Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1873 — The Financial Break-Down. [ARTICLE]

The Financial Break-Down.

An Associated Press dispatch from New York gives the following account of the failure of Jay Cooke and other firms: Another day of intense excitement has passed over wall street. Early this morning predictions were made that this would lie a hard day, and one that would see the downfall of more than«one financial house. The Chicago fire, it was thought, would occasion a drain upon deposits, and tend to a panic. Stocks for the first two or three hours fluctuated wonderfully. Western Union fell ten per cent, without an upward struggle, hut about noon recovered its openiug figure. At noon the report was whispered that ’ Hie house of Jay Cooke & Co. had suspended. At firstlhe rumor was considered an idle one, or, at the most, started by some scheming faction. However, it had great effect. Men and boys ran races from office to office, The telegraph was incessant in its operations, and the excitement grew intense. Shortly after 12 m. it was officially announced that the suspension had occurred, the reason therefor being advances made to their Philadelphia liouSe, which rendered them unable to meet the demands made upon them by their depositors here. As soon as it became generally known that Jay , Cooke & Co. had suspended, many rumors touching other houses sprang into existence, but all reports about the suspension of firms excepting Jay Cooke & Co., Richard Schell, and the small firm of Robinson, Suydam & Co., upon investigation, proved to be without foundation. When this fact was made known on the street, confidence was again restored, and at tlie close of busiuess a stronger feeling prevailed. It is not thought that any other firms of prominence will succumb. Men regarded as among the safest and most judicious on the street give it as their opinion that the great danger is past. Robinson, Suydam & Co. expect to resume in ; a few days. Mr. Schell WAS not prepared to make any statement in regard # to his liabilities. Ilia suspension was oc*. easioned especially by a decline in Vanderbilt stocks, in which lie was a large dealer. The.liabilities of Jay Cooke & Co. cannot he ascertained. It will take some time to make a statement of the affairs of the house. The creditors are mostly banks and bankers, there beingibut few individual depositors on the list. The suspension will greatly interfere with the operations of the Syndicate, and probably suspend the negotiation of the five per cents. The bonds of the Northern Pacific have'beeh o' slow sale recently, and the failure of Kenyon, Cox & Co., and of the New York & Oswego Midland Road, operated disastrously against further negotiations of the bonds. The Express says: ‘‘The war upon the railways has produced part of this panic, creating as it lias a want of confidence ■ among large capitalists and small investors, and injured both the credit and progress of railway enterprises. When coniHl+mee goes ered it tails with it, and panic takes the place of both. The suspension of houses like and Kenyon, Cox & Co., are public calamities, anu are events Wholly unlike the failure of those mushrooms who do business on borrowed capital, or oflener on no capital The sympathy of the public is with the unfortunates who try to do a legitimate business, and who fall while in the prosecution of it, as in the building of railways and other public works designed to enlarge the busiuess of the country. The duty of all is, while omitting no care necessary to exposure or proper regard for present or future, to pour oil upon the troubled waters, and restore health and confidence to the money market, anil to all honest corporations and persons engaged in money transactions.” The Mail says: “It is understood that the houses which are in trouble are solely those that have been carrying heavy burdens in the way of railway construction, and that the losses from their failure will be widely distributed and will be long telt seriously here. It is felt that the events of the past few days are most unfavorablefor the prosecution of unfinished railway enterprises, and so a misfortune to the country, whose resources require for their development a liberal extension of credit. Rut all other branches of business have ah unusually good promise for fall and winter. Our enormous crops are bringing good prices, and the demand for them is unprecedented. Our merchants have generally ‘got doWirio the hard pan,’ and are ready tor a tremendous business on a sound basis, and generally the situation outside the maelstrom of Wall street is full of encouragement. The misfortune and terrible affliction of the street is the peculiar legislation which tics up the reserves of hanks just at a time when they could safely and profitably to themselves tide the business of the country over its present momentary difficulty of lack of currency, and the way easy for the marketing of our immense

products. Even had the Secretary of the Treasury deposited his unsalable legaltenders in the national banks, and thus released a part of their reserve, the latter could have met and passed the present crisis victoriously.” The stocle market closed with a more confident feeling, after a day of excitement without equal since Black- Friday. When the time came for the delivery of stocks and the squaring up of the day’s transactions there was wild excitement in the board, and access to the visitors’ gal lery was really an impossibility. The Post says: “Prices of first-class stocks are now low enough to tempt capitalists and outside investors to come in, -amU while the effect of the failure iqf.-a~ house so widely known throughout the country as Jay Cooke & Go. cannot be measured in a day, there is reason to believe that prices will not long be kept below figures which represent the investment value of d ividend-pay ing stock.”