The Washington herald., 1910-03-06
ASKS COLLATERAL, NOT NAMES

was on the floor OF the board OF trade.
Taking yellow envelope from his pocket.
have It yet, he wrote:
Dear Mr. Mitchell: 7 am glad there
is one banker in Chicago with spunk
enough to require collateral Of p. D. Ar
mour & Co. Our safe Is full of il, and
you can have all you want.
so gave his agent the money, Later,
Mr.. Armour came to see me. saying he
desired to buy stock in a bank that was
run by a young man who understood
what safe barking meant After that he
was one of our shareholders.
We'll. the bank prospered. and We in
creased our capital from time 10 time, as
was Justified. At the beginning Of the
panic OF 1898 we had $24. 000, 600 Of de-
posts. Unfortunately, there was a
Mitchell bank IN Milwaukee. Two
Scotchmen. George Smith and Alexan-
der Mitchell, as early, perhaps, as 1S4O,
had organized the Wisconsin Marine and
Fire Insurance Company. The corpora
ton afterward was reorganized so as TO
engage in banking In 1888 John /.
Mitchell. only son OF Alexander Mitchell,
and a Senator in Congress. was presi-
dent Of the institution. Naturally, be-
cause Of IT'S cumbersome name. il was
known as the Mitchell bank all through
the Northwest and adjoining regions. At
its spectacular failure, big headlines in
the newspapers adding TO the confusion.
the MitchelIs OF Milwaukee became
tangled up with the Mitchens in Chicago
in the gossip of the public
Run On Bank Starts.
when / went to luncheon one noon
nothing was happening. Customers in
the usual number were coming and go
ing. When I returned. crowd of ex-
cited derositors stood in line from the
street door to the paying tellers window.
4 curious throng was on the sidewalk
A run. so terrible 10 most bankers. had
begun. We kept open all that day. and
until o'clock the next morning. paying
every person in full who had book,
although under the rules we could have
required a written notice and thus stop
ped the panic. We reopened the bank
promptly at 10 o'clock on the second day.
In four days we paid out So O0o, 0o0
"Mr Armour, Marshall Field, and Levi
r. Letter, shareholders of the bank. went
up and down the line In the meantime
telling people their names. pIedging their
own credit, and assuring everybody that
deposits were safe and would be paid
when wanted. Seeing women in the
pushing and feyerish jam. Mr.. Field and
Mr.. Armour said: Come to our offices
with your books and we Will settle with
you to the last penny But such are the
peculiarities of human nature that only
few women accepted the offer. Mr.. Ar
mour, I think, paid out $500 and Mr.
Field about $500. if I am not mistaken
We made no calls during the run for
loans. However. some men came in and
took up notes that were due. After our
trouble was over, We put up a fine build
ing, the first in the West that was used
entirely for bank purposes. Inside of four
years our deposits amounted to $780,
100000"
IF you were a poor man and were
saving a little money each year, how
would you invest it?'' inquired
only in the best kinds of bonds-rail-
way bonds of undoubted value, good mu-
nicipal bonds, and bonds of semi-puble
corporations that are not overcapitalized
or unpopular with the public. A poor
man should never put his money into
stocks, because stocks fiuetuate in price
and, ordinarily, are simply evidences of
an interest in the profits OF a business.
Bonds. however. are mortgages and are
evidences OF the real ownership OF actual