File:A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results (1906) (14579936159).jpg

Identifier: historyofearthqu00aitk (find matches)
Title: A history of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco; an account of the disaster of April 18, 1906 and its immediate results
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Aitken, Frank W Hilton, Edward
Subjects: Earthquakes -- California San Francisco
Publisher: San Francisco, The E. Hilton Co.
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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eath after the calamity. As early as April 23dthe Oakland banks were paying depositors in sumsup to $30, and showing every accommodation withintheir power to persons from San Francisco intro-duced at the windows of their paying tellers. Thebank vaults in the burned city had stood the fireadmirably, and though they were for some days in-accessible, (and could not be safely opened forweeks), it was soon apparent that their contentswere unharmed. This knowledge gave great as-surance of the citys financial stability, for in thosevaults lay over $76,000,000 in cash and securities.Besides there were available securities abroadamounting to more than $38,000,000. In the Mint, saved by heroic work, lay $200,-000,000 in gold. The Government, through Secre-tary Shaw, was ready with assistance. Local bank-ers were permitted to deposit sums in any denomi-nation with the Sub-Treasury in New York, andupon telegraphic advice of such deposits an equalamount was placed to their credit at the Mint. This
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a ■4-> d H do d C/3 -s: 1/0 THE RESUMPTION led to the establishment of a Clearing House Bank,which opened at the Mint on May ist. A teller fromeach of the banks was in attendance. This extra-ordinary institution cashed checks drawn on thevarious banks up to $500, provided they had firstbeen authorized b)^ the bank officials. For the com-mercial banks, where the tellers were familiar, ina general way, with the balances of the depositors,this plan was perfectly feasible, but with the savingsbanks, some of which had over fifty thousand de-positors, conditions were entirely different. Theydid not feel justified in cashing checks except forthose of their depositors with whose standing theywere satisfied. These were required to executenotes to the banks, upon which they were givenchecks on the Clearing House Bank. This remarkable bank was a boon to wage earn-ers, particularly, as it enabled employers to meet, inpart at least, their pay rolls for the unexpired week. Soon the commercial

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