" *
f art
TIbe Conservative.
When Mr. liar-
NATHAN S.
wood came to Lincoln
.
IIAKWOOI )
coln ho was a poor ,
young lawyer with a good education , and
habits of industry and self denial. He
and Mr. Tnttlo rented an office together
and other lodging being out of the ques
tion , the office was their dwelling place
by night as well as day. Iu twenty-five
years of pleading and practice Mr. Har-
wood accumulated a competency. But
his horizon was over a broad one. He
had wide sympathies and as wide a
vision. While practicing law he saw
opportunities for making money here
and there which he did not neglect.
When the presidency of a bank was
offered him it was still in the time when
there were illusions about bankers living
easy , luxurious , highly enviable lives.
Mr. Harwood yielded to the tempta
tion and it cost him his life and his
fortune.
The failure of the Capital National
bank was a greater loss to Lincoln than
the sum of the losses of depositors ,
directors and officers. Another genera
tion will scarcely see confidence restored
to its normal tone. Bankers in Lincoln
deal with a suspicious community , con
taining members who have been
swindled and are revengeful. The
years of the panic were at hand when
Mr. Harwood took charge of the First
National bank of this city. It was an
old bank with a good reputation , but
the first view from the inside must have
made oven Mr. Harwood's stout heart
quail. One bad debt after another soon
proved the magnitude of the task
assigned him. But like the true knight
and brave gentleman he was , it never
occurred to him to give up the trifling
proportion of stock he held and save
himself. Long before even the good
guessers suspected that the bank was in
difficulties and while there was still an
opportunity to get his name off the bonds
and escape with only a nominal loss Mr.
Harwood took counsel with himself and
decided to do his best for the bank , the
city and the whole South Platte district
whose arteries it filled. Mr. Harwood's
defection at this moment would have
destroyed the city and ho knew it and
only in the long watches of the sibilant
summer nights when he paced the floors
of the house forever hallowed by the
midnight tread of those heroic feet , did
he pity himself and groan. In the day
time he was at his post , encouraging the
other officers of the bank and the busi
ness men of the city. He had not even
the poor comfort of being numbered
among the wounded unto death. It
was absolutely necessary that he should
endure in silence and look prosperous
and happy , and he did it. In his youth
he was a soldier who was repeatedly
promoted "for gallant conduct on the
field of battle. " When more than half
a century old he fought another long
battle for hearth and home , for the
women and little children , without the
stimulus of comrades fighting with him
for an acknowledged cause , and pre
tending that he was not fighting at all.
And he has been promoted again "for
gallant conduct on the field of battle. "
There is no resident of the city of
Lincoln whose property is not worth
more now and whose business is not
more remunerative now because of this
brave and constant man who refused to
save himself at their cost. To sell stock
he know at that time to bo of doubtful
value , to an ignorant purchaser never
occurred to Mr. Harwood , in the days
before the panic , when he might easily
have done it. He dealt justly and lived
uprightly. Ho was kind to the poor ,
even to the intemperate poor. He gave
constantly and secretly to them. He
never made spectacular gifts nor any of
those false movements which fill those
near enough to see the real reason , for
them with disgust. On the day before
he was buried , a procession of humble ,
sorrowing men applied at his door for
permission to take a last look at the
friend who never before was unrespon
sive to their entreaty. He was a helpful
member of the charity organization
society. He was a member of the state
historical society. He was a member of
several orders. He was always brotherly
and kind , and the solemn , brotherly
ceremony performed by the masons at
his grave was an especially fitting fare
well to Mr. Harwood as well as a cele
bration of the principle upon which he
worked out his life.
-Know ye not that there is a prince
and a great man fallen this day in
Israel ? " It is fitting that we should
know what wo owe to this man and
others who have preserved this body
politic from dissolution. Lincoln
Courier.
B
NATIONAL BANKS.
BANKS.assumed now that
congress will declare the United States
fully and irretrievably committed to the
gold standard. But what congress may
or may not do relative to a currency for
the United States is entirely un
determined. However , the fact that
the gold standard is established is a
great gain. Conscientious trustees for
estates , minor heirs and the holders of
other fiduciary funds can now buy and
hold on to government bonds without
any possibility of being charged with
notice from the debtor , through the
Stanley Matthews resolution , that the
word "coin" in them means either sil
ver or gold at the option of the debtor.
There are only about $200,000,000 of
national bank notes based upon govern-
. , , , meut bonds. The
TWT * .
National Bank NotoH.
comptroller of the
currency does not hope to expand this
amount to more than $800,000,000. The
difference of isssuiug notes up to 90 per
cent or up to the par of the bonds would
amount to only $80,000,000. Legislation
by cougresn upon this question is there
fore inconsequential.
During this month many traders
among the American people experienced
adversity because
, „ „ „ . . .
December , 18)0. ! .
of the utter failure
of the so-called national banking system
to satisfactorily work. These banks fail
frequently to protect commercial de
positors by either making or renewing
loans when most needed , even though
the best of security be offered for them.
These banks are insufficient when com
pared to the commercial activity and
increase of the population and wealth of
today. They did better 25 years ngo
when there were less people and fewer
business transactions.
That provision of the law which ,
while requiring the country national
_ banks to keep 15
Causes. ,
per cent reserve ,
allows and encourages them to keep the
most of that reserve with other banks
in reserve centers , is a first cause of
their inability to servo their regular
customers in times of stringency. A
second cause is the provision of the law
which forbids any national bank from
making loans when it has less than the
lawful reserve.
Last spring deposits in the New York
clearing house banks exceeded 900
, . , „ , . millions of dollars.
New York City .
During the last
week of Decem
ber , 1899 , they were reduced to $740-
895,700. The reduction is fully $175-
000,000. Did or did not that reduction
consist mostly of withdrawals by the
country banks of their deposits ? These
figures , beside which a possible increase
of 20 millions or 30 millions of dollars in
national bank notes become absolutely
insignificant , are colossal and sug
gestive.
At all times the United States with its
gold , silver and paper promiFes-to-pay
. _ , , , dollars of one kind
A Keilumlaut
Currency. or another , has a
redundant cur
rency. We do not lack in currency.
We do need a system of banking which
shall recognize that business , as an
honorable pursuit , profitable to the com
munity at large , and therefore to be
recognized by legislation and en
couraged. At present , however , capital
is repelled from the banking business.
All sorts of legislative obstacles to bank
ing are imposed in the various states.
In fact , .every embryonic statesman in
the country denounces capital generally ,
and especially anathematizes incor
porated capital , particularly banks. The
country must at last come to recognize
that credit , and the use of credit , enter
largely into banking and all other com
mercial operations. Present laws ,
nevertheless , make the national banks a