New-York tribune., 1908-04-08
PANIC LOAN FIGURES
STORY IN FIN1L REPORT.
Clearing House authorised SIO1,-
900 900 Certificates.

-. loan co-n-nittee Of the New York Clearing
House Association. which had charge of issuing
the Clearing House loan certificates during the
saric last fall made yesterday its final report 10
The association and discharged. The totai
amount Of loan certificates issued was N"l o"'""'
by far the largest issue ever recorded in the MS
tory Of American finance, while the maximum
number outstanding at any one tine was sNa-V'-
f.sa on December 10 1907. the panic of 1888 the
total issue Of Clearing House loan ceruncS'es
was s4l 5000 with SSS2SeG0 as the largest amount
outstanding at any one time
The first loan certificate Of the panic OF 1897 was
issued on October 26. and the first cancellation
was made on November IL The last cerinca'e
vas put out on January 20. 1905 and the hnai can
relation Was made March 2s. when the re-
ceiver for the National Bank Of North America
cancelled the last of the banks Indebtedness me
certificates were in therefore. over period
Of l55 days. This is three weeks longer than 'he
loan certificates were used in 1923.
During the twenty-five weeks while the loan Ger
tifcates were in use the committee handed as col
lateral for the certificates S45Soao in commercial
raper bonds and other acceptable securities. vi
this enormous sum $3.50 Oao00 or 729 per cent rep
resented commercial paper, while sl2Seho" or Z'1s
re- cent represented stocks and bonds Not one
merchant or firm whose paper was accepted oe-
fsulted payment on all the certificates issued
margin of at least y per cent was at all times
raa:ntsined.
Of the ffty-tvo banks in the association thirty
two took out certificates at one time OF Hi
hanks took out certificates The twenty banhs
which did not make use Of loan certificates were
r77os-ly 11ptoun institutions which did no wall
Street and little out-of-town business The total
interest paid by the various banks on the loan
certificates which they had out was S,ll6.2i5 Ihls
interest was al the OF per cent. and was set
lied monthly II went, Of course, to the banks
which accented the loan certificates in lieu Of cash
FOR settlement Of Clearing House balances The
largest number OF certificates taken out by any
one bank was s7.oOocOo. while the smallest amount
$50 9ao
One Of the odd features brought out by the ming
Of the report was fact that certain banks were
still taking out loan certificates late as Jan
uarv 80. when the surplus reserves Of the asso-
ciated hanks had risen the large Of $1,000
GO The banks which took out these late Certif
Gates arc understood 10 be those which eventually
suspended
The members Of the loan committee who signed
the report were James 7. Woodward, chairman;
William A Nash. Dumont Clarke. Edward Town
send A E. Hepburn, Alexander Gilbert. James
Gates ". McGarrah ana Albert H Wiggin. From
October . February the loan committee met
every day and thereafter as often as occasion re-
otired The total number Of meetings held was
ninety.
Clearing House loan certificates were first issued
in the United States hy the New York Clearing
House Association November .. 1866 The total
issue at this time was S735o. and the last cerih
cate was cancelled on March g, 1851 The elapsed
tine vas JOS days.