16764. banks of New York (New York, NY)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run → Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type
state
Start Date
October 13, 1857
Location
New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
504baab8

Response Measures

Full suspension

Other: Collective episode describing the collective 'banks of New York' rather than a single chartered bank; actions include contraction of discounts and hoarding/specie accumulation.

Description

Coverage refers to the collective banks of New York during the Panic of 1857. Articles describe heavy withdrawals/a terrible run in mid-October 1857, suspension of specie payments around Oct 13-14, 1857, and resumption of specie payments on Dec 12, 1857. Bank type is left unknown because the phrase refers to multiple institutions (state and national banks) rather than a single chartered name.

Events (3)
1. October 13, 1857 Run
Cause
Macro News
Cause Details
Part of the nationwide financial crisis (panic of 1857) following failures such as the Ohio Life and Trust Company and broad revulsion in credit; runs on other banks and general panic prompted withdrawals.
Measures
Banks curtailed discounts and husbanded specie; ultimately collectively suspended specie payments.
Newspaper Excerpt
after a terrible run on them by thousands of depositors, the banks of New York suspended payment.
Source
newspapers
2. October 13, 1857 Suspension
Cause
Macro News
Cause Details
Suspension adopted in response to the financial crisis and heavy withdrawals during the panic of 1857; described as a collective decision by New York banks to suspend specie payments to protect reserves.
Newspaper Excerpt
the banks of New York came to the united determination of suspending specie payments.
Source
newspapers
3. December 12, 1857 Reopening
Newspaper Excerpt
The resumption of specie payments by the banks of New York ... The New York banks resumed payment, with twenty-six millions of specie in vault, typifies the whole country. The New York banks resumed payment Dec. 12, 1857 (reported).
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (11)
1. October 17, 1857 Worcester Daily Spy Worcester, MA
Article from Worcester Daily Spy, October 17, 1857

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There is a Dr. Stiles at Bridgeport, Conn., who claims that he can see clairvoyantly the condition of the human system, by holding a lock of the patient's hair in his hand. Thinking to come a practical joke on him, some one recently sent him a lock of hair from under the chin of a sick ox, which could not be told from human hair. Dr. Stiles, either clairvoyantly or in some other way, saw the critter. and wrote, "As for your ox, I advise you to slaughter him, especially, as I perceive that he is fat. He will not be able to work much more, in consequence of a blow which he has received across the back, which has injured both the kidney and spine." The ox was killed, and the injuries on the kidney and spine were found. So the practical joke turned to the account of the clairvoyant doctor. Mrs. Cunningham failed to make her appearance in court when her trial was called, choosing to forfeit her recognizance. Subsequently, it appeared that she had gone off to the South, heartlessly abandoning her "precious baby, Harvey's little darling," to the tender mercies of its real mother. Her trial, and the banks of New York, suspended simultaneneously. The yield of wine in the South of France, this year, is said to be unprecentedly large. It is equal in quality to the famous wine of the great comet year, 1811, and as the present year has likewise produced a number of comets, the peasants have christened it the "five-comet wine."

2. October 23, 1857 The Daily Gate City Keokuk, IA
Article from The Daily Gate City, October 23, 1857

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Affairs South. At the commencement of the pressure, the Southern papers werefull of exultation that their portion of the country had escaped the shock, and was sailing along 80 grandly and serenely in the midst of a sea of difficulties. The reason was attributed to their peculiar institution. Commercial affairs were steadied by it. Industry and all things dependent upon it were preserved in steady equipoise by the conservative influence of Slavery. They had little of the bustling industry of the North, it was true, but they had also little of the unhealthy excitement and reckless speculation consequent upon the display of such boundless energies, and the rapid development of material resources and enhancement of values. Their progress was slow, but uniform and certain, The non-excitable character of their population, and the unvarying amount and value of production, secured them against the consequences of feverish excitement and commercial disaster. In the midst of danger, more than ever did Cotton prove itself King, and, sitting upon their big bales, the lords of a servile race could laugh to scorn the perils that surrounded them. This sort of thing had some plausibility to a superficial thinker and a hasty observer, though it never was supported, in fact, by even temporary evidence, and its sole foundation was local vanity. If Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, and St. Louis are Southern cities, the argument is certainly fallacious, for they were among the first to feel the pressure of the times,-Baltimore and St. Louis being among the very first, and among the number that have been the most severely distressed. If it be replied that they are in some sense Northern towns, observe how rapidly the troubles spread to the extreme Southwest, to the very midst of the profoundest repose with which a brutish industry has blessed the land. Quick upon the suspensions of Philadelphia, while yet the banks of New York continued to pay specie, followed the bank suspensions of Charleston, Savannah, and all the chief Southern cities; and the banks of New Orleans and New York closed simultaneously. Three weeks ago New Orleans was wallowing in gold. Now money is worth two per cent. a month in the Crescent city, and Savannah and Charleston are almost as "hard up" as a paper town OR the Western frontier. The South, as a section, taken together, felt the pressure as soon and as severely as the North. It will feel it for a longer time, for it has not the recuperative energy that the North enjoys in its unfettered industry, in its Intelligent and skillful laborers, free to change the charaeter of their employment and to flock to any any field that promises remuneration. And they have yet one blow to feel, the first force of which will be spent upon them, and which will affect us only through their distress. Cotton is a good crop. It commands a certain market, specie funds, and a high price. But the South lives full up to the average value of its great staple, and cannot afford to see the demand diminished or the price reduced. It has got to see both. Wait till cotton falls, and the demand is cut off one-quarter to one-third, and you will see sights." CONCERT POSTPONED.-In consequence of the inclement weather, the concert of the

3. October 24, 1857 Worcester Daily Spy Worcester, MA
Article from Worcester Daily Spy, October 24, 1857

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CALEB CUSHING IN DEFENCE OF CRINOLINE. Mr. Cushing, who has so many titles in so many departments of public honor, that we omit them all and call him simply Caleb, in a speech before the Massachusetts Mechahio Association, came to the defence of the ladies in the following gallant style, as reported in the Boston Transcript "For example, it is quite common to assail the ladies, and to ridicule and reproach their taste for dress, personal ornament, custom of life, as one of the responsible causes for the present commercial crisis. I utterly deny it. I would like to break a lance with any gentlemen in that quarrel. I will go further, and run the risk of paradox, in saying, that, in my judgment, the prevailing female costume is not only graceful, but, relatively, to other fashions which have preceded it, convenient, and therofore justified by considerations of utility as well as beauty. Apart from that, I confess I have been amused to observe how much of undue importance, in the great sum of our wealth, industry, and commerce, has been attributed to the extra flounces and furbelows of the ladies. It is, in truth, a matter which enters for a mere bugatelle into the complex questions of imports and exports, and that is all. Did the silks worn by the ladies produce the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company? Did their superfluous laces and muslins break down the IllinoisCentral Railroad? Did their voluminous skirts stop the wheels of the Erie road? Was it a fancy of theirs for cakes and sweetmeats which raised up or pulled down the speculative prices of sugar and flour in the United States? Was it their kid gloves, and Lilliputian bonnets, and slippers, which occasioned the embarassment ot the great dry goods commission houses of Boston, and the suspension of the banks of Philadelphia and New York ? Absurd ! I confess it shames me, as a man, to hear so much of the profusion of ladies, in view of our own way of life. Most assuredly, Mr. Fitz Fivol, with his champagne, his cigars, his fast horses, his yachts, and his other fancy pastimes, has no right to complain of the fine robes, the broidered kerchiefs, and the bijouterie of Miss Flora McFlimsey. She will discover that she is in want of nothing to wear quite as soon as he will find anything useful to do; for even she has a warm woman's heart beneath all the point lace and moire antique, in whose mysterious volume her fair form is draped and if he did but know how to reach that heart, he would see her as prompt to please by frugality as by luxury, and proud to make any sacrifice of fashion at the voice of duty and of love, But all the follies of all the Fitz Fivols and Flora McFlimseys in the land, are as nothing, in effect, on the financial condition of the United States; compared, 1 will not say, with a war in the Crimea or in India, for that we do not and cannot have-but, as compared with a few cents per pound or yard of rise and fall in the price of the cotton of Carolina, the corn and wheat of Illinois, or the freights and manufactures of Massachsetts and their follies have had no appreciable influence in producing the actual break down of the credit system of the United States."

4. October 30, 1857 Wilmington Journal Wilmington, NC
Article from Wilmington Journal, October 30, 1857

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# Caleb Cushing on Crinoline and Hard Times. In Faneuil Hall, on the 14th inst., ex-Attorney General Cushing delivered an address before the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, in reference to the sentiment:"Our Country--Glorious for its science, glorious for its arts, and still more glorious for its public men." In the course of his speech, Mr. Cushing said: I doubt at any rate in the breadth of its ordinary statement, the truth of the current doctrine of assumed profusion of living as the evil of the times, or contracted retrenchment as its remedy. I think both the evil itself, and its remedy, lie deeper in other causes and acts, which it would be out of place to attempt to unfold here at the festive board. For example, it is quite common to assail the ladies, and to ridicule and reproach their taste of dress, personal ornament, and custom of life, as one of the responsible causes of the present commercial crisis. I utterly deny this. I would like to break a lance with any gentleman in that quarrel. I will go further, and run the risk of paradox, in saying that in my judgment the prevailing costume is not only graceful, but, relatively to other fashions which have preceded it, convenient, and therefore justified by considerations of utility as well as beauty. Apart from that, I confess I have been amused to observe how much of undue importance, in the great sum of our wealth, industry and commerce, has been attributed to the extra flounces and furbelows of the ladies. It is in truth a matter which enters for a mere begatelle into the complex question of imports and exports, and that is all. Did the silk worn by the ladies produce the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company. Did their superfluous laces and muslins break down the Illinois Central Rail Road? Did the voluminous skirts stop the wheels of the Erie Rail Road? Was it a fancy of theirs for cakes and sweetmeats, which raised up, or pulled down, the speculative prices of sugar and flour in the United States? Was it their kid gloves and lilliputan bonnets and slippers, which occasioned the embarrassment of the great dry goods commission houses of Boston, and the suspension of the banks of Philadelphia and New York? Absurd! I confess it shames me, as a man, to hear so much said of the profuseness of the ladies, in view of our own way of life. Most assuredly Mr. Fitz Frivol, with his champagne, his cigars, his fast horses, his yachts and his other fancy pastimes, has no right to complain of the fine robes, the broidered kerchiefs and the bijouterie of Miss Flora McFlimsey; she will discover that she is in want of nothing to wear quite as soon as he will find anything useful to do; for even she has a warm woman's heart beneath all the point lace and moire antique in whose mysterious volume her fair form is draped; and if he did but know how to reach that heart, he would see her as prompt to please by frugality as by luxury, and proud to make any sacrifice of fashion at the voice of duty and of love. But all the follies of all the Fitz Frivols and Flora McFlimseys in the land are as nothing, in effect, on the financial condition of the United States, compared, I will not say with a war in the Crimea or in India-for that we do not and cannot have-but as compared with a few cents per pound or yard of rise or fall in the price of the cotton of Carolina, the corn and wheat of Illinois, nor the freights and manufactures of Massachusetts; and their follies have had no appreciable influence in producing the actual breakdown of the credit system of the United States. At such a time as this, at any rate, when so many thousands of industrious men and women in Massachusetts are deprived of occupation and of means of support, by the curtailment or suspension of work in the great manufactories of the State, although for them retrenchment is necessary as well as duty, yet it is not so for those who, with wealth, possess assured means of subsistence. Why should they retrench, when every article they consume is of diminished price? It would be especially unwise for them to do so, at a time when every item of personal expenditure which they may cut off will but serve to aggravate the evils, by contributing to impede the circulation of money, by increasing the superabundance of unemployed labor, and by multiplying the causes of poverty and crime, and in the long run subject them to larger expenditures of almsgiving and taxation. At a time like this, in France, for instance, there would be succor to labor by great public works of the Government, such as the addition of a new quadrangle to the Louvre or the Tuileries. We cannot in this way combat the effects of a stricture, as it is called, in the money market. But we can, so far as we possess the means, continue our accustomed train of life; persevere in well devised and well directed enterprises; keep so far as possible, our ships and our looms in action; preserve, unmoved, the great landmarks of our industrial prosperity; and stand ready to start anew when proper time comes, as come it soon must, all the great movements of production of commerce throughout the Commonwealth.

5. November 16, 1857 The New York Herald New York, NY
Article from The New York Herald, November 16, 1857

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In the crisis, which has carried them along by the vio- lence of its course, whereas they ought to have adopted, at the very first, some concerted action which might have prevented, or at least have controlled and moderated the revulsion. In this crisis in the United States, as it has been the case there in all similar crises, those men who had the power to direct the motion of the torrent, or at least to moderate its force, have acted wholly according to their own personal ideas and views, just as their own indivi- dual interest prompted them on the spur of the moment, or as they were impelled by their own individual timidity or boldness. They have been driven to act as their mo- mentary necessities urged them, whereas a little fore- sight and union of faction would have easily prevented such a state of things coming upon them. Of course it is not in our power to understand the several motives by which they have been guided, but such has been their course. If we reflect upon the fact, that in the months of June and July the banks of New York expanded their previous discounts to the amount of eight millions of dollars (about forty million francs), and that afterwards, just at the mo- ment when bank accommodation was most needed, they suddenly contracted their discounts by the enormous sum of 16 million of dollars: if we consider this action of theirs, no one can be surprised at the revulsion and ruin which followed. Such were the circumstances under which the banks of New York came to the united determination of suspending specie payments. This determination is indeed the adoption of an heroic remedy, but if the merchants understand the bearing of this great event, and are not led into an increased want of confidence, it will have the happiest effects. It is a measure which will inevitably exercise a great influence upon us, here in France. We shall comment upon its probable effects upon us in a future number. [Translated for the New York Herald from the Paris Journal des Debats of October 27.] We announced to our readers yesterday, on the au- thority of an evening journal, that the Chamber of Com- merce of Paris had a meeting on Friday last, the object of which was to petition the government to fix the rate of commercial interest among individuals, on the same foot- ing with the rate of discount adopted by the Bank of France. The bank having raised the interest on its loans to 7½ per cent, commercial men in general ask to be per- mitted to charge the same rate of interest. According to another journal, the merchants of Bor- deaux and of St. Quentin have had meetings for the same purpose in their respective Chambers of Commerce. Some explanation of this movement, which is likely to be- come very general, may be necessary. By a law passed at the last session of the Legislature, in relation to the renewal of the charter of the Bank of France, the ancient law in relation to the bank was modi- fied in a very important point. The bank was permitted to raise its rate of interest on its discounts to any amount beyond the former rate allowed of six per cent, as circum- stances might render it necessary. In other words, the new law emancipated the bank and the bank alone, to the exception of all other persons and institutions, from the re- strictions of the old law of 1807, by which the rate of in- terest was fixed at the maximum of six per cent. On the strength of this privilege, the bank has lately raised the rate of interest on its discounts from 6 to 7½ per cent. But while the Bank of France enjoys this privilege, all other institutions and persons remain subject to the pro- visions of the old law of 1807, by which the rate of in- terest allowed to be taken for money is limited to six per cent. The inequality resulting from this new state of things, as relating to interest upon money, is exceedingly anomalous, and prejudicial to private commerce. This is the subject of the complaint of the several Chambers of Commerce. The practical question raised by the action of the seve- ral Chambers of Commerce involves, as it will be per- ceived, the whole question between the partizans of a le- gal rate of interest, to be fixed by law, and the advocates of the new theory of leaving the rate of interest free and unrestrained, like the price of all other merchantable commodities. This is a great and a difficult question, and which has of late years been much agitated. It is not our present purpose to examine or to solve this much contro- verted problem, which gave occasion to a long and learned debate in our last Legislative Assembly. But whatever may be the views which different people may adopt on this question, the difficulty raised by the measures taken by the Bank of France in increasing its rate of interest, demands a speedy and practical solution. The urgent nature of this difficulty leads us to believe that it will not be long before it meets with a proper solution. [Translated from Le Courier Franco-Italien of Paris, Oct. 29, for the New York Herald.] The raising of the rate of interest in all the principal European cities must engage the attention of the financial world; but this advance is like the price of merchandise- it necessarily results from penury and may bring back abundance. As in the case of merchandise it works as a security in three ways-by preventing the exportation of specie, by encouraging its importation, and by restraining the employment of capital, which will enter into new speculations with more caution. We do not doubt but that the true interests of the productive classes will be better taken care of, as soon as a stop will be put to at- tempts at encouraging speculation which is not well cal- culated, and as soon as restrictive measures will be adopted in order to prevent any untimely revival of plans which would prove disastrous unless justified by circum- stances. If, therefore, it is necessary to have recourse to still stronger measures for protecting the metallic re- serve, the time basis and surety of the credit system, all intelligent men will accept them as necessary and smaller evils, which are to be preferred to one greater calamity. [From La Patrie, of Paris, Oct. 26.] The questions of credit are not understood in the New World as they are in Europe. In the United States, where Industry has taken a developement which is in no propor- tion either to the population or the circulating capital, the great companies are constituted on bases defective in all points. The bonds issued by the railroad companies are repayable at fixed epochs, and generally at a date con- tiguous to their emission. Therefore the companies do not enjoy, as with us, the advantage of an amortization at long terms, and are at fixed dates under the obligation of considerable repayments, for which their profits of use are unable to suffice. Thus well conceived and prudently conducted enterprises, yielding good profits, are exposed to a chance of sinking into complete discredit, and thus the crisis commenced on the greater portion of the Ameri- can markets. The quotations of the rate of transatlantic exchanges prove this sufficiently. The renewal of the debts of the railroads to the United States would have been, very probably, possible, if the abundance of the crops in Europe, in 1857, had not damp- ened the hopes of American traders. In fact, the abund- ance of our crops produces in the New World a commer- cial disturbance which it is easy to understand. Europe pays in specie for all her purchases of breadstuffs, and everybody knows to what an enormous amount in these latter years the balance of this trade advanced. The pro- duction in the United States, with reference to the wants of Europe, has increased tenfold, and at the moment of realiz- ing the enormous benefits which the purchases of this con- tinent usually furnished, the American trade found itself without buyers. The home crop will amply suffice this year for our consumption and enable us to dispense with foreign importation. This situation, very favorable to our interests, becomes ruinous to a country which exists only by its foreign commerce and whose production regularly exceeds its home consumption. European specie was thus suddenly wanting to Ameri- can trade transactions at the very moment when this aid on which they believed they might rely was (so to say) indispensable. Thence ensued a crisis, without any other issue than private bankruptcies and public ruin. With the first symptoms of it confidence disappeared, and the de- plorable incidents which for several weeks followed one another, were facilitated by the attitude and move- ments of the speculators. For such evils there is but one efficacious remedy- time. People will soon see clearly through this industrial and commercial chaos, where the most prominent notions of justice and truth have disappeared with incredible ra- pidity. In the meantime Europe, fleeced by trans-atlantic speculation, sees her reserve capital rapidly dimish. The banks defend their metallic reserve with all the restrictive measures their privileges permit, in a general advance of interest, which is contested by nobody. But what is important to state is that we are suffering under the counter shock of a foreign crisis, and that nothing in the domestic situation of France warrants any one to con- ceive a serious fear for the future. We confess the em- barrassments of the present are great, but they cannot be compared to those which to-day surround trade affairs in England and North America. Besides, a characteristic fact confirms our idea. Money is at this moment so far from being scarce in France that that the interest on stocks is 5 per cent, and that capital at this rate is not wanting, whilst the commercial discount is raised to 8½ per cent. ### THE SMOKING OUT CASE IN RHODE ISLAND Thomas Pinkerton, the landlord who smokes out his tenants, was arraigued before Justice Earle, at Pawtucket, yester- day morning, on a complaint charging him with murder and with an assault. Some fifteen or twenty witnesses were examined from whose testimony it appeared that

6. December 6, 1857 The New York Herald New York, NY
Article from The New York Herald, December 6, 1857

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# The Revulsion in the United States and Grea Britain-Bank Polley in Both Countries. A striking contrast is presented by the Bank of England and the banks of New York at the present time. When the banks of New York were forced, in spite of themselves, to suspeid specie payments, they resolved, notwithstanding their suspension, to adhere to the policy with which they had inaugurated the panic, namely, to refuse accommodation to all but the most undoubtedly secure houses; and the consequence has been that they have been able since their suspension to contract gradually so as to reduce their loans under ninety-five millions. Sever millions of loans have been curtailed since the suspension. Hence the New York banks, doing business on a no specie basis, contracting their loans, accumulating gold in their vaults, and paying little or none of it out, are in a much stronger position than they ever were before. Very different has been the policy, and very different is the position of the Bank of Englani. That institution obtained a promise of indemnity in case it forfeited its charter-which, as we have shown, was equivalent to a suspension of specie payments on the ground that it was to enlarge its line of discounts and carry the embarrassed merchants and bankers through the panic. Suspension, in its case, has been followed by expansion; expansion at such a rate that one firm alone has obtained a million sterling in a day. Hence instead of strengthening its position and facilitating its return to regular specie payments, the Bank of England has been every day weakening tself by the issue of paper unsecured by specie, and rendering it more difficult for it to resume business on the old basis. The reasons which make our banks strong make the Bank of England weak. One cannot help recalling in this connection the leading features of the great financial struggle which culminated in the ruin of the United States Bank, twenty years ago. When the panic of that day broke out, the United States Bank resolved to carry the merchants through their embarrassments, and did not ever scruple, after its usual resources had been exhausted, to issue five millions of post notes in order to provide itself with the means of acconmodating the mercantile community. After a time, the torrent became too violent to stem; the bank could neither save the merchants nor protect itself. It suspended specie payments. On the strength of this move, it attempted again to help the merchants by expanding. Though the agents it had sent out to London and Liverpool to sell American cotton and obtain aid from the bank and capitalists to carry the United States through, had achieved nothing but failure, and had been discountenanced by the Bank of England, the United States Bank did not despair. It kept on expanding. Even when its own rottenness was proverbial, it was ready to lend money. Such efforts to enrich the country and help commerce were never known before. In the meantime, the banks of New York (which had soon recovered from their early error, expansion after suspension, and had retraced their steps) proceeded to resume; and the United States Bank was forced to follow the example. It was then that the consequences of her career of expansion became evident. After a short period of resumption, the rotten concern suspended again, and gradually went out of sight altogether. It cannot be denied that the Bank of England is pursuing the same course as the United States Bank did in 1837. She is risking her own stability in order to save Anglo-American bankers, merchants and others, whose failure, it is considered, would be injurious to the safety and welfare of the kingdom. The issue will turn on the greater or less degree of skill with which the bank is managed during this quasi suspension. It is possible that, as this country revives-which it will do in all human probability in the course of the next six months-business may recover all over the world, and the bank be able to retire its overissues without loss; but if sound financial principle is sacrificed to political expediency or personal friendship the teaching of experience indicates that the parallel between the two great banks, that of England and that of the United States, is likely to hold good to the end.

7. December 13, 1857 The New York Herald New York, NY
Article from The New York Herald, December 13, 1857

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# The Wealth of the Country. The resumption of specie payments by the banks of New York will take no one by surprise. For weeks the suspension has been nominal rather than real, and while the banks have been prudently husbanding the resources they had, they have been daily gaining coin from foreign ports and from every portion of this country. It is a fact which the weekly bank reports confirm, that of the specie shipped to England by the semi-weekly steamers, only a portion comes out of our banks; the rest, and perhaps the bulk of the shipment, comes out of the pockets of private individuals and the safes of money brokers. The revulsion of 1857 demonstrates no one thing so much or so forcibly as the intrinsic wealth of the American people. Though, when this revulsion broke out, the men and the corporations who were most conspicuously arrayed before the public eye were either stricken down or only sustained at a ruinous cost; though the number of failures was almost unprecedented, and the difficulty of obtaining money on the best securities far greater than was experienced in 1837; though, at one time, the nation as a whole seemed positively prostrate, without hope of recovery; still it is a fact that the American people at large-the rank and file of the army-have hardly suffered by the events of the fall, and are still at the head of ample means to satisfy their wants. Despite all the noise and clamor which have been made by politicians about the sufferings of the working classes, we are not inclined to think that they are much greater than they were in the winter of 1854. In such cities as New York there always is a vast amount of destitution and poverty. No doubt many persons who derived a livehood from the extravagance of our rotten rich men, and many who were in the service of the inflated corporations or individuals who have burst, have found themselves, at an unfavorable period of the year, in want of employment. Several manufacturing establishments have been forced by the hard times to close their works and discharge their hands. But when the aggregate of the individuals who have been real sufferers by the revulsion-the discharged workmen, the mechanics whose trade is idle, the men and women in the cities who cannot get paid by their insolvent employers-when all these are added together, and the amount compared with the total amount of people in the same class or avocation throughout the country, it will certainly be found that the revulsion has only grazed society, that it has not really hurt it. It has taken off the heads of the financial world; it has wounded a few soldiers in the lowest ranks; but the great body of the nation-what the English would call our middle classes-remain whole and unharmed. Were it otherwise, how could one account for the steady sale of articles of convenience? We have reason to believe that people are spending as much money as ever in living (we mean the middle ranks of society-not the Fifth avenue nabobs), and that the great purveyors of the public in matters of dry goods, provisions, books, and the like, are doing as good a business as usual. Articles of pure luxury are not in demand; twenty and thirty thousand dollar houses are not saleable; French silks and valenciennes lace are lower; but we do not believe that-outside the large cities-any considerable portion of our people feed, or dress, or are lodged worse this winter than they were last; and we are satisfied that the increase of misery even in such cities as New York is vastly exaggerated. The fact is, we are a rich people-in all probability the richest in the world. We can afford a revulsion which throws us back upon our savings once every few years. Every profession and trade in this country is, one year with another, highly remunerative; and it is the crowning characteristic of the race to which we belong to combine frugality with industry. We make money, and we save it. Every few years some of us go ahead too fast and break down. But the corpses are quickly carried to the rear, and another battalion of available men springs up to take their place. And while the change is taking place, the great bulk of the nation, the farmer, the miller, the boatbuilder, the mechanic, the storekeeper, fall back on their own resources, and are able to stand the siege. The resumption of the New York banks, with twenty-six millions of specie in vault, typifies the whole country. The revulsion has left us as a people richer than before. Our National Defences,

8. January 22, 1858 The Athens Post Athens, TN
Article from The Athens Post, January 22, 1858

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he Senate's Bank Bill which nau DEED amended by the House, came up in the Senate on the 12th. We subjoin the proceedings thereon On motion of Mr. Travis the Senate took up the Bank Bill, known as the "conference bill" for the purpose of considering House amendments thereto. Mr. Bullen moved to non-coneur in the first amendment, striking out the first of July and inserting the first of January, 1859, for the resumption of specie payment by the banks. Mr. Whitthorr.e hoped that the gentleman from Greene (Mr. Bullen,) would withhold his motion, as he desired to move a non con currence in all of House amendments, so that a committee of conference may be raised, in the event that the House refused to recede, and that thus the bill might be put in a shape in which it would pass both Houses. Mr. Harris desired to offer an amendment providing for the immediate resumption of specie payment by the banks, as the cause for suspension had been removed by the resump. tion of the banks of New York and New Orleans, and that all banks which do not resume shall forfeit their charters. Mr. Ross moved to amend the bill by providing that the banks resume specie payment on all notes of five dollars and under on the first day of July next, and on notes of all denominations on the first day of January, 1859. After some discussion upon the amendment of Mr. Ross, Mr. Bullen moved to lay the amendment of the Senator from Henderson on the table, which failed, and the question recurring on the amendment, it was adopted. Mr. Whitthorne moved to strike out January, 1859, and insert September, 1858. Mr. Harris moved to amend by inserting the 1st of February next. Withdrawn. The amendment of Mr. Whitthorne, was rejected. The first amendment of the House to the bill, was non-concurred in-ayes 10, noes 14. The second amendment of the House in relation to paying out the notes of the banks of other States by the Tennessee Banks, coming up. Mr. Travis moved to amend, by attaching a penalty to the violation of this provision. Mr. Bureh, (Mr. Jones in the chair,) moved to amend House amendment by striking out all after the words "this set" and inserting the following: "No bank, agent, person or corporation, licensed or chartered to do a banking or brokerage business, shall be permitted to pay out for circulation, the note of any corporation or association of individuals, which has not been chartered by the State of Tennessee; a violation of this provision shall be a misdemeanor, and any person or corporation convicted thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars, and not more than two thousand dollars.' The amendment of Mr. Burch was concurred in. The third House amendment, allowing the State Bank to pay out the notes of its branches, was non-concurred in. The fourth amendment, which permits the Free Banks to wind up their affairs, by withdrawing their circulation and redeeming their bonds deposited with the Comptroller, to an amount equal to the amount of notes redeemed, was amended as follows, on motion of Mr. Heiskell Provided, that no bank which has failed to deposite the second call of 10 per cent additional bonds, shall withdraw more than 80 per cent in bonds of the amount of notes withdrawn from circulation and deposited with the Comptroller." House amendment, No. 5, in relation to re apportioning the capital of the State Bank, among her branches, was taken up. Mr. Whitthorne moved to strike out as follows: Provided, such re-apportionment the shall not take place until the stocks of State in the Union and Planter's Banks, transferred to the State of Tennessee is sold and its proceeds received, but". -and to insert,"Provided further, that whenever the stock of the State in the Union and Planter's Banks is sold, or the proceeds thereof is in any manuer realized by the Bank of Tennessee, the same shall be divided and apportioned among the branches of said bank, according to the proportion directed to be observed by said Bank in dividing her original capital."I he amendment was adopted. Mr. MeDougal moved to amend the seventh section by providing that all the banks in the State shall be authorized to pay out the notes of the Bank of Tennessee and its branches. Mr. Manees moved to amend the amendment by providing that the suspended banks accept it as a portion of their charters, which as lost. And the amendment of Mr. McDougal, was then adopted. Mr. Heiskell moved that the words "no parent Bank shall"- the seventh section be stricken out, and insert, "the Bank of Tennessee and branches shall pay out each others notes," which was adopted. Mr. Burch, (Mr. Bullen in the chair,) took ground against the House proviso to the seventh section. He introduced the counter, note provision into the original bill and thought it worth more than all the rest. It is true he voted against the bill after the counter, note provision as adopted because there were insurmountable objections to the bill in other sections. He could in no event surrender the counter, note proposition. The question being taken on concurring in the seventh section as amended, it was rejeeted. The bill was ordered to be immediately transmitted to the House. WASHINGTON, January 13.-In the Senate the Hon. Jas. R. Doolittle, one of the members from to-day Black Republican Wisconsin, Comintroduced a resolution extending to modore H Paulding the thanks of the coun-

9. January 25, 1862 The Emporia News Emporia, KS
Article from The Emporia News, January 25, 1862

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# SUSPENSION OF SPECIE PAYMENT. The suspension of specie payment by the banks of the eastern cities, seems so far to have produced but little financial disturbance, although the rate of exchange has been materially increased in western cities, and treasury notes are at a greater discount. The banks of New York when they suspended, held over $22,000,000 in coin. When they suspended in the crisis of 1857, they held less than $6,000,000.

10. December 8, 1873 The New York Herald New York, NY
Article from The New York Herald, December 8, 1873

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CONGRESSIONAL CURRENCY SCHEMES. The True Philosopher's Stone---More Economy and Less Extravagance. THE DANGER OF INFLATION. The Events of the Week Review of Markets and Prices. WALL STREET, SUNDAY, Dec. 1873. History is evidently repeating itself. The panic of 1857 subsided with the suspension of the banks of New York on the 13th of October of that year. Comparative comfort followed and was enjoyed, especially by those who had successfully maintained the struggle to that time. Money-that is, bank credits-became easy and the immediate future was radiant with promise. Mercantile fallures ceased almost entirely, and the new business was done on sounder basis than had existed for years. The winter of 1857-58 proved to be dull, but it was hopefully expected that the ensuing spring would witness thorough revival of trade and the disappearance of THE LAST VESTIGE of the crisis. As events proved, however, these hopes were destined to have little or no fruition. Business firms who had sacrificed every thing to sustain themselves during the panic and had been successful, found themselves in 1858 obliged to succumb to species of dry rot. Dry rot prevailed everywhere, It advanced at rate of compound interest that was incalculable. The whole structure of trade became infected with it. The banks or New York afforded an illustration of the situation in their gross clearings for the three years of 1856, 1857 and 1858. We compile the figures from the reports of the New York Clearing House, as follows. The clearings $6,906,213,323 In 1856 amounted to. 8.333.226.718 In 1857 amounted to In 1858 amounted 4,756,664,386 From the foregoing it will be seen that the trade of this city, as represented by the banks, showed a falling off for the year 1858 of nearly one-half when compared with 1857, and one-third compared with 1856; and it was not until AFTER THE WAR commenced and the government began its immense expenditure for merchandise and the attendant inflation of currency, that the clearings again reached the figures of 1857. A similar condition existed in the stock market of that day. Prices continued to decline from the suspension of the Ohio Life and Trust Company until the suspension of the banks. Then the tide of reaction temporarily set in. A strong and upward movement Yollowed, and reasons were as plenty as blackberries why prices should at once return to former figures. But they did not. The speculation exhausted itself and collapsed. THE TRADE OF THE COUNTRY diminished to a degree that prevented the railroads from earning enough to pay dividends on their stocks, and, in some cases, they were unable to pay even the interest on their bonded debt. Hence, we and that, in 1859, two years after the panic, prices were as low, and even lower, than during the panic itself. New York Central, for instance, sold at 69, Hudson River at 30, Eric at 4, Michigan Southern at 4. Reading at 351/2, and Cnicago and Rock Island it 55% It is also to be remembered in this connection that the policy of railroads, prior to 1857, was not unlike that which has been enforced during the past few years; to wit: issues ot stock were made to represent real or supposed surplus, and bonds were issued for new construction, ex tensions, &c., until then, as now, the stocks and debt represented AS MUCH WATER AS REAL PROPERTY. Is there no lesson here for the presenti Is not the condition of affairs we have described similar in its chief aspects to that which exists at this time? Is the promise of recuperation greater now than then? Nay. Will the trade of the country, however sound may be, equal for years to come the amount or volume or that which has passed away? Every prudent man will answer these questions for himself, and his own experience will teach him that in the face of all the misfortunes that beset the country-the failures, contraction of currency, decline in trade, suspension of mills and workshops and labor unemployed-it is folly to be drawn into the vortex of speculation, and hope that in the general madness of the hour he will be one of the lucky few who extricate themselves in time to escape the crash of disaster. The stock market is undoubtedly buoyant and tempting. Fortunes have been made and lost in the recent sharp advance, and possibly still others may be made and lost; but it is unsafe to repose confidence in a market that depends for its strength on the manipulations of the hour and not upon inherent values consistent with the outside situation. The chemists in THAT LABORATORY OF BRAINS AND BUNCOMBECongress-got fairly at work during the past week, and have already begun to show us the contents of their financial crucibles. A number of propositions have been made having for their object speedy resumption on the one hand and on the other indation to any extent that the people desire. It is useless to discuss these until they have reached maturity, and there is reason to believe that one or more of them may become laws. Nothing, however, can.be truer in theory than the principle that banking is a trade, and only trade; and nothing can be more surely established by larger experience than that a government which interferes with any trade injures that trade. The best thing that a government can do with the money market is to let it take care of itself, except in so far as it may be necessary to STRENGTHEN THE PUBLIC CREDIT and enhance the value of the currency which now constitutes our circulation. As was wisely said by one of the United States Senators in a recent conversation, "The people who have lost by this panic are either those who have dangerously extended their business upon the money of others or those who have voluntarily lent their money to such persons, If you examine all the failures you will find that they are included within these classes. This is matter beyond legislative relief. All that the law can do is to secure the currency. It cannot say who shall or who shall not receive deposits, or who shall make them, or to whom they shall be lent. All Congress can do 19 to require ample security for all currency issued: to maintain it at par with gold; to guard of panic, and then sell, barter, scarcity persons borrow. in tree lend times to buy, against exchange, to leave artificial bank, all or deposit as they will at their own risk." This is the whole tion in a nutshell. We cannot return ques- to SPECIE PAYMENTS without gold. On the 1st of January, after the payment by the government of its $20,000,000 loan of 1858-9 and $26,000,000 of interest then due the public debt, the Treasury will contain only be. on tween six and seven millions of gold in excess of what is due to the public and represented by $30,200,000 of certificates. If, as has been suggested. we attempt to borrow in the markets of the Old World $200,000,000 of gold, It would be fol. lowed by a monetary crisis abroad, from which interest in America every point of a What we require is some. every plan Regarded is productive impracticable. from view, indeed, would such suffer. thingthat chall cause the value

11. December 18, 1886 The Republican Oakland, MD
Article from The Republican, December 18, 1886

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The Panic of 1857. The cause of the panic of 1857 was mainly the rage for land speculation which had ran through the country like an epidemic. Papercities abounded, unproductive railroads were opened, and to help forward these projects, irresponsible banks were started, or good banks found themselves drawn into an excessive issue in notes. Every one was anxious to invest in real estate and become rich by an advance in prices. Capital was attracted into this speculation by the prospect of large gains, and SO great was the demand for money that there was a remarkable advance in the rates of interest. In the West, where the speculative fever wasatits highest, the common rates of interest were from 2 to 5 per cent. a month. Everything was apparently in the most prosperous condition, real estate going up steadily, the demand for money constant and its manufacture by the banks progressing successfully, when the failure of the "Ohio Life and Trust Company" came, August 24, 1857, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. This was followed by the portentous mutterings of a terrible coming storm. One by one small banks in Illinois, Ohio. and everywhere throughout the West and South went down. September 25-26 the banks of Philadelphia suspended payment, and thus wrecked hundreds of banks in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and adjoining States. Oc tobec 13.14, after a terrible run on them by thousands of depositors, the banks of New York suspended payment. October 14 all the banks of Massachusetts went down, followed by general wreckages of credit throughout New England. The distress which followed these calamities was very great, tens of thousands of workmen being unemployed for months. The New York banks resumed payment again December 12, and were soon followed by the banks in other cities. The darkest period of the crisis now seemed past. although there was much heartrending suffering among the poor during the winter which followed. The commercial reports for the year 1857 showed 5,133 commercial failures, with liabilities amounting to $291,750,000.-Inter-Ocean.