The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 1, 1917-1918Various
History
The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume 1, 1917-1918
Various
Wisconsin -- History -- Periodicals
_Temporary loans to states._ Patriotic impulse prompted the immediate
offering of loans by the banks. In Massachusetts the bankers of Boston
tendered the state government a loan up to ten per cent of their
combined capital. In Illinois the banks of Springfield offered the
state $100,000 on the day Lincoln called for troops. This was
supplemented by the Chicago banks’ tender of $500,000. Throughout the
early days of the war the banks in all localities were called upon for
loans on the credit of the state. These were funded at seven per cent,
then the usual interest for such transactions.
_Temporary loans to the federal government._ The treasury of the
United States was in a desperate condition at the outbreak of the
Civil War. Lacking resources even for its daily needs, it was totally
unprepared for the great strain immediately placed upon it. Secretary
Chase did not have recourse to the bankers, however, until after the
battle of Bull Run in July had proved that the war was not to be an
affair of “three months.”
On the day that the news of the defeat at Bull Run reached
Philadelphia, a young banker recently removed to that city from Ohio,
an ardent partisan of Secretary Chase, drew up a paper offering to
advance to the Secretary of the Treasury specified sums for sixty days
at six per cent interest, returnable in specie or interest-bearing
treasury notes. With this proposal he visited the principal banks and
financial houses in his city, and raised for immediate government
needs nearly $2,000,000 in one day. Chase was interested and grateful,
and the fortunes of Jay Cooke, the young banker, were made from that
day.
Early in 1862, when the government’s daily needs were increasing
enormously, John J. Cisco, assistant treasurer of the sub-treasury at
New York, made arrangements for a loan from the city banks of their
temporarily idle funds. These were received on deposit for thirty
days, subject to withdrawal thereafter on ten days’ notice. At first
Cisco by this means secured much specie at four per cent; later, five
and six per cent were paid for these advances. This money was largely
used for the payment of the interest on the public debt. One banker in
New York, it is said, became uneasy after lending the sub-treasury
$1,000,000, and demanded its return. Cisco told him to send his carts
for it immediately. The next day his faith in the government was
restored and he concluded to leave his reserve with the sub-treasurer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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