OCTOBER 22 the Knickerbocker Trust Company, of New York, with deposits aggregating more than $62,000,000 failed. It paid out to the extent of $8,000,000, and closed its doors. This was the only failure recorded that day, but it set the country wild. In New York, according to reports in one of the papers, it was a day bordering on wide-spread financial panic. The situation was so serious as to bring Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou from Washington. Money was at a prohibitive premium; when the Stock Exchange opened at ten o'clock the rate was six per cent; before one o'clock it had jumped from six to ten, and within fifteen minutes ruled as high as seventy per cent. Toward the close of the day, however, it dropped back to six per cent.
The slaughter of railroad, mining, and other stocks was terrific, reaching a lower figure than in years. The authorities at Washington and the leading financiers in New York did everything they could do to allay the panic, but the fears of the people were aroused, and that which was thought would be only local in its effect, affecting only the great money centers of the United States, swept westward like a great wave.
It has been well remarked that the wealth of this country is divided into many different divisions, of which money is but one. It is almost the sole division in which all the people have confidence, because back of that stands the government, and the people have made it. Therefore when discredit is brought upon any division of property, like stocks in railroads, trust companies, etc., those who are alarmed will at the earliest opportunity seek to convert all their holdings in the things in which they do not have confidence into the one thing in which they do have confidence—money.
There are very few banks in the country which can stand a continued run from their depositors. The law requires but from twenty to twenty-five per cent of their capital to be held in reserve. It has been found in many instances that the reserve was below this. Of course as soon as the people heard it, effort was made to withdraw from the banks their deposits. This forced the various banking men, and especially in the great financial centers, to radical action. Bank holidays have been declared in which the banks could not be forced by depositors. This has been especially true on the Pacific Coast. Stronger banks in various cities have combined into clearing-house associations, and they have issued clearing-house, or credit, certificates in lieu of gold. Great effort has been put forth to secure all the money from the Old World possible, and in order to meet the need of the country the federal government decided to issue one hundred millions of credit certificates, and to float fifty million dollars' worth of Panama bonds, hoping that these would be taken very quickly by banking institutions, the government returning the money to the banks to be put in circulation. Since the action of the Secretary of the Treasury in this matter, gold has been coming in freely from the Old World and it has not been thought necessary to issue more than from fifteen to twenty-five millions of credit certificates, and the Panama bonds have been placed at an issue of twenty-five million. "Reports" from all the great money centers and in the newspapers seem to be reassuring,—for the banks.
Results.
Right in the very height of the panic many business houses in the East closed, large factories and systems of factories discharged their men, 8,000 railroad men were discharged in Chicago, great department stores and mercantile houses also discharged help, making the outlook very serious indeed for the coming winter. However, since this action was taken, and supplies of money have come in from different sources, many of these manufacturing establishments have resumed work, 6,000 of the 8,000 railroad men have been taken back, and while these reports on the face are hopeful, yet on the other hand there are thousands upon thousands of working men thruout the United States who have nothing to do. These are not reported. For instance, in San Francisco the other day the writer was told that there were from 20,000 to 30,000 men out of employment in that city. One working man declared that where he was employed 200 men called the day before looking for work; and in all parts of the city where work was carried on there were almost invariably more men looking on longing for work than were at work.
The Causes.
What are the causes of the financial panic? Never did the country seem to be more prosperous than when it was precipitated. Men had been predicting financial panics for two or three years; it was felt that the tremendous risks and daring speculations would bring this result, and yet there was never a greater demand for the products of the mills and the earth than at the very time when the panic came. It was impossible for mills to meet the demands. Crops were fairly good and the demand for them, not only in this country, but in the Old World, was very great. But the crash came like thunder out of a clear sky.
Various Theories.
What were the causes? These would be much more easily suggested if there was any agreement on the part of the financiers in regard to the causes. But here they are hopelessly at loggerheads. "Everybody's Magazine" for December stopped its presses and consulted with such well-known financiers as Lyman J. Gage, ex-secretary of the United States Treasury; Prof. W. G. Sumner, Professor of Political and Social Science at Yale University; Stuyvesant Fish, ex-president of the Illinois Central Railway; James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway System; Byron W. Holt, editor of "Moody's Magazine," and the well-known Mr. Thomas W. Lawson. Some of these men, like Mr. Gage and Mr. Fish, give as one of the reasons the large destruction of capital in the recent wars and earthquakes. Mr. Gage tells us that "the pressure for the use of capital has outmeasured the supply of capital," and that this condition being reached at the time of the annual harvest when there was a real demand for more than a hundred millions of currency for the moving of the harvest, left matters in a very serious condition, and intimates further that if the United States had had a proper system of currency so that money could be issued to meet this demand, as in England, we would have weathered the storm without any difficulty.
Professor Sumner gives one of the reasons for the panic—the loss of confidence on the part of the people, this loss of confidence growing out of the denunciation of the great masters of industry as corrupt and dishonorable managers of the interests under their control. This has been led by President Roosevelt, resulting in "confusion and wrangling, with stagnation of industry, suppression of enterprise, and a loss of the great and joyous energy which has hitherto characterized our people."
Mr. Fish declares that he looked for this very storm ten months before it came, that despite the unprecedented output of gold, money is dear the world over, and that "because of high prices and activity in trade." This is aggravated, he claims, by such nations as Great Britain, Japan, and Russia, who are endeavoring to make up their losses from recent wars. Added to this "Wall Street has absorbed and is absorbing more than its share of the loanable fund." Mr. Fish also presents the fact that while we are one of the wealthiest nations, we are still a debtor nation. "Europe holds vastly more of our securities than we hold of all foreign securities;" and he feels that there is needed "A GREAT MORAL FINANCIAL REFORMATION, which, like the religious Reformation of the Middle Ages, will thru much cruelty work out good in the end."
While Professor Sumner and Mr. Fish declare that money is stringent and scarce, Mr. Hill declares that "neither is there an insufficient volume of money in the country." He holds that the difficulty with all is the lack of confidence. While Mr. Fish talks of dear money, Mr. Holt speaks of the declining value of gold and lays the cause of our crisis to our inelastic currency system and our uncivilized tariff laws. Mr. Lawson declares that it is the lack of confidence thru the trickery of what he calls "the System."
It is seemingly very clearly evident, as the English papers themselves look upon it, that President Roosevelt has done nothing to cause the panic; he has simply turned on the light and shown how predatory wealth is aiming to grasp and control the very heart-blood of commerce in the money of the nation.
The real causes have been well stated by Governor Gillett of California, before printed in the "Signs." He declares that the present causes are "found in the extravagant living, wild speculations, the effort to get rich quickly by giving nothing for something, the frenzied finance of the stock and bond manipulators of Wall Street, and the attempt dishonestly and by misrepresentation to float all manner of enterprises upon a sea of water. These are the things which have been mostly, if not entirely, responsible for the present financial stringency, and it is only the unparalleled prosperity distributed among the masses, that saved us from financial ruin."
The Remedies.
Various remedies have been suggested, yet in all probability nothing will be done. Some have counseled the organization of a great national bank in which the government itself shall be responsible. Another has advised the government to stand behind the national banks of the country (embodied in a bill by Mr. Condler of Mississippi) assisting them to a sufficient extent to meet whatever failures may take place, so that all depositors shall be assured that every dollar is safe; and this doubtless would restore confidence; but in all probability this will not be done. These measures would make too much for the protection of the people, and give less power to the great financiers. In the recent message of the President to Congress he commends for favorable considerations of Congress a Postal Savings Bank System, and that too would restore confidence because the people would feel that the government is behind it, and their money would be perfectly safe deposited with the government. The same opposition would be brought against this by the financiers as is brought against the national bank, and so we are told by some of the leading representatives of the people that there will probably be no legislation at all concerning financial matters, while on the other hand some of the best thinkers in the country declare that the United States money system is the worst in the world.
The Outcome.
What will be the outcome? Some look for harder times, especially for the poor, those who are dependent upon their daily labor for bread. The many unemployed is bound to decrease wages. This would not be so bad if prices for the commodities would come down with the price of labor. If the masses of the people can not buy, mercantile institutions will be bound to go to the wall. These things may not affect the great financial centers, but they will affect the great mass of the people.
The Lesson.
What is the lesson which ought to come home to the workers, the poor people?—It is to economize in every way possible. Retrench in expenditures wherever they can. Cultivate little pieces of land when they are not employed otherwise and there raise many of the necessities of life. Dispense with expensive clothing and entertainments.
Shall we look for better times?—Temporarily, yes. And yet the united testimony of the word of God is that we are living in times which are perilous, times which are unsettled, times which will see more and more of the awful strife between labor and capital. It is an apostle of Jesus Christ who declares that miseries are coming upon the rich. He tells us that they heaped treasures together "in the last days," that in their heaping treasures together they have been utterly regardless of their poor fellow men; the wealth they have gotten has resulted in the oppression of the poor; and there will come a time when the poor, driven to madness, led by unprincipled and unscrupulous leaders many times, will rise up in their wrath and overthrow the wealthy.
Read chapters one and two of Habakkuk, the first part of Amos 8, Isaiah 5, and James 5:1-8. These are not our words, they are predictions of the living God. And yet we deprecate with all our souls the violence which is bound to follow the unnatural conditions in the country which make so many men fabulously wealthy and leave so many with the bare necessities of life. It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. It is better for the poor, suffering soul to trust in God and leave all to Him who judgeth righteously, and who, beyond this vale of tears, will usher in a realm where there shall be no want or sorrow or death.
Subtreasury, New York.
The Chicago Railway Exchange, the Greatest Center of Railway Operations in the World, Controlling the Freight and Passenger Tariffs of a Continent.
Treasury Department, Washington.
Chicago Board of Trade, the Greatest Gambling Center of the World over the Products of Agriculture.
New United States Mint, Philadelphia.
The New York Residence of One of America's Retired Rich Men, Andrew Carnegie, Whose Wealth Increases More Rapidly than He Can Spend It.
Wall Street, the Great Money Center of America, Whose Operations Affect Every Money Center of the World.
Gold and Silver Bellion at a Denver Smelter.
Valuables in Dead Letters
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, there were 13,005,255 letters and parcels received at the dead letter office in Washington. Of these, 76,724 enclosed negotiable paper, money orders, etc., to the amount of $2,018,076.36. The currency alone found in dead letters amounted to $67,715.69. While many of these valuables can be returned to the senders, a great deal is lost thru carelessness in addressing.
The Gospel to All the World in This Generation
By A. G. Daniells
By A. G. Daniells
THERE is a deep conviction in the hearts of many devout missionary workers in both home and foreign fields that it is the duty of the Christian church to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to all the world in this generation.
This conviction is based upon the teaching of the Scriptures and the marvelous providences of God during the last century. God so loved the world, the whole world, that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
After Jesus had died for the world, He said to His disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." "And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." Mark 16: 15, 20.
The Gospel is God's message of salvation to a lost world which Christ died to save. The church is God's chosen agency to tell His Gospel of love to the world. Therefore it is the duty of the church to proclaim the Gospel to all the world. This is an obligation that the greatest and truest Christians of all ages have recognized. St. Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, declared: "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise." And John Wesley, one of the greatest of modern evangelists, often said, "The world is my parish."
But to-day there is more than a recognition of this general truth. A deep conviction has fastened upon the hearts of many earnest, intelligent Christian workers that the Gospel should be preached to the whole world before the generation now living shall have passed away.
For one, I believe that this conviction is born from above, for both the Scriptures and the providences of God call for it. This makes it not only a possibility but also a certainty.
When Jesus had finished His work on earth, and was about to ascend to heaven, He gave His followers the most solemn promise that He would come again. The disciples believed this promise, and asked, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" In His reply the Master pointed to a number of sure evidences of His speedy return. One was this: "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24: 14.
From this it is plain that the generation that shall see the return of Christ to the world shall witness the proclamation of the Gospel to all the nations of the world then living.
In the revelation given to John on the Isle of Patmos, he was given a view of this work in process of fulfilment. He says: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. . . . And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle."
To-day every sign recorded in the Scriptures concerning the approaching end of the world has either been fulfilled or is in process of fulfilment. One of these is the proclamation of the Gospel to all the world. And now that the time has come for this to be done, the conviction is laying hold of thousands of earnest Christians that it can and should be done.
For a full century the providences of God have been shaping affairs and preparing the way for this work to be done at this time.
One hundred years ago men began to explore every "nook and corner" of the globe as never before in the history of the world. One hundred years ago men began to discover nature's forces and invent facilities for effective, universal transmission of thought, and for rapid world-wide travel such as had never been known before.
One hundred years ago the Christian church began a world-wide missionary campaign such as had not been carried on since apostolic times.
To-day every country and every inhabited island of the globe is well-known to the ordinary reader. All parts of the world are brought into close touch by the ocean cables, the printing-press, and the railway and steamship lines. The present is an era of general financial prosperity unknown in any past generation.
It certainly seems as tho the providence of God had marshaled all the interests and facilities in the world which are necessary to proclaim the Gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people in this generation. Surely what the Scriptures demand and God's providences prepare for will be done. It can not fail.
What is now needed is a seeing, believing, acting church. The fatal malady that afflicted the church at the first advent was their blindness. Their eyes were closed so that they failed to see the fulfilment of the Old Testament Scriptures. This filled their hearts with unbelief that led them to reject the work God called them to do. But to some Jesus said: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see." To them He revealed His purposes and committed His work.
Thank God, to-day some of His followers see the marvelous opportunities for world-wide evangelization. Their hearts burn with the desire to do the work now required to prepare all men to meet their God. They are putting forth the best efforts of self-sacrificing service of which they are capable, and God is blessing their labors. The Gospel is going to all the world. It will be heard by every kindred and tribe during this generation. And then the end will come.
Our Work and Workers.
BROTHER G. A. LAGRONE baptized six at Comanche, Texas, November 21.
SEVEN are obeying the commandments of the Lord at Haskell, Okla., as the result of the labors of Brother C. M. Hayhurst.
A CHURCH of twenty-five members has been organized at Hastings, Neb. There is a Sabbath-school of thirty-nine members.
BROTHER F. M. Oliver recently held meetings in which seven were added to the church at Fox, Ore. A Sabbath-school of twenty members was also organized.
BROTHER J. R. BAGBY organized a church of nineteen members at Weatherford, Okla., November 24, six by letter, six by baptism, and seven on confession of faith.
A CHURCH of forty-nine members has been organized at Hinsdale, Ill., in the family of the Hinsdale Sanitarium, of which Dr. David Paulson is superintendent.
“I BAPTIZED ten dear souls as a direct result of the work done in West Hoboken, and others are deeply interested,” writes Brother J. G. Hanhardt, in the Kansas Worker.
WITH a list of new subscribers to the SIGNS Brother H. E. Reeder writes that he and Brother G. W. Berry have just closed a six-week series of meetings near Oshkosh, Neb., and that twenty souls are rejoicing in the light of newly-found truth as a result.13
THE little company at Ringgold, Neb., dedicated a new church October 20.
A GERMAN church was organized in College View, Neb., November 23. The membership is thirty-one.
As a result of Brother F. M. Olivet's labors at Long Creek, Ore., seven have united with the church there and four more are awaiting baptism.
PROGRESS is reported in Rochester, N. Y., where Brother J. W. Raymond has recently baptized seven, in all fifteen having been received into the church.
A CHURCH of thirteen members was organized at Yoncalla, Ore., November 21, by Brother and Sister C. J. Cole. The little company has a new church ready to dedicate.
The Bible.
By James Montgomery
WHAT is the world?—A wildering maze,
Where sin hath tracked ten thousand ways
Her victims to ensnare;
All broad, and winding, and aslope,
All tempting with perfidious hope,
All ending in despair.
Millions of pilgrims throng those roads,
Bearing their baubles, or their loads,
Down to eternal night;
One humble path that never bends,
Narrow, and rough, and steep, ascends
From darkness into light.
Is there a guide to show that path?
The Bible:—he alone who hath
The Bible, need not stray;
Yet he who hath, and will not give
That heavenly guide to all who live,
Himself shall lose the way.
—James Montgomery.
