13381. First National Bank (Omaha, NE)

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PANIC FICTION IN OMAHA No One Knows What Happened a Year Ago Monday Morning. TURNING ON WHEELS KEPT Elimination of Surplus Stocks and Decrease of Debt Have Been Features of Year Following Currency Starvation. What happened in Omaha a. year ago Monday morning? The same thing which happened in New York City but five days before. But the general public did not know what it was, nor does one man in 100 now know the significance of October 28, 1907. There is nothing by which the average citizen can remember the date. no reason why he should keep it in mind even for a single year. It was not a black Friday, but a queer and sunny morning in October. For some reason the public did not know what, the banks proposed to make gold and silver coin and national bank notes only the media of final paymenit; issue checks by bonds deposited with a clearing house committee and make braces of crooked figures on the bank books do more work than silver dollars and gold certificates. This the general public could not understand. To the man or woman wholly unfamiliar with financial and business affairs it was not an easy matter to explain why the leading bankers of Omaha held a meet ing in the rear rooms of the First National bank which was attended by representat.ves of the financial institutions of Omaha and South Omaha. That they met early in the afternoon-stayed in the smoke-filled room until late at night, used the long-distance telephones to towns all over the state and to Chicago and Kansas City, it was a known fact. But the meaning of it all was a mystery. The morning newspapers told of the meet. ing and shouldered a tremendous responsibility, but the optimism of true conditions was employed and when the banks opened, though the public suspected, only a few of the customers were unreasonable oppressive In demanding full payment of deposits in money, while the reasonable were told simply that the bank in Omaha, though they had no reason to do so because of their condition, had taken the precaution of refusing to pay currency except in small amounts to prevent the eastern banks from drawing the cash from the vaults and the people from hoarding money which should have been left in the banks to facilitate business. But the pride of the west was hurt. The pride of Omaha was injured. Bankers themselves were humiliated and many opposed the adoption of the plan because they had never before refused to pay any man, in any kind of money he might name, every cent which he had entrusted to him. Unlike Other Panics. Looking backward over the days which have followed Monday morning. October 28, It is apparent that history never repeats itself in all particulars, but is constantly repeating itself in some particulars; similar circumstances appear in some combinations and similar combinations recur under varying circumstances, hence the probabilities of the future may be inferred from the past. In the financial cycle of 1907-1908 history did not repeat itself 80 far as Omaha and the vast area between the Missouri river and the Rocky mountains are concerned. No financial panic ever had the same effect on business in Omaha, touched industrial and commercial interests so lightly: saw growth in improving conditions begin so early and a golden age of general prosperity appear so near at hand. Compared with other financial cycles in the history of the west, the socalled "panic" which began just a year ago, sinks into nothingness. A cow started the great Chicago fire and a blunder quite as bovine and much less excusable because perpetrated by men of supposedly human intelligence started the combustion of confidence that swept from Boston harbor to the bay of San Francisco, when the spark was struck in Wall street-the Rome of America. As Mrs. O'Leary's cow made a place in history because Chicago was a boom city with a great amount of boom construction: so the imitators of the lamp-kicking bovine in Wall street, made a place and started a panic because business was booming and there had been during 1907 boom buying by merchants and dealers; booms in real estate and also in stocks and bonds. Omaha Shares Undeserved Trouble. What was true in Omaha was true in every other city and center where lines of business are about the same. Things were not exactly flimsy. But the long gray cribs of yellow corn on the farms, the granaries and corrals, encouraged the agricultural class to buy liberally, knowing the money would be coming in within a few weeks. The country merchant saw the trade coming and more than prepared for it. Wholesalers and jobbers knew the crop was not much more than two-thirds of what it was the year before, but prices were better and they bought liberally. The factories had been running overtime and the warehousës of Omaha were full. even after heavily. the country merchants had bought Prepared for moving the crops of the west. as they always are. Omaha banks had more cash in their vaults than usual and as the corn would not all be gathered for four or five weeks the country banks allowed a large amount of money to remain on deposit in the banks of Omaha. Paper which matured in August and September was renewed with the usual care, but the west was generous with the east just previous to the trouble and some Omaha money was placed in the east. During the ten months of 1907 a large amount of money had been invested by Omahans in city real estate and 1,000 homes had been erected. Some increase in values was noticeable, but none who had bought for investment were threatened at any time with a loss of interest by the falling of rents. Such was about the condition in Omaha