The gold reserve was untouched. The
Secretary of the Treasury came over to
Wall street, spluttered around for a few
days lifce a bee in a tar bucket and went
back to Washington. The government
was all right. It was running with its
usual regularity. The fact i.-, it could
not do otherwise. We have an astro
nomical govern men t. It is wound up to
run four years. It can not stop. It runs
by the moon, and the sun, and the stars.
When the four seasons have passed, the
four years are complete, there is a
change of administration, not before.
Our government was in perfect run
ning order, but the government had
nothing in creation to do with the real
life of the people at that time. Financial
ruin stared the nation in the face, and
for 24 hours we held our breath to know
if the crash would come. What was the
trouble? Simply that a firm of private
bankers in London was about to fail. It
was whispered in Wall street on the day
of this panic that Baring Bros., in Lon
don, a linn of private bankers, were
about to collapse. The money market
at once was in a state of wild delirium.
