Year: 1875

you found brands which are commons


supposed to be reserved for the tables O


royalty alone. His "hospitality" wa


marvellous; but do not know tha


any one can say he was hospitable


20 TO him with q letter of introduc


tlon-or without one, if you happened


to be an eminent editor, prize-fghter


lawyer, theOlogian, horse-thief, or a mem


Der OF any one of the learned professions


ana he insisted upon you making his house


your home while you stayed, furnished vor


with horses, steamboats,, palace cars. OF


anything else you wanted to 90 with when


you went. Invited down to his country


seat, you were at liberty to remain as long


as you pleased, and perhaps you would not


see your host more than once during vour


visit. The whole rancho and all it con.


tanned were at your disposal, however. and


If man could not enjoy himself with suob


freedom OF range as this, the fault surely.


could be but his own. l have heard it said


that the Bank of California allowed him


S2o,OOO a year wherewith to entertain


Eastern visitors. Again, have heard it


stated that no limit was fixed, but that n


carte blanche was given him to entertain


valuable visitors as he pleased, and that at


The end OF the year lie drew for the total
expense incurred. If you ask me which of
these stories | believe, reply, without the
least hesitation, Neither!


You have heard of the Bank of California
OF which William C. Ralston was President
at the time of his death, perhaps. Do YOU
know what it was? No! Well the RanL
OF California was William c. Ralston. At
the Tune OF Its organization he was cashier
only, II Is true, but if you suppose that the
President of a bank is anything less or is
meant to be anything more than a re-
spectacle tigure-head, you know less about
banks in general, and New York banks in
particular, than one would suppose possible
IN this age of general enlightenment. As
cashier, William c. Ralston ran the hank
As President he ran the bank. The bank
he always was, and when the bank no longer
was, he died-by suicide, some say
naturally enough, say l. Here YOU have
the whole history of the bank in a nutshell
As for the directors or trustees. all. tbav
were good men and rich men, undoubtedly
and as such they, in common with other
stockholders, will now have an opportunitv
OF performing the first real duties which
the honorable situation of stakeholder or
director makes imperative, viz, paving in n
handsome assessment to make their stock
good. Thus the end crowns the work. and |
perhaps some day the day of dummies will
be done.


1t may be complained that have written |
too much about an individual and too little
about an institution. But it was necessary
to tell what the one was in order to explain |
the workings Of the other. The Bank of |
California was restless and ambitious. in
direct response to the characteristics of its |
founder The two pulses beat together.
As synonym for strength, its name on the |
Pacific coast long ranked next to that of
the Bank of England. As a power. the
Bank of England was but a country school.
masterin comparison with this most despotic
CalIph-locally considered, | mean. The
Bank of California either controlled or
meant ultimately to gain the control. of
everything on the Coast 1t was at anv
time ready to contract to take all the quick
silver, all the cattle, or all the wool that
the country produced. A small slice of n
valuable mine would not be touched at anv
price. But 60 to it with controllinp
interest to dispose of, and you could name
your own terms-that is to say, if William
{. Ralston wanted it. Anything that he
wanted, from Congregational church to a
mountain in the uttermost wilderness of
Nevada, the Bank of California was willing
to buy or take on deposit. 1t was a power
IN politics, mighty engine in elections. a
Colossus bestriding the State as well as the
mastodon of the municipality of San Fran.
cisco; admittedly it controlled the court.
but still its restless arms were outreached
for further conquest. (Again find it very
hard to refrain from moralizing. I'll do IT,
though, or perish nobly i'm the attempt.)


IT you deem such a monopoly as the
Bank OF California actually was Ito saw
nothing of what it threatened to becomel
detrimental to the morals of a community,
injurious in the highest degree to the well
fare of State, I'll not quarrel with you.
But if you think such a monopoly has ever
reared its head, or gone on breathing for
any comfortable length of time, without
getting bowled down at the good Lords
earliest leisure, you're less devout than /,
and we'll say nothing more about it, for
fear of getting into theological disputation,
a sort of cudgel play that should be avoided
in August.


1t never seemed to me that William c.
Ralston did business for the purpose of
making money, exactly. He did business
mainly for the sake of doing business, and
this, to my thinking, is not the legitimate
end of business doing. If the excitement
alone is wanted, why not gamble? Why
do business unless you do it with money