New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-10-13
REVIEW AND DIGEST
Looking Back Two Decades Ago
ON Investment Situation.
A PICTURE OF DISMAY
Affairs Most Discouraging from
1893 to 1897-RecuperatlVe
Power of Country Then
Offers Cheer Now.

For practically a year this country
has been exercised by politics anu wv
world at large has been Influenced by
wars while the security markets OF
both hemispheres have been under uc-
preston. The generation to-day
monument in affairs of finance and IN
vestment had little part in the world s
financial movements two decades ago
and the apprehension regarding the
f,ture is based on a narrow vision
rather than on conditions preValhhs
in 1893. There are many Of the sea-
soned men in>Wall Street who recan
the nassing of the reins Of govern
ment into Democratic hands on Mar'h
a 1892. and wildly remember the
years following, filled with trouble lOr
the business world and the holders Oh
securities.
During the summer Of 1898 me
newspapers were filled with reports
of bank and mercantile failures IN al
sections of the United States and
credit was severely restricted. Manu-
facturers and retailers failed by the
thousands, owing TO their inability 10
secure monetary accommodations oh
which they depended. and over the
whole country was scattered an army
OF unemployed which caused con-
sternation throughout the LAND. lhis
situation was due chiefly to the silver
movement which destroyed the stand
ing Of the government as credit ma
ton and that was only checked by the
passage of the Wilson bill repeating
the purchasing clauses Of the Sherman
act and killing several imitation meas
ures. 1t was on October 10, 1873, that
the Union Pacific system went into
the hands of receivers.
Toward the end of October the Sen
ate passed the repeal measure in m
amended form, and on November L II
was repassed by the House and signed
by President Cleveland. Following
this act there was an improvement IN
business, exhibited through an increase
in bank clearances and decrease in
the number Of failures. A demand
for bonds by investors, assisted by an
Improvement in railway traffic returns
was in progress, when on November
q the text Of the Wilson tariff bill
was made public. This measure
placed all materials on the free list
and substituted ad valorem for specihc
duties. The stock markets were i'm
mediately affected and the public be-
came greatly disturbed over the I'M
certain outlook.
Gold was exported to Germany, the
Atchison. Topeka & sante Fe and the
New York and New England railroads
went into receivers hands and gloom
and depression were observed every
where. Between 1893 and the closing
Of 1896 the security markets were very
irregular and were held under subjec-
ton by the currency and tariff prob
lens.
According to F. L. Eames in the
New York Stock Exchange" in 1893
there were 642 bank failures with la
bilities Of S210,99S, sos, 1920 CONNER
cial failures with liabilities of S3f6,-
196, $50, and receiverships for railroad
properties having a capitalization OF
S1.651, 10000 in stocks and bonds and
comprising 32,379 miles of road. In
the middle of January, 1894, the Treas
ury reserve had sunk so low that the
necessity for a bond issue by the gov
eminent seemed inevitable. Secretary
Carlisle gave notice TO the Senate
Finance Committee that the reserve
had fallen to about S74,0OO,OOO and
unless he was given immediate authori-
cation he would issue such bonds as
the act of 1875 made possible. Con-
gressional relief did not appear and
the administration invited bids for D
per cent bonds to the amount of
S5OOO0,0O0, redeemable after ten years.
Before February l, the day on which
the bids were opened, the reserve fell
below S66,000,O00, and it may be said to
the credit of a syndicate Of New York
banks and banking houses which
took $50, 100000 of the bonds and slim
ulated public demand that otherwise
the offering would have been a failure.
A reflection on the integrity Of some
of the distinguished Senators OF that
period found public expression when.
after February 1. 1894, following the
passage of the Wilson bill by the
House, a brisk speculation in Sugar
common began which sent the price
from 500 on March 1 to 9512 on March
Z, and the next day the Senate tariff
bill was made public, which included
duties on both raw and refined sugar.
Following the announcement of the
bill renewal Of gold exports began
TO care for the forced repurchaslng
of American securities sold to for
eigners. A Western rate war and a
coal miners strike united to restrict
stock speculation in the early part Of
1894, and on June % the American
Railway Union began a boycott which
lasted until the middle of July and
interfered with traffic on more than
thirty railroads, stagnating general