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WALL STREET EXCITED. Call Money Commanded 186 Per Cent-Beltimore Firms Go Under, &c. Monday, December 18, will long be remembered in Wall street, New York, as on that day the record in stock selling was the next highest ever known. The New York correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger at the close of business Monday says: One bad failure was announced. that of the Product Exchange Trust Company, and one suspension, that of Henry Allen & Co. Loanable money was withdrawn from the Stock Exchange. Bids for loans advanced as high as 186 per cent. without attracting offers Loans were called right and left. Securities were thrown on the market in large blocks Prices broke with a violence, such as was witnessed only on the days of the Baring and 1893 panics and the memorable Venezuelan slump. At half-past 2 the situation looked grave, indeed, and Wall street men looked each other in the face anxiously and asked "When will this thing end At this point relief came, and the course of the panie was checked. J. Pierpont Morgan is generally credited with having initiated the relief measures. Besides throw. ing on the market a large sum of his own money, he called the attention of F. B. Tappen, the veteran President of the Gallatin National Bank and member of the Clearing House Committee. to the advisability of the banks taking steps to relieve the strain. Calling to his assistance J. Edward Simmons, President of the Fourth National Bank. ho was associated with him on the famous Loan Committee of 1891, Mr. Tappen, with his accustomed energy. undertook the task. The two bankers immediately called & meeting of bank Presidents In ten minutes about a dozen of the Presidents were is session, and it was instantly resolved to offer $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 in loans in the Stock Exchange. Nine banks agreed to form a pool. with a million dollars each, for this purpose. Mr. Frothingham, the well known loan broker, was intrusted with the mission of placing this money on the market. At twenty minutes to 3 be began to offer loans, starting at so per cent. and reducing the rate rapidly to6. The closing rate was 8 per cent. This action had the desired effect of checking the demoralization in the market, and prices closed generally with considerable recovery from the lowest quotations. Some of the Losses. An idea of the severity of losses may be gained from a few specifications. Thus, American Tobacco fell all extreme 21Β½, Metropolitan 20%, People's Gas 14, Sugar 1236, Continental Tobacco 113/6, Tennessee Coal 17, Manhattan 9 and Leather preferred 9% all in the list of Industrials. In the railroad list such stocks as New York Central, Great Northern preferred, Rock Island, Southern Pacific, the Union Pacifics, the Northern Pacifics, Atchison preferred, and, in fact, the most prominent and active railroad stocks in the whole list showed losses all the way from 4 to 9 points. The rallies, with the final offerings of the money rate down to 6 per cent., ran from S to 10 points. The day's transactions ran up to a total of nearly 1,650,000 shares, which is the record for & day's business. The excitement was intense all day. Seems to be a Bad Failure. The failure of the Produce Exchange Trust Company appears to be & bad one, although Thomas A. McIntrye, who has been its most active promoter. says that he is confident it can pay dollar for dollar, and that without much delay. But the statement made by Edwin Gould, the Vice President of the company, is not reassuring. Mr. Gould says that since his election as Vice President, on September 20, he made an examination, and found matters in connection with the concern for which he did not care to assume responsibility. He has found that large sums of money have been tied up in aiding the underwriting of certain industrial enterprises, until the amount so invested, together with what the company has agreed to furnish if called upon, equals nearly, if not quite, the combined amounts of the capital and surplus. This was written by Mr Gould to the Executive Committee on December 5. He said in addition that he felt that the condition of the company was such as to render the mangement subject to criticism unless radical changes were made. During the past few weeks there has been a heavy withdrawal of deposits, developing almost into a run. The company is one of the newer concerns, but had several well known persons connected with it. Its first President was Dr. James H. Parker, formerly President of the United States Bank, and a man of standing in the Street. He resigned last January because of dissatisfaction with its management. He objected to a concern having $1,000,000 capital loaning to one syndicate $3,000,000. After he left and as late as July, the capital was increased to $5,000,000. President Nash, of the Corn Exchange Bank, also resigned. and the death of A. T. Pouch, of Brooklyn, deprived the company of another powerful Director. Mr. Gould was only recently brought in-
