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TITE SUNDAY OREGONTAN, PORTLAND, JANUARY 21, 1913.
xflOKT JTOKffiS1 OI
BTRICHAEB JPIIIABSLE ff
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WHEN the presidents and directors
of the five banks in Montrose
saw that the country was in for
a panic In the latter part of 1987 and
the Wall street money kings were tying
up all the available rash In sight, they
did what prudent bankers should do.
First each bank examined Its condition
took a financial Inventory, so to speak.
Then the heads of the five institutions
ronferred. As a result of that confer
ence a meeting was railed at which all
the depositors of any prominence In the
town were asked to be present on Pun
day afternoon In the town hall.
Mr. Forbes, president of the First
National, acted as chairman. Without
any frills ho plunired right into his
subject. So far as Montrose was con
erned. be said, there was no cause for
alarm if the business men would be pa
tient and a bit self-sacrificing There
was coins to be a very severe financial
storm, one that would try the souls of
men and test the resources of old and
worthy Institutions. But If the people
acted on that (food old policy of all for
one. and one for all. the sklea would
rlesr In due time.
Every bank In Montrose, he said, was
solvent. Of course, there waa not a
tank, in the city that would not fall If
every depositor demanded his money.
Ranks could not do business If they
kept enough money on hand to pay all
depositors in full any time they desired
the money. Banks bad to keep money
employed. They advanced money on
murtjairco: they discounted notes; they
made loans: they stimulated business
in a hundred different ways. If the
banks foreclosed all the mortgages,
railed all loans they held and withdrew
credit from those they liad been assist-
' f ' r
-
Ins;. It wonld bring distress to many
persons Just aa It would bring: distress
to the banks If all the depositors
flocked In and demanded their money
at one time.
Me explained how each bank had pre
pared a statement of Its condition; how
they all determ'ned to stand together
and how It now rested with the depos
itors to do their part. In doing their
part they would simply be safeguarding
themselvee. Their part was this: They
should first make an examination of
the banks to verify the reports of the
officers of these Institutions. If they
found those reports satisfactory they
should sign an agreement to draw from
the banks only such money ae was ab
solutely necessary to conduct their bus
iness. They should economlxe in every
way, shape and form until the panio
subsided. If this was done, Montrose
would have reason to be proud of Its
banks and Its merchants. If It was not
done, there waa danger of disaster.
This was pretty straight talk. The
doors were locked and no outsider
heard what Mr. Forbes had to say.
When he finished, the depositors, most
of whom had a fair idea before; Mr.
Forbes rot up what he waa going to
say. consulted Informally and then de
cided to appoint a committee to exam
ine the statements of the five banks of
the town. Then recess was taken un
til 9 o'clock that night, so the commit
tee might have opportunity to Inves
tigate meantime At 9 P. M. the com
mittee reported that everything was
exactly as the banks had said. That
being the case, the committee recom
mended that the depositors sign an
agreement by which one and all were
1 pledged In accordance with Mr. Forbes'
suggestion.
There was' a rush to sign. Men
seemed eager for the honor of being
first on the list. It was a time for all
good men and true to show themselves.
So they felt. All but John Svenson; he
made no mad rush to get his name at
the head or near the head of the list, or
at the foot either. He did not like that
business of having his money tied up
In bank and having anybody tell him
he should draw only Just so much.
Svenson had a hardware establish
ment. The cow men from 60 miles
around patronized him. He had been
In Montrose from the time It was only
a .three-shanty town 10 years before
and had grown and become rich with it
Headstrong, obstinate, resentful of dic
tation, he determined he would not
algn. He was one of the largest de
positors of the First National. Talk of
panic, hard times, standing by one an
other and such, made him over-suspicious.
He had more to lose than al
most any one else.
When some one noticed that he made
no move toward putting his name to the
list and called attention to the fact
Svenson announced In a loud voice that
he did not believe too much In banks
anyhow and he was going to get bis
money or know the reason why. Some
of his fellow merchants tried to argue
witn mm. tui bvenson was not a per
son to be changed by reasoning. He
would have been pleased had Mr.
Forbes, for whom he had great respect.
stepped forward and flattered him a bit
bout how much it would mean to the
bank If he left his money on deposit.
But Mr. Forbes was not that sort of
man. He had made his plain statement
and put the matter right up to the de
positors; It was for them to decide.
There was an ugly pause when Sven
son, In defiant tone, announced that he
would be on hand when the bank
opened for business next morning, to
draw out his money. Somebody moved
to adjourn, and Mr. Forbes, after stat
ing In a calm voice and with smiling
face that there seemed to be one man
who would not belong, declared the
meeting adjourned.
John Svenson. true to his word,
walked Inside when the First National
opened its doors next morning. He
went to ths paying teller's window and
pushed in a check. The teller examined
the paper, carefully looked at Mr. Sven.
son and asked: "Do you want It all?"
"Yes. I want it all," the hardware
man answered.
The paying teller took the check to
the cashier. The cashier went to the
window and asked the Swede the same
question, getting the same reply. Then
the cashier took the cheek to Mr.
Forbes. The president went to the pay
ing teller's wicket and made the same
Inquiry of Svenson. This time Svenson
raised his voice a notch and replied as
before.
"All right; pay him," said the presi
dent, and walked back to his room.
The paying teller called several clerks
and set them to work. Then he busied
himself passing money to Mr. Svenson.
First he pushed 12 sliver dollars out to
the depositor. Then he pushed stack
after stack of silver dollars through
the wicket to Mr. Svenson so fast that
Mr. Svenson had difficulty In arrang
ing it on the ledge of the partition. Qne
hundred, two hundred, three hundred,
four hundred, five hundred dollars in
silver had been passed out to Svenson
before the merchant made a protest.
The paying teller paid no attention, but
passed out more silver dollars.
"Give me bills I don't want so much
silver," said Svenson, angrily. But the
teller only shoved more silver at htm.
Some of the money fell to the floor and
Mr. Svenson upset a few stacks with his
elbow. Nothing makes a man more rat
tled or confused than to upset money
and at the same time make a fool of
himself, especially If he accumulates a
crowd in the doing of It and Mr. Sven
son certainly did collect a crowd.
Various depositors who had knowl
edge of the fact that Svenson was go
ing to draw his money assembled to
see him do so, and appeared to enjoy
his discomfiture. Svenson asked one
of them, a friend of long standing, to
help him with his money, but the man
declined.
Meanwhile the paying teller was still
pushing out stacks of silver. The more
money he got. the more rattled Mr.
Svenson became. He was working
harder than he had for years and was
getting apoplectic Maybe this was
why the friend who refused to assist
him handle the silver consented to
telephone to Svenson's store with or
ders to bring a wagon and have three
or four of the boys come along to help.
When the wagon and the young men
arrived a prayer of thanksgiving went
up from John Svenson. Two of the
young men acted as money carriers.
while another was guardian of the
wagon.
In five minutes the wagon had a load.
Before it returned Mr. Svenson was
perspiring profusely so hard was the
paying teller working "him. Three
times that wagon made a trip between
the bank and the store before John
Svenson had all his money. He had
drawn $26,612 from the First National
Bank of Montrose, and he got every
dollar of it In silver.
When Svenson got to his store he had
a problem to solve. The iron safe he
used in his business would not accom
modate this sliver flood. There seemed
no place In which to safeguard his
newly acquired hardware except the
cellar, so he had it carried down there.
Some of it was In boxes, some In kegs.
He got it down in the cellar, but that
did not ease his mind.
To have $26,612 in your cellar when
your cellar has a stairway leading to
the street, and everybody in town
knows you have that money and that
it is in your cellar, and everybody in
the county is going to know it within
48 hours and everybody in the United
States is short of money and eager to
get some, is enough to make even a
headstrong, obstinate and resentful-of-dictatlon
man like J. Svenson pause and
wonder whether he is not getting a lit
tle more trouble man he bargained
for.
One thing had to be done immediate
ly, Mr. Svenson saw. That was to pad
lock that cellar door, then nail it down,
then spike it down and then pile all the
Junk it would bear upon it. But even
the securing of the outside cellar door
was not sufficient. The treasure had
to be guarded every minute. There was
nobody more competent to guard that
silver mine than was Mr. Svenson. So,
getting a slxshooter and an ample sup
ply of cartridges, he went into the cel
lar and tried to make himself com
fortable. It takes a real philosopher to enjoy
himself in the cellar of a hardware
store. All the philosophy allotted to
the Svenson family had been disposed
of before John Svenson was born. Or
dinarily the hardware man had plenty
to keep his hands, his feet and his mind
busy in his business, so sitting in a
chair In the cellar with his slxshooter
In his lap was rather slow. The creak
ing of the planks as the clerks moved
about above, or as people came In and
went out of the store began to Irritate
him, especially as it appeared now and
then that somebody was laughing
laughing at his expense, probably.
Being a man of steadfast purpose,
however. Mr. Svenson did not budge
until it began to grow dark in the cel
lar. Then he went to the head of the
stairs, called his chief clerk, gave in-i
structlons to him to arrange for one
i
(Concluded on PSffe 4.)
6
Ad
E'5rfcwDBLE5
in OLAflk. I.2DlLS
The New Fable of
the Lonesome Ride
on the Sprinkler.
-fvNE pleasant mourning the Chief of
the Society for promoting the I
V-e portatlon of Scotch Merchandise
awoke after a Balloon Voyage which
began Feet below Sea Level In
Rathskeller and finished 2000 feet
above the Altitude recorded by Lincoln
Feachey. the Man-Bird.
When he Came To he discovered that
tie Pillow had climbed over on top of
him and was trying to work the Half
Nelson, while a large Pile-Driver, of the
kind used along the Water Front, was
beating a rhythmical Tattoo on his ten
der Bean.
He had a Temperature of 1I and his
Ears were hanging down. Also, during
the Period of I'omi some one had ex
tracted the Eyes and substituted two
hot Door-Knoba. Furthermore, hi
Pining Room Floor was covered with a
Pl'ish Rug.
After he had decanted a miniature
Niagara on to the smoking Coppers and
removed his Collar and cautiously
picked up from the Floor his flick-Pin
and the Watch and the Remnant of th
Check cashed at P. M , he felt his way
over to the Window and denounced In
unmeasured Terms an Knrllsh Sparrow
that had perched on the Sill, merely to
annoy mm.
In a little while he remembered that
he was a Resident of the Planet known
as Earth. Snun after that his Name
came back to him and then he recalled
his Boyhood and the Fact that when
he psssed the Parsonage the Presby
terian Minister would ask him to pick
some of the I. Uses and Snowballs and
take them home to his Sister Alice.
From that Point he groped through
his Life History up to the Twilight on
which the Regulars had arranged a
Send-Off for Old Buck, who was pulling
out for Seattle. In order to help Buck
to remember them as True Friends,
they had covertly planned to get him
Stewed to the Kve-Bslls and then ship
him on to Ms new Home, spread out in
.Stateroom E. with long-stemaied Rosea
Laid acrosa the Remaiaa, Tills form of ,
homicidal Gayety I perpetrated under
the name of American Hospitality.
Our Hero remembered the polite Get
away on the Low Speed with everybody
Respectable, after which the Fountains
started to gush and Walters began to
come up out of the Ground bearing
Fairy Gifts of a Liquid Variety. Some
what later in the Evening he found
himself balanced on one Toe on a
swiftly-moving Cloud, announcing to
the Stars of Night that he was a True
Spore
In other words, he realized, as he sat
humped over In the Morris Chair, hold
ing on to the Head, lest it should fall
off and roll across the Floor, that he
had been Snooted for Fair, Plastered,
ill II I H Mil i l! 1
fl''!li!''V'!!,,:H.
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riiii'i'iiihiiii'iiiii'ni!' ;'.7a i 1 1 i i
(iOMKTIVK UK OI'I.D STOP OX A fOH.VFB AM LOOK AM. ABOUT
HIM AAD IP AT THK Bl ILDIM.S ANO WOMJKR IK TUB TOWS
HAD ALWAYS BEE. AS QUET.
Ossified, Bensoated, Piped, Pickled.
Spiffllcated," Corned, Raddled, Obfus
cated, Soused and Ory-Eyed.
Six hours before, he had stood on a
Table and declared for the Brotherhood
of Man and now he craved but one
Companion and that was old Colonel R.
E. Morse.
Standing over In the Sunlight by the
Minaow. wnere ne could see the Inno
cent Shop-Glrls going blithely to their
$4 a week, he lifted the trembling Right
Mitt clear above his Head and then and
there declared himself to be on the Cart
until the great Celestial Bodies should
skid In their Orbits and the Globe Itself
dissolve into vapor.
Just as he pronounced the Words,
Nev-ER A-gen." he felt a great Flood
of worthy Resolutions arising In his
new Moral Nature. He would buy ;
Winchester Automatic and devote th
remainder of his wasted Life to shoot
ing up Barkeeps. And when be died,
the whole Estate would go to the W. C
T. v.
Just after he had double-strapped
nimsen io tne wagon ana started up
Seltzer Avenue he realized that an Im
mediate Absinthe Krappe would be
worth $15,000 to him. but . Instead of
ordering one he resolved to write Doc
Her a Letter advising him that while
he was putting his Nlxey -Mark on that
Green Magoo he should Include all oth
er Colors bestowed upon the Essence
of Tribulation.
That afternoon the Survivors of the
Midnight Massacre got together at a
Club to compare Hang-Overs and find
out what had happened after the Root
fell In.
Our Hero appeared Just as the Boy
was getting ready to throw a Life Line.
He was greeted with a ribald Shout and
told to come running and Save Him
self. The Moment had arrived for him to
be a Man. Surrounded by Ice and
Rquirters and Mixing Spoons and
Orange Peel and Jiggera and Jaggers
he drew himself together and made the
Announcement.
For a Moment they were stunned by
the Impact and then every Son of
Peoria leaned back and let out a Yowl,
To think that a real up-to-date Fellow
uid pull any of that Old Stuff! A
puny Ainrtal trying to get a Toe-Hold
on the Demon!
They told him to forget It and quit
his Spoofing and remove his Overshoes
and ease a couple of GUIs into his Res
ervoir and try to be a Human Being,
however painful the Effort.
iHe came back with a few Gems from
tSa Family iledlclne Boole about the
Effect of the Accursed Stuff on various
Organs. He did not propose to feed
himself anything that would cut the
Varnish off of Wood-Work. The Hard
Stuff had passed out of his Life.
The Cackles "died away and were suc
ceeded by looks of Blank Dismay. They
saw that one whom they had long re
garded as a reliable bench-working
Union Lush had turned In his Card and
deliberately made himself an Outcast.
They saw him order Vichy and go to
It as if It were a Beverage and then
they tore up his Credentials and burned
his Photograph and told him to go out
into the snowy Streets and find a new
Home.
He sat back and pulled the Grim
Smile which Savanarola wore when
they piled the Fagots around him. He
was a Martyr and proud of his Job,
By the same Token, there is no Brand
UiMWm I i i I fli
limMM LL 11
HE HAD A TE.UPERATIRE OF 102 A AD HIS EARS WERE HANGING DOWN
of Rectitude that grades so pure and
spotless as that exhibited by the dis
infected Dove who has not touched a
Drop for nearly 24 hours.
They saw him go home with a Maga
zine under his Arm and then they sat
around until all Hours, lapping it up:
and progglng his Finish. They said he!
never would last a Week and when he'
Fell It would be Some Splash.
They began to Issue dally Bulletins
and watched the Case with much Anx
iety because they really liked the Old
Scout in spite of his Eccentricities.
When they learned, at the End of a
Week, that he had played Buttermilk
to a Standstill all up and down the
Quick Lunch Circuit and was at his
Desk every Morning with his Face
clean and a Flower in his Coat, they
called a Meeting of the Vigilantes and
decided that the Joke had been carried
far enough.
In the meantime. Our Hero harl
learned two new kinds of Solitaire antj
began to call around for a Dish of Tea, I
with some distant Female Relatives j
who had long supposed him dead.
Along about the Cocktail Hour he,
would find himself sitting first in one
Chair and then in another, but he'
Cashed big every Morning when he
awoke and found that Henry Katzen-
amrner was not sitting on the Foot-
Board making Faces at him.
Only, sometimes he would stop on a
Corner and look all about him and up
at the Buildings and wonder if the
Town had always been as Quiet as at
Present.
After he had stuck for a Fortnight
the desperate Envoys from the Indian.
Camp went after him for Keeps. They
held it in front of him and splashed it
on his Clothes and begged him to step
aboard with them and go right up to
the 18th Floor.
Probably If they had let him alone
he would have come sneaking back
Into the Reservation to watch the red
Whirligigs and pick a few of those
Night-Blooming Martinis, but when
they tried to Stampede him, the old
New England Stock asserted Itself, so
he substituted Rivets Tor Straps.
He is now the honored Associate of
those who play Cribbage in their own.
Homes and eat Apples before turning;
in. But if you want to get a Line on
his Real Character Just ask the Wet
Brothers. They will tell you that he
wasn't there with the Strength of
Character, so he simply sank out of
sight.
MORAL: The Way of the Ex-Trans-.
gressor Is Hard.
GEORGE ADB.
(.Copyright, 1912, by Geprge Ada.)