Publication information |
Source: Commercial and Financial Chronicle Source type: newspaper Document type: editorial column Document title: “The Financial Situation” Author(s): anonymous City of publication: New York, New York Date of publication: 14 September 1901 Volume number: 73 Issue number: 1890 Pagination: 524-27 (excerpt below includes only page 524) |
Citation |
“The Financial Situation.” Commercial and Financial Chronicle 14 Sept. 1901 v73n1890: pp. 524-27. |
Transcription |
excerpt |
Keywords |
McKinley assassination (impact on economy). |
Named persons |
William McKinley. |
Document |
The Financial Situation [excerpt]
The whole character of the situation has again
been changed by yesterday’s developments in the President’s case. Previously
the accounts regarding Mr. McKinley’s condition were all encouraging in the
extreme. Last Saturday, very naturally, while the public mind was still suffering
from the first shock caused by the news of the attempted assassination, and
when it was not yet possible to venture a definite opinion as to the probable
outcome of the attack, the markets were deeply disturbed. On the Stock Exchange
a severe break in prices occurred on that day, but the effective way in which
banking and financial interests had planned to provide against possible contingencies
served to prevent disaster or anything akin to a panic. Between that time and
Monday the developments were so satisfactory and the accounts so optimistic
that stock prices Monday opened at a sharp recovery and the market remained
firm throughout the day. After that the news became more cheerful each succeeding
day. The President was making surprising progress, no unfavorable symptoms whatever
had developed, and the outcome hardly any longer seemed in doubt. The Cabinet
Ministers and other political celebrities, as well as the Vice-President, spoke
in the most confident manner concerning the chances of recovery, and even the
physicians in attendance abandoned their customary reserve and stated that all
the indications pointed that way. Under this stimulus the tone on the Stock
Exchange continued to improve.
But yesterday morning the daily papers contained
the utterly unexpected announcement that the President’s condition had taken
a decided turn for the worse, that the food given him the day before had not
agreed with him, that the action of his heart was causing the doctors concern,
and that altogether the gravest anxiety was felt regarding the outcome. Under
this startling intelligence the stock market sustained another violent break
in prices—fully as severe as that of last Saturday—the downward movement in
the case of Milwaukee & St. Paul stock being accelerated by the action of the
board of directors of the company the day before in not raising the rate of
dividend on the common shares, as had been hoped for. All day yesterday the
advices from the patient’s bedside were very discouraging and at times highly
alarming. As against the previous almost positive assurance that the President
would get well, the best the doctors would now say was that he still had “a
fighting chance” left. The market consequently remained depressed throughout
the day. The situation therefore at the end of the week was that things were
again decidedly unsettled, with everything depending for the time being upon
the issue of the President’s illness, and with his death momentarily expected.