New-York tribune., 1907-10-24
VO CAUSE FOR PANIC.

Although the banking situation here is dis-
turbed by disclosures Of bad management ana
weakness on the part of few INSTITUTIONS
there appears to be no reason for fearing
widespread impairment of credit Nlld lalk
and the hasty withdrawal of deposits III no
wise imperilled may cause embarrassment ana
involve loss to both banks and dPposltorS' buI
confidence should not be foolishly pe'2uu'"'
for the conditions are wholly lacking which ere
ate real panics and involve any S'"'''' anu
disastrous liquidation.
The Trbune's dispatches from various m
terror poiutS Indicate that general business Is
good and that the banks as a rule are sol
vent and unusually prosperous. Such Uouoi'
as must be faced is local. and the banks out
side of New York are not likely to he grel'A
affected by the collapse of reckless specula'l\'
ventures here. As in the various small pan
les in the stock market of the last nNe OF slA
wears the country at large mas Deeh 4 SPEC
tator rather than a participant. 1t has gone us
wav, leaving the bulls and bears TO Selue at
counts with each other. little disturbed ny the
readiustment of losing and winning pdlaI''9'
In the present liquidation of overeXtended
banking accounts the country as n whole Is
Iil,oIv IN 500 no serious financial menace.
A matter of fact The United States is
fortified as II never has been before against a
real financial panic Wealth has been created
i'm enormous amounts and distributed IN a
hundred centres. The Middle West and the
Far West have become independent of the
East The agricultural interests have paid on
hundreds of millions in mortgages and have
accumulated ready capital 10 work on. our
crops have been large and brought high prices
We have had enormous balances in our trade
with the rest Of the world. and our debt abroad
is now relatively insignificant The farming
and
industry and business are in an extraordinarily
luoyant and active condition The railroads
cannot carry the freight offered to them. ana
the demand for labor still outruns the supply
in NIL partS of the country \ panic under
sucb conditions has no legitimate economic
cause ANY disturbance which we are likely
10 experience can he traced only TO unWis"
speculation on the part Of men enjoying access
10 the funds Of banking institutions. The re-
cent great fall in the prices Of securities mas
not resulted from any real depreciation in the
earning power of those securities. for they
have practically as great an earning power now
as they had a year ago. II has come emery
from the forced liquidation OF speculative de3tS,
the debtors being obliged to sacrifice their
holdings for what they could get on them. Real
estate speculation and industrial promotions
have absorbed capital which not now avail
able. and the hackers Of some such undertak-
ingS are losing their own money and entaiIing
loss on those whose funds they tied up by
dubious banking methods But thes" question
able commitments are not in the aggregate Sc
rious enough 10 upset the banking world The
disturbance they cause is temporary because
the condition of the country as whole Is
emnently sound and its prosperity can be
shaken only by some tremendous and world
wide shock 10 industry and credit.