The lines of people before the Gotham Trust and the Trust Company of
the Republic were now blocks in length; and every hour one heard of
runs upon new institutions. There were women wringing their hands
and crying in nervous excitement; there were old people, scarcely
able to totter; there were people who had risen from sick-beds, and
who stood all through the day and night, shivering in the keen
October winds.
Runs had begun on the savings banks also; over on the East Side the
alarm had reached the ignorant foreign population. It had spread
with the speed of lightning all over the country; already there were
reports of runs in other cities, and from thousands and tens of
thousands of banks in East and South and West came demands upon the
Metropolis for money. And there was no money anywhere.
And so the masters of the Banking Trust realised to their annoyance
that the monster which they had turned loose might get beyond their
control. Runs were beginning upon institutions in which they
themselves were concerned. In the face of madness such as this, even
the twenty-five per cent reserves of the national banks would not be
sufficient.
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