WHEN BANKS CLOSED

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 April 1933, Page 4

WHEN BANKS CLOSED

BABY’S MONEY-BOX RAIDED SAN FRANCISCO, March 9. The United States has gone through some strange experiences during its extended trade slump, but that of the present “bank holiday” period takes some beating for trying circumstances. The banks of the land suddenly closed their doors, and left the average person in the ludicrous position of having money in the bank, and very little or none in the pocket. The populace took the bank holiday with general apparent calm. Small crowds gathered in front of some banks, notably the savings institutions; but in most cases they dispersed when informed of the holiday. There seemed general acceptance of the fact that the banks had been closed for the sole purpose of benefiting all concerned. The bank holiday struck California early, and it was expected that the banks would reopen after three days, but Governor Rolph extended the holiday for another three days. By this time the movement had spread over half the country and by nightfall only one solitary State —that of Delaware —remained on the list of having its banks open without restrictions of any kind. Some of the States had banks open to do business only for small withdrawals. By the Saturday night Delaware fell in line, and then came President Roosevelt’s proclamation of a national bank holiday, and wholesale withdrawals and hoarding accordingly stopped abruptly.

BUSINESS DIFFICULT In California the legislators had been in session day and night and could not roach a decision on policy to govern the reopening of the banks, and just when they were about on an agreement basis the Presidential proclamation occurred. The Californian legislators then decided to await action from Washington. Business slowed almost to a standstill. The great stores had very few customers, for the few people who still had funds resolutely refused to part with their money. As the days passed money slowly vanished from circulation, except. for the barest necessities of life and transportation to and from work, for those who had work.

Finding themselves temporarily : without cash because of the bank holiday, a score or more millionaires visiting-the aristocratic suburb of Los Angelos at Pasadena, were gratefully using scrip printed by the Huntington Hotel in that city. Issued in denominations of 25 cents, 50 cents and one dollar, the scrip was used for tips, barber shop charges and other minor necessities. Mr. Frank B. Kellogg, former Secretary of State, was among the notables using the make-shift, tender. “Scrip is perfectly all right as far as I am concerned,” Mr. Kellogg said. “And the country is all right, too. The banks are sound. We Americans, it l seems to me, tire victims of fear.” In San Francisco, with the banks closed, merchants who found themselves short of small change, patronised the tramcars, paying a faro for a. short ride to obtain change. it was a tough time for the baby savings banks throughout the country. Not a few parents, discovering they had no car fare, pried open Junior’s home bank, extracted the small change and rode to work as usual. “I am lucky,” said Harry S. Young, one of San Francisco’s wealthiest lawyers.

“I have four children, and each one has a savings bank. 1 prised open one of them with an ice-pick this morning and got 3.77 dollars, a metal paper clip and an Al Smith campaign button. I’ll give the lad a cheque to i

night. The three other banks in my home should tide me over the spending money necessary.” CHEQUES ACCEPTED AH the shops doing business accepted cheques for the exact amount of purchase. Taxi-cab companies disj played signs in their cabs signifying “Your cheque is good.” Waiters, hat checkers and others who depended somewhat-on gratuities said the bank moratorium was cutting down their income. “Few patrons are handing out tips. Those who have small change hold on to it. Nobody has given me a cheque for a tip,” sighed a waiter in a down-town hotel. “But better days are coming. Wait until we sell beer and wine.” The conductor of a car on the muni cipal tramways accepted two' large oranges in lieu of fare. He put a fivecent piece out of his pocket into the coin box and at the end of the line ate his oranges. Theatres, accepting cheques for admissions, early were confronted with a “change racket.” Tickets were purchased with cheques in some instances and then the tickets were returned with a request for a cash refund. Later, when such tickets were purchased and were returned, there was an identifying mark thereon and the cheque was also returned when refund was demanded.

ROCKEFELLER’S CREDIT GOOD John D. Rockefeller, senr., 93 years old, multi-millionaire, suffering temporary financial stringency with the rest of the nation under the countrywide banking- holiday, ran his household at Ormond Beach, Florida, on a credit basis. “Everything will be all right.” he said. “We must hope for the best.” The only outward indication of his personal reaction to the emergency was a cessation of the stream of new dimes he habitually distributed to small boys and acquaintances as souvenirs. He was so short of dimes on the first day of the bank holiday that he was compelled to give a crisp, new one-dollar bill to his caddy! Business turned to the newspapers to tell the man in the street that he could trade as freely as he liked on his good name —eat on it. sleep on it, obtain all the necessities of life on it, travel on it, even go to the theatre on it and take along the folks. The advertising columns of the New York newspapers were crowded with display announcements brimming with optimism. The ordinary “pay as you go” family was told that money might be temporarily scarce, that scrip might yet not be available, but that credit was still the corner stone of commerce and that, despite the present crisis, it remained unshaken. “If you haven’t got a charge account, hurry in and start one,” was the tenor of most of the department store advertisements. Hotels offered all their facilities on a basis of trust. Steamship lines advertised that cheques were 'acceptable and that scrip would be as soon as issued. Aeroplane companies and other travel firms followed suit. Broadway went even further than the rest in extending a helping hand to the temporarily embarrassed. Producers of one of the current, hits invited play-goers to use cheques for the purchase of tickets, and added that if cheques were not available, 1.0.U.’s ■ would do just as well. 1