The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-27
Attempt Is Made to Eliminate the Objectionable
 Dealers
J. PIERP0NT MORGAN
 TAKES THE LEADERSHIP
Unsafe Methods of Some Trust and Banking Companies Are Dis closed in Panic of Past
 Two Weeks.
BY w. G. NICHOLAS.

New York, October 26.-At the beginning of the bank troubles in Wall street the old line bankers took advantage of the occasion to summarily eliminate a number of individuals who had become objection able and it was hoped that with their effacement quiet and confidence would be restored. The result did not justify these expectations, and then came the collapse of tine huge Knickerbocker Trust com pany, with it's s65,0o0,000 deposits scat tered throughout 25,00O accounts. This failure attracted wholesale attention to the trust companies, a great majority of which had departed from the business for which they were organized to engage in general banking. Then, to use phrase much heard in New York these days, Hell broke loose'
 The chorus for more sacrifices grew in volume and foree and the heads of every body who might be catalogued in the sin- ner class were demanded. There is no telling how far this clamor would have extended. The mob spirit was rapidly developing, and the lust for blood was getting almost beyond control. It is in emergencies of this kind however, that the really big men in community come to the front and take the leadership On this occasion the stalwart and seasoned J. Pierpont Morgan was placed in com mand, and the work of checking the de- moralization was turned over to him.
 As on many other critical occasions, he rose to the emergency and speedily marshalled about him the active work ing forces of the street. It was seen that this was no time forFthe carrying out of personal revenges and no time to allow to run unbridled the craze for the furher elimination of offensive individ- uals. For the time being all this sort of thing was put into the background and every solvent man of large affairs was drafted into service for the general support of a badly jeppardzed situation.
 Much as the community would like 10 see men like Thomas F. Ryan and E. H. Hartman backed off the board it seem ingly was not to be. If these objection able characters could have been retired, leaving their fortunes and financial credit behind there would have been unanimous approval, but unfortunately there was no means of disassociating their names with their unquestioned financial strength and so they were seen standing in the front rank shoulder to shoulder
 the Morgans and the Stillmans and other giants of legitimate banking and reputable financiering.
 Sudden silence fell upon the lips of the many who were but a moment before proudly asking for the instantaneous re- tirement of Harrimans and the Ryans and the Rockefellers and all of their class. Obnoxious as these men are they had the money, and their money was needed-needed badly. Even the sinful rich have their uses, thus it happens that the possessors of some conspicuously swollen fortunes are given communication of sentence that they may repent.
 The lesson of this latest banking ex- citement in New York will be to dis courage trust company exploitation of the strictly banking field. There will be less disposition on their part to com pete with the regular banks for deposits by paying large interest thereon. There will also be a demand for legislation placing stronger restrictions about trust companies, confning them more rigidly to their legitimate sphere. All this will work to the advantage of the banks, which are better safe-guarded and where the money of the public is more secure This feeling is almost universal and It may be that in the course or the next few months many trust companies which have weathered the storm will be obliged
 
 doubtedly be heavy and continuous with drawals of public money from these con- cerns with a corresponding increase in the deposits of the regular banks. Savings banks also will likely to benefit in the matter of increased deposits.
 The tendency on the part of trust com pany arrangements to engage in specula- tive ventures has been clearly brought out in the case of the Knickerbocker. h. vestigation shows that this company IS carrying on its books nearly 900 of underwritings. It having been found im- possible to work out of these commit- ments at a profit, the management car ried the load down through terrific decline in prices rather than take the loss and get out from under. Figuratively speaking they might as well have had their vaults full of scrap iron.
 They were carried down under a burden of undistributed securities which com mon prudence would have required them to dispose of long ago for what they might bring. The stuff will now have to be luuidated on a hopelessly demor- alized market where tffe salvage brokers will sink the knife in deep and exact the last dollar for what they contribute to the fund. The books and accounts of all trust companies are undergoing rigid analysis. and those that will not pass muster must take the consequences and go the way The path of financial folly and imprudence will be strewn with many corpses before the end is reached. The liquidation from this quarter may have