USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 40
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would have been enabled to possess all the advantages of a sound currency, and prosperity would have again smiled upon the labors of all classes of people. But instead of this great blessing, the currency kept on going from bad to worse. In Washington, "if our sufferings are not intolerable, they are too grievous to be borne, the best of our currency being the outstanding certificates of deposit thrown into circulation by the banks. Congress has indeed reinstated the charters of the banks, but with the conditions that, so long as the banks of States on either side of us do not pay specie, our banks can keep out no circulation, and, of course, can do no business." The bankable paper of the District at that time consisted of the notes of the banks of the District, certificates of deposit of those banks, and notes of the banks of Baltimore and of banks in cities north of Maryland. By far the greatest part of the bank circulation, however, was of the Virginia banks, which, for some reason that was not then clear, could not then be made bankable, except at a loss of $3 per hundred to the possessor. Besides this, there was a flood of the notes of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, of denominations less than $5, which, up to near the latter part of 1841, circulated at par, and then becoming depreci- ated in Baltimore, they also, of course, settled in Washington to about ten per cent. below par. So great was the loss and confusion that was occasioned, that the merchants of Baltimore agreed not to receive them in payment for anything except at their actual value.
The following figures relate to the condition of the banks on December 31, 1841: Bank of the Metropolis - Capital, $500,000; de- posits, $223,040.02; circulation, $21,620.26; specie on hand, $81,680.61. Richard Smith was cashier at that time. Bank of Washington - Capi- tal, $359,840; deposits, $170,372.21; circulation, $7,180; specie funds and Treasury notes, $71,269.68. James Adams was then cashier. Patriotic Bank, of Washington, - Capital, $250,000; circulation, $25,686. Farmers and Mechanics' Bank, of Georgetown, - Net capital, $317,265.
In January, 1842, the rates of discount in Washington were as follows: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad notes, 20 to 25 per cent. dis- count; Virginia notes, from 4 to 5 per cent. discount; specie was from 3 to 33 per cent. above Baltimore bank notes, while the notes of the banks of the District were equal to specie, and the certificates of deposit of the Patriotic Bank were equal to Baltimore bank notes.
Congress, during its extra session of 1841, labored hard and faithfully to remedy the evils inflicted upon the country by the derangement of the currency, but all their efforts were unavailing because of what, at length, in the language of the times, came to be
25
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known as President Tyler's "conscientious" seruples as to the consti- tutionality of the measures by it adopted. From the termination of the extra session to the opening of the next regular session, and during the regular session, the condition of the enrrency was persistently growing worse. In three-fourths of the States there was, in fact, nothing that could be called currency, except by courtesy. In Philadelphia, there was no bank paper which any man would hold a moment longer than was necessary to rid himself of it. In Wash- ington, the notes of the banks of several of the States, which were in tolerably fair credit at home, could not be converted into funds at less than from five to twenty per cent. discount, while the notes of banks of other States could not be converted into funds upon any terms. A remarkable illustration of the condition of the currency in 1842, the result of fourteen years experiment by incompetent hands, was furnished by the following notice, published in the Mobile Prices Current, June 29, that year: "A sight check on New York for $5,000 was yesterday sold at forty-two per cent. premium." Another instance was cited in the public prints -that of a gentleman in Philadelphia, who had just received a remittance from St. Louis in Virginia money, for which the St. Louis agent had paid ten per cent. premium, and which, on its arrival in Philadelphia, was found to be at a discount of about ten per cent., causing a loss of twenty per cent. on the transaction. Such facts as these demonstrated to all business men, and all other rational men, that the great necessity of the country was a national currency, of equal value in all parts of the Union. Such a currency could not be furnished by State banking institutions. President Jackson's "better currency" was little else than an aggravation everywhere, because it was practically a fraud and a delusion. The specie standard was established at various points, as at Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, New Orleans, etc., and yet the traveler at the West or South, starting from any of these points, often found it necessary to change his funds, and at every change he was compelled to lose from three to ten per cent. At Louisville, specie-paying New Orleans funds were from five to ten per cent. discount, and in Indiana three per cent. At St. Louis, Kentucky paper was at a discount of from four to five per cent. There was no money then in the country that would pass for its face everywhere but American gold, and that could not be had for less than three per cent. premium in silver.
One of the strongest statements made, or possible to be made, with reference to the condition into which the currency had been
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brought by the administrations of President Andrew Jackson and President Martin Van Buren, was contained in a letter to the HIon. John C. Calhoun by General James Hamilton, then an ex- member of Congress from South Carolina, and a stanch friend of General Jackson at the time of his elevation to the Presidency, and for several years thereafter. The letter was written in London, Eng- land, September 29, 1842, after several months' observation as to the credit of the several States, and of the United States, in Europe. He said that the great necessity of the country was a uniform circulation, which should be of the same value in New Orleans and in Boston. "This circulation, in the recesses of financial wisdom which is past finding out, was destroyed by our friend, General Jackson, when he slew the Bank of the United States, with the arm of Samson, and almost 'with the selfsame weapon,' too, when we recollect all the twaddle of the old gentleman on the subject. IIe, as Burke said, was certainly 'a consummate architect of ruin' in his time and tide, and had the happy faculty of impersonating, in his mind's eye, a corpora- tion for the purpose of hating it as cordially as he once did you and Mr. Poindexter. When, thereafter, Mr. Biddle entered into a contest with this hero of two wars, he forgot the wisdom of a Spanish proverb, 'that he who sits down to dine with the Devil should eat with a long spoon.' What has been the result of this feast of broken meat and empty plates you well know. It has left our country hungry of flesh, indeed, and poor in spirit. I doubt, since the crea- tion of the world, whether such an example can be exhibited as we have presented for the last sixteen years, of folly and misgovernment. No Southern planter would permit his plantation for an hour to be governed with such a lack of all sense and providence. The Caffres and Hottentots, in reference to their condition, I doubt not, have been governed with a policy far more vigilant and enlightened. A country of immense resources, in a period of profound peace, on the verge of bankruptcy! No man who has ever read Hume's essay on ' Public Credit,' and on 'Money,' can be at any loss to trace our present condition to its true cause. . . . This result has been, first, in the constant action of the Federal Government, or their supposed meditated action, on the banks of the States, which created a universal panic; and next, the General Government permitted to remain in criminal abeyance their several functions to supply a currency equal to the wants of the country, and to regulate its value. . . . But, my good sir, the day of reckoning must come. The account will be adjusted now, or by posterity. One of its first sums will be to settle
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what the victory at New Orleans has cost us. Napoleon's victories, in cost, were no more to be compared to the victory at New Orleans than a penny whistle is to Baron Munchausen's celebrated clarion under an April thaw. I calculate that the victory of the 8th of January cost us $500,000,000, besides the small expense of entailing upon the country a set of drivelers, whose folly has taken away all dignity from distress, and made even calamity ridiculous. You will say : ' Hold! You and I were greatly responsible for this hero's getting into power.' Yes, it is true! Willingly would I expiate this sin, sir, with my blood, if I could recall the fatal past, but this is impossible," etc.
But the "Whig Congress" adjourned, March 4, 1843, without granting a recharter to the District banks, and as showing the feeling of the opposition party toward these banks, the following from the Ohio Statesman, of March 7, is extremely expressive:
"There was one bright and glorious spot in the close of this Congress besides its eternal dissolution; namely, the District banks failed to get a recharter. The rotten things are now defunet, and their putrid carcasses are left to dry up in the summer's sun, for a more corrupt and rascally set of Whig shaving shops did not exist in the Union."
But notwithstanding this outburst of malice, the fact was that these banks were honestly conducted, they paying specie even when other banks did not, and always when other banks did. They were at that time paying specie, and were quite as able to meet their engagements as any banks in the States on either side of the Dis- trict. But the triumph of the enemies of the District banks was not destined to be permanent. In March, 1844, a bill to extend their charters was reported to the House of Representatives, which became a law June 17, 1844. This law, however, did not specifically extend the charters of any of the banks in the District of Columbia. It only provided that each of them might be party to a suit at law, by which debts due by or to any of them might be collected. Afterward, there was no legislation upon banking in the District, except such as pro- vided for the temporary extension of the charter of the Union Bank of Georgetown for the specific purpose of winding up its affairs, until after the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, and the District banks existed merely as financial institutions, without special banking privileges.
The Freedman's Savings and Trust Company was incorporated by an act of Congress approved March 3, 1865, with fifty incorporators- thirty-one of whom were from New York, seven from Massachusetts,
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two from Rhode Island, six from Pennsylvania, and four from Ohio. These incorporators were also made by this act the first trustees of the institution, and were required to elect from their own number a president and two vice-presidents. Other officers were also provided for. The object of the incorporation was to receive on deposit such sums of money as might be, from time to time, offered by or on behalf of persons previously held in slavery, or their descendants, and to invest them in the stocks, bonds, Treasury notes, or other securities of the United States. The books of the company were to be open to inspection to such persons as Congress should appoint.
The business of the company was at first, and for some time, con- ducted in New York City, with the following officers: President, William A. Booth; first vice-president, Mahlon T. Hewitt; second vice-president, Walter S. Griffith; secretary, J. W. Alvord. When the headquarters of the company were removed to Washington, J. W. Alvord became president, D. W. Anderson vice-president, and W. J. Wilson cashier. The business of the bank was prosperous and well conducted until the original charter was so amended, May 6, 1870, as to authorize the trustees and officers of the company to make loans to the extent of one-half of the deposits on unincumbered real estate situated in the vicinity of the several branches of the company, to the extent of one-half the value of such real estate. By this amend- ment to the original charter, and by Section 6 of the act of incor- poration creating an available fund, Congress opened the door to trouble, which eventually wrecked the institution. And this event was not long delayed. Some of the funds of the bank were recklessly invested, and not always, or perhaps often, with a view to the benefit of the depositors. The business was very extensive. There were thirty-four branches of the company, in all parts of the country. The growth of the business was extremely rapid, the deposits for the year ending March 1, 1866, amounting to $305,167, while for the year ending March 1, 1871, they were $19,952,647.36. When it was dis- covered that the affairs of the company were in an unsatisfactory condition, a board of commissioners was appointed to take charge. These commissioners were John A. J. Creswell, Robert Purvis, and Robert HI. T. Leipold. The deposits then in the aggregate had amounted to about $56,000,000, and about $53,000,000 had been paid back to the depositors, leaving about $3,000,000 still due to nearly seventy thousand depositors. To settle up the accounts with this immense number of depositors was the task assumed by these com- missioners. By March 7, 1881, they had paid out $1,450,000, and at
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the present time sixty-two per cent. of the total amount due the thousands of depositors has been paid to all who have called for their dividends. However, the original commissioners have not been continued in charge of the work during all the years it has been going on, they having been relieved of the labor at their own request, March 7, 1881, under the provisions of an act of Congress approved February 21, 1881. Since then, the work has been in charge of the Comptroller of the Currency. Up to December 5, 1891, there had been paid to the depositors the sum of $1,722,340.58, from the assets of the company, a showing quite creditable to the commissioners and the Comptroller of the Currency, and one equal to, if not better, than that made by most of the financial institutions which failed in con- sequence of the panic of 1873.
Mr. W. W. Corcoran commenced the brokerage business in Wash- ington in 1837, in a small store, ten by sixteen feet in size, on Pennsylvania Avenue, near Fifteenth Street. His business here was eminently successful, and in 1839 he moved to the old Bank of the Metropolis building, on the corner of Fifteenth and F streets. In 1840, he received into partnership George W. Riggs, son of Elisha Riggs, of New York, broker, the firm name being Corcoran & Riggs. In 1845, Corcoran & Riggs purchased the old United States Bank building, at the corner of Fifteenth Street and New York Avenue, together with all its property and effects uncollected. The business of this firm having been successful, Mr. Corcoran settled with all his old creditors of 1823, the aggregate amount required to settle all these old accounts being about $46,000. This act of Mr. Corcoran's was a great surprise to his old creditors, none of whom had any legal claim upon him. Mr. T. C. Rockhill, of Philadelphia, who had received on such an account $1,415.50, in acknowledging its receipt, said: "This extraordinary act has been done by you without solicitation on my part, and I will take this occasion to say that, having been engaged in mercantile pursuits for thirty years, and during that period having sold upward of $23,000,000 to various persons in different States of the Union, and having compromised claims for very large amounts, yours is the only instance in which a man ever came forward (after recovering his fortune), in the honorable manner you have done, and paid me in full."
About this time, the house of Corcoran & Riggs took on its own account nearly all the loans made by the Government of the United States. July 1, 1848, Mr. George W. Riggs retired from the firm, and Elisha Riggs, also a son of Elisha Riggs, of New York, by another
Chas 6 Gloves
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wife, was taken in as a junior partner. He remained in the firm until 1854. On the 1st of April of this year, Mr. Corcoran withdrew from the firm, and the business was continued by Mr. George W. Riggs, under the firm name of Riggs & Company, until his death, August 24, 1881, since which time the same name has been retained, and the business conducted under it by E. Francis Riggs, Thomas Hyde, Charles C. Glover,1 and James M. Johnston:
The First National Bank of Washington was organized in Sep- tember, 1863, under the National Banking law of Congress, and opened its doors for business on the 22d of that month, at the corner of Fif- teenth and G streets. H. D. Cooke was president, and William S. Huntington cashier. The capital of the bank was $500,000, and its business was very prosperous until the panic of 1873, when it failed, and was placed in the hands of E. L. Stanton, son of the Sec- retary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, who wound up its affairs.
The Merchants' National Bank was organized in September, 1864, with William Bayne as president, and L. Huyck cashier. In October, 1865, Mr. Bayne resigned as president, and was succeeded by Mr. Huyck in that position, Charles A. Sherman being elected cashier. Charles W. Boteler, Jr., was elected vice-president of the bank January 1, 1866. In March, 1866, this bank became involved with a Baltimore firm which failed, the result of which was that the bank itself failed, and the president, being accused of placing large sums in the hands of the Baltimore firm without authority, was arrested and thrown into jail. Without entering into the details of the
1 Charles Carroll Glover, one of the ablest and one of the youngest financiers of Washington, was born in Macon County, North Carolina, November 24, 1846. His grandfather, Charles Carroll Glover, in the early years of this century, was a large property holder and a prominent and esteemed citizen of Washington. His father, Richard L. Glover, was a native of Washington, and with his wife, formerly Miss Caroline Percy, in about 1845, moved to a farm on Valley River, about twenty miles from Asheville, North Carolina, and were living there when Mr. Glover was born. When he was eight years old, his parents moved to Washington, and here he attended Ritten- house Academy, taught by Otis C. Wight, one of the prominent teachers of the city. At the age of sixteen, he entered Frank Taylor's bookstore, remaining there three years. On June 30, 1866, he entered the banking house of Riggs & Company, and in time rose to be the teller in the bank. On January 1, 1874, upon the invitation of Mr. Riggs, he became a member of the firm, and so remains to the present time, and it is since that time that most of his important work has been performed. In 1876, he joined the management of the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company, which afterward became a prosperous corporation. In 1881, he entered the directory, and became vice- president of the company a few years later, resigning in 1891 both the vice-presidency and the directorship, and leaving the corporation one of the finest in the country. He
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difficulty, it may be sufficient to say that the Merchants' National Bank did not survive the shock, and was at length closed entirely.
The National Bank of the Metropolis was organized in 1865, was located at No. 452 Fifteenth Street, opposite the Treasury, and went into liquidation the latter part of the year 1868.
The National Bank of the Republic, of Washington, was organized in 1865. It purchased the property of the old Patriotic Bank, of Wash- ington, located at the southwest corner of Seventh and D streets. At this time, the officers of the old bank were John Purdy, president; MI. Chauncey Bestor, teller; Charles Bradley, bookkeeper, and J. M. Duncanson, elerk. The new bank building was built by William II. Baldwin, afterward one of its directors. The first board of direc- tors of the new bank were as follows: Fitzhugh Coyle, Matthew G. Emery, Samuel Norment, J. M. Brodhead, William A. Bradley, Leonidas Coyle, John II. Semmes, Daniel B. Clarke, and L. D. Gil- man, gentlemen all well known and highly esteemed. Mr. Fitzhugh Coyle was unanimously elected president of the board, and continued in that position until his death, in 1877. Matthew G. Emery after- ward became president of the Second National Bank; Samuel Nor- ment, of the Central National Bank, and J. M. Brodhead, First Comptroller of the Treasury. Charles Bradley was elected cashier of this new bank, March 8, 1865, and J. M. Duncanson teller. The bank became a Government depository in May, 1865, and invested its capital in Government bonds. William A. Bradley died August 28, 1867, and on September 18, following, William H. Baldwin was
became a director in the National Safe Deposit, Savings, and Trust Company before it assumed its present name, and is now vice-president of the institution. He was one of the originators of the Columbia Fire Insurance Company, and is now its vice-presi- dent. In 1881, he began the effort which resulted in the reclamation of the Potomac Flats, which gave to the city another beautiful park containing about four hundred acres of land, adding much to its beauty as well as to its healthfulness; and he was also largely influential in securing the extension of the waterworks, by which extension they are equally efficient with any system in the country. He is one of the trustees of the Corcoran Art Gallery, and was the last to enter the board previous to Mr. Corcoran's death. In 1891, he succeeded in inducing the trustees to purchase a large tract of land on Seventeenth Street and New York Avenue with the view of erecting thereon a new gallery, which will be done as soon as practicable. He has been for a long time connected with the Church of the Epiphany, and has been vestryman for a number of years. The crowning event of his life, however, is doubtless the suc- cess attending his labors in securing the condemnation of about two thousand acres in Rock Creek Valley for a national park, called Rock Creek Park. This work was commeneed in 1888, and continued until the bill passed Congress in September, 1890, assuring the success of the project. From the facts of Mr. Glover's comparative youth
Bank Blank 11 v
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appointed to the vacancy. Leonidas Coyle died in August, 1868, and in October, following, W. H. Morrison was appointed to the place. C. S. Bradley became bookkeeper in November, 1865, and assistant cashier in January, 1874. Edwin L. Stanton, son of the great Secretary of War, G. M. Wight, W. R. Riley, and W. J. Sibley became directors in January, 1874. L. D. Gilman died March 15, 1876. Major J. C. Cash became director in 1876, and died February 8, 1877. Mr. E. L. Stanton died in September, 1877. Mr. Fitzhugh Coyle died September 30, 1877, and Dr. Daniel B. Clarke' was elected to the presidency October 3, 1877. R. K. Elliott and T. E. Waggaman were elected directors in January, 1878. G. M. Wight resigned in December, 1878, and E. K. Goldsborough was appointed to fill the vacancy in 1879.
The dividends declared were ten per cent. up to July, 1879, when they were reduced to eight per cent., at which they have since continued. Up to July 1, 1880, the total dividends declared amounted to $352,000, or $152,000 more than the capital stock. During the years from 1867 to 1872, inclusive, the tax on each semi-annual dividend was also paid by the bank. The directors in January, 1881, were Daniel B. Clarke, W. II. Morrison, W. R. Riley, W. J. Sibley, James M. Farr, R. K. Elliott, T. E. Waggaman, E. K. Goldsborough, and C. C. Duncanson. Mr. Charles Bradley, cashier, died August 26, 1881, and C. S. Bradley was elected to the vacant position, September 7, following. A. A. Wilson was elected director January 10, 1882. B. F. Bigelow's defalcation was discovered June
and his great success in the past, it may perhaps be safely predicted that he will be one of the wealthiest citizens of Washington, as he is now one of the most public- spirited.
1 Daniel Boone Clarke, capitalist and banker, was born in Washington, District of Columbia, March 3, 1825. He is a descendant in the seventh generation of the Hon. Robert Clarke, who came from England in 1636, who represented the Jesuit fathers in the colonial assemblies, who was surveyor-general of Maryland, privy conn- cilor under Lord Baltimore, and who voted in the assembly of 1649 for the celebrated Maryland Federation Act. The Clarkes of Maryland had their large landed estates confiscated in the Revolution of 1689. William Clarke, born March 16, 1750, great-great- grandson of IIon. Robert Clarke, was a second lieutenant in one of the eight companies constituting the Seventh Regiment, Maryland Line of Regulars, of General William Smallwood's brigade, in the Revolutionary War. His son, Walter Clarke, born in June, 1777, and married to Rachel Boone September 20, 1814, was the father of Dr. Daniel Boone Clarke. Young Clarke was educated in the private schools of Washing- ton, and in 1841 entered a pharmaceutical establishment in this city. When twenty-one years old, he went into business on his own account in South Washington, and in 1857 graduated from Georgetown University with the degree of M. D. In 1859, he
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