their power to pre-
vent an acute disturbance. I'm
questionably, they realized also
that this country itself was sound
and immensely prosperous, bullying
with marketable products, and we'll
in the way of the liquidation that
would relieve the pressure on
money.
Such was the story of the first
half of the week. But on Thurs
day the corner in United Copper
collapsed. This corner was an
operation having no more relation
to trade and industry than a faro
game has. A few men thought they
saw a good opportunity to squeeze
certain brokers who were short.
So they made a pool of the stock
and put the price up to 90. Then,
as usual, one unloaded on the
others.
United Copper dropped from 60
to 10. The Stock Exchange sus-
pended one of the operators; and
| New York awoke to a realization
that these manipulators we're in
control of several banks. Buying
the stock Of one bank, they bor-
rowed money upon it with which
to buy the stock of another, and
thus came into guardianship of
millions of deposits. The effect
upon bank depositors of this reali-
cation was naturally alarming. A
run was started upon a number of
institutions with many millions of
| deposits, and several soon sus-
pended payment. Call money rose
to I25 per cent. and was unobtain-
able at that. The stock market
was in panic. The reason was
that the very hearts blood of bust
ness-conhdence IN the banks-had
been impaired by realization that
certain banks were in cantrol of
clique of spectators. And yet
there are men in Wall street who
say, and really believe, that the
President did it.
THE CRIME.
A crime was committed. Stock
market panics do not necessarily
mean anything to the country at
large. Wall street had INDUCED in
number of such fits during the
year, with no appreciate effect be-
yond the Alleghanies. The real
United States, busy with vast and
rich industry, cared nothing that
certain paper makers were sold at
one price rather than another. On
the Stock Exchange St. Paul was
off forty-five points; but out in
the northwest the great railroad
was carrying more goods and pas
sengers and employing more men
than ever before. What did the
people of Illinois, Wisconsin and
Minnesota care about the figure on
the tape? 1t told of nothing they
were interested in.
1t is common knowledge that the
feeling in the country at large was
confident, even buoyant. People
dealing with the actual facts of in
dustry were not frightened by lower
quotations on stocks. But bank
failures are a different matter.
They touch the fundamentals of all
business. The bank credit moves
the cotton and corn, the ore and
lumber, and is as vital to industry
as physical transportation itself.
To destroy the credit of the bank
is as much a crime against society
as to destroy a railroad bodily.
The men whose conduct is respon-
sible for impairing bank credit in
New York committed a crime.
Too much. we have often thO11oht.