The little institution was conducted with all our American dash, with
all his German caution. Of course it prospered. How could it help
prospering? While other building and loan associations undertook
alluring but hazardous experiments, this little concern rejected them
with all the calm and haughty disfavor of the most conservative old
bank.
After a while people began to take notice of this small institution.
Its depositors were satisfied, its customers pleased. One day the
attorney of this association, also a young man, called his fellow
directors together, and resigned, upon the ground that he thought the
movement of gold abroad and other financial phenomena indicated a
panic within the next two or three years.
Did this dismay the young German-American? Not much. "This is just
what I am looking for," said he. "I have been able to manage this
institution in prosperous times; now if I can only have a chance to
close it up so that no man loses a dollar, when big banks around me
are falling, I will accomplish all I have started to accomplish."
Sure enough, the panic of 1893 arrived, and the young man's
opportunity came. Bank after bank went down; old institutions whose
venerable names had been their sufficient guarantee collapsed in a
day.
Pages:
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146