The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-08-16

purely on my own initiative anu IndJ
the responsibility for the act was sole
lily mine.
81 was intimately acquainted with
ithe situation in New York The word
panic means fear, unreasoning fear;
10 stop a panic it is necessary to re-
store confidence; and at the moment
the so-called Morgan interests were
the only interests which retained a
full hold on the confidence Of the peo-
pie of New York, not only the business
people, but the immense mass of men
land women who owned small invest
ments or had small savings in the
bank and trust companies. Mr.. Nor
gan and his associates were of course,
fighting hard to prevent the loss of
confidence and the panic distrust from
increasing to such a degree as to
bring any other big financial institu-
lions down, for this would probably
have been followed by a general, and
probably worldwide crash.
"The Knickerbocker Trust Company
had already failed, and runs had be-
gun or were threatened as regards two
other big trust companies. These
companies were now on the fighting
line and it was to the interest of
everybody to strengthen them, in or
der that the situation might be saved.
1t was a matter of general knowledge
and belief that they or the individuals
prom 'nent' in them held the securities
of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Com
lpany, which securities had no market
value and we're useless as a source
of strength in the emergency.
Judgment Justified.
THE steel corporations securities,
on the contrary, were Immediately
marketable, their great value being
known and admitted all over the
world, as the event showed The pro
Iposal of Messrs. Prick and Gary was
that the steel corporation should at
once acquire the Tennessee Coal and
Iron Company, and thereby substitute
among the assets of the threatened in
situations, which, by the way, they did
not name to me, securities of great
and immediate values for securities
which, at the moment, were of no
value. 1t was necessary for me to de-
eide on the instant, before the Stock
Exchange opened, for the situation in
New York was such that any hour
might be VITAL and failure to act for
even an hour might make all subse-
quent effort to act utterly useless.
From the best information at my dis
posal l believed (and believe) that the
addition of the Tennessee Coal and
Iron Company property would only
increase the proportion of the steel
company's holdings by about Der
cent, making them about 81 per cent
instead of about so per cent of the
total value in the country, an add,
], ton which by itself (concurred in,
may add, not only by the Attorney
General but by every competent law
yer with whom l talked, worked to
change the legal status of the steel
corporation. Furthermore, l believed
that the action was emphatically for
the general good, that it offered the
only chance for arresting the panic
and that it would probably arrest the
panic, as it did. l answered Messrs.
Prick and Gary as set forth in my
published letter, to the effect that
did not deem it my duty to interfere
that is, to forbid the action which
more than anything else in actual
fact saved the situation. The result
justified my judgment. The panic was
| stopped, public confidence in the sol
: vency of the threatened institution be
, ing at once restored.
| incidentally l may mention that
5 when l was in Birmingham last spring
S every man met, without exception
3 who was competent to testify, in
: formed me voluntarily that the result!
j of the action taken had been of thu
D utmost benefit to Birmingham, anC
4 therefore to Alabama, the industry be
L ing profted to an extraordinary de
r gree, not only from the standpoint O
/ the business, but from the standpoint
L of the community at large and of tn,
S wage workers by the change in own
d ership. The results of the action
S took were beneficial from every stand
n point, and the action itself at the tim,
It when it was taken was vitality neces
e sary to the welfare of the people o
IS the United States.
r Every Step Was Open.
It I'm my judgment, l would have beef
n derelict in my duties, l would hav
If shown myself a timid and unworth,
" public officer if, in that extraordinar,
L crisis, l had not acted as l did act
1t In every such crisis the temptation t.
o indecision, to non-action, is great, 70
e excuses can always be found for nor