The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-13

ernment faced at the opening of the civil war were as portentious of chaos as was the situation which of a sud- den confronted American bankers and the federal government immediately after 1t was known that the London stock exchange had closed it's doors.
 The demonstration which was made of ability and of a fine spirit of CO., operation is now thought to be sure to pass into history as a proof of the high qualifications of American bankers as
 well as the fundamental spirit of patriotism unalloyed by partisanshp which is characteristic of Washington. |. In speaking of the conditions which were suddenly offered immediately aft CT the London stock exchange closed it's doors. one of the leading American bankers said that it would have been
 impossible to meet and overcome these | conditions had not inc bankers, as well as those in authority at Washington, kept perfectly cool and upon the in-
 stant, almost. diagnosed the situation
 and liked upon the remedy. The situa- Iuon was such that unless barrieades were raised the continent of Europe
 and London would have dumped seeuri-
 ties of all kinds and in other ways en- tered the American market. Ample as
 the resources of American banks were and strong as the government is in the possession of gold and other resources,
 these were not available upon the in
 stant.
 II was instantly seen to be inevita- ble that the great market where the value of American securities is fixed
 and the clearing house not only for mi Il
 nent of Europe and Great Britain for
 American security dealings must de- 1 fend itself in the only way possible | It must draw up the bridge, thereby
 leaving an impossible moat.
 | This however. was part of the first | of the steps to be taken, but by nc means the only one. Although New
 York city has been plentifully supplied with money for long time, neverthe- | less 1t was foreseeen that there must be | fresh supplies of a perfectly elasti, currency and probably the reinforce ment which would be offered by the | Clearing House association. The celeri- Ity with which the Secretary of the Treasury, MT. McAdoo, faced the situa-
 tion was almost unexampled in the his. tory of that department He appealed to Congress for new authority anc then he, as some of his great prede cessors of the past during the civil wal days have done. came to New York. h the disastrous panic of 1907, one of MT McAdoos predecessors, MT. Corte1you came to New York, established tenn l porary office in the subtreasury build l ing and announced that he was pre-, pared to issue government deposits tt l any bank which would place in his hands 1 securities therefor and in amount il | excess of one hundred million dollars. 1 MT. McAdoo went many millions beyond t! the offer of Secretary Cortelyou for h, | was dealing with a domestic situation i which had been created by an funparal lelled state of chaos of European money l markets. Fortunately the Aldrich-Vree | land currency law was available pro vided Congress would upon the instan place certain discretionary powers in Sec | retary McAdoo's hands. That currency 1 is of especial advantage since it contain. | the quality of elasticity. Elastic as i was. nevertheless Secretary McAdoo ant l the New York bankers agree that tht ! maximum amount should be at least twic, ! as great as that fixed in the orgina 1 law. Congress instantly replied favorabl, to this suggestion.
 | Furthermore ways and means wer, rrder consideration whereby the gold rep | resented by gold certificates would b. | protected in part through the utilization l of other currency than gold In this tn lclearing house association was prepared N to offer assistance. The association upol the instant decided to issue clearing hous, certificates and in addition the associa
 ton decided to accept other money thai
 gold or legal tender in payment of bal aEces. Never before has any other mone' N than gold or legal tender been accepte
 iii payment of balances.
 II Therefore in the course of few days T through cooperation, it was possible t