Evening journal., 1910-03-15


Up to the time Of his death in 1902,
Frederick ID. Tappan had been for half
century one of the leading bankers
of New York city and for years he
was the head of the metropolitan clear
ing house.
~ think" he said to me one day
that one of the most curious exper-
iences that ever came within my per-
sonal knowledge was the silent, almost
pathetic evidence, of the great fright
which once held in it's grip Wilson
G. Hunt, who was famous as a banker
when Commodore Vanderbilt and DAN
iel Drew were strong men in the IL
nancial destinies of the country.
1T was the so-colled Bland silver
bill, which was passed i'm 1875 and
which provided for the coinage Of not
less than two million dollars nor more
than four million dollars worth of sill
yer bullion month, that gave Mr.
Wilson his great scare. But that you
may have a good understanding Of
the incident, / want to say first that,
besides Mr.. Wilson, there were good
many old-fashioned bankers and men
living upon their capital, or the in
come Of it, who became greatly dis
turbed when the Bland bill became a
law.
Why, do you know that even as
shrewd, clearheaded and icy an intel
,'ct as Samuel j. Tllden became great
ly alarmed when the Bland bin was
| enacted into law. Governor Tilden
whispered to some of his friends his
fear that the country was going ex-
clusiyely upon the silver basis. he
thought that meant the cutting down
OF capital by at least one half, and
| you should have seen his represen-
/ tatives buying foreign exchange, and
a good deal Of it. His purpose, evil
! IDENTIFY. was to convert that exchang,
into gold, and very likely keep it on
deposit in some of the greater banks
of London. But I guess that Governor
! Tilden got over this scare earlier thar
Mr.. Hunt did; at all events ] never
learned what he did with the exchang,
he bought
But IL came within my persona
observation what Mr. Hunt did. Wheth.
er he bought exchange and convertcC
it into gold or not, 1 do not know, ye
do know that when he trembled foi
fear that the country would go to
silver basis. as a result of the enact,
ment of the Bland bill, he somehow
secured approximately nine hundred
thousand dollars in gold, had it paclSe,
in little canvas bags. properly marked
with the amount Of money i'm each
and stored these bags in the vault o
a certain bank. one of the stronges
institutions of the kind in New Yorl
City. II the worst came. and the res
of his fortune was cut in half by tn
country going 20 a silver basis, H.
would at least have close on to a mil
lin dollars i'm the sort OF money tina
is good the world over.
Mr.. Hunt died about ten years later
and sometime before the Bland Law
gave way TO the Sherman silver law
in the meantime, the gold that he hai
boarded against the possible evil da,
OF a silver basis lay untouched. 1
did not bring him in a penny Of in
come, and he never looked into tn
vault where It was stored to see II
was all right Indeed. these little bag
lay so long in the place where frs
they were put that gradually they be
came mouldy and the canvas began T.
rot, and at last when Il became neces
sary for the administrators Of MI
Hunts estate TO remove that giganti
nest egg, do you know that some o
the bags were so badly rotted tina
their golden contents broke out ant
scattered upon the floor of the vaul
at our feet2
Mr.. Hunt" concluded Mr. Tappar
was wise man and very courageou
In many things, but he had that cur
ious dread OF silver and that unwar
ranted fear that the United state
would lapse TO a silver basis. Tha
dread and that fear he carried 10 tn