failures had been comparatively small. Only twenty-one banks were
obliged to suspend payment, while in 1893 the number was 160.
The panic of 1907. Wall Street, in front of the Sub-Treasury Building,
when the run on the Trust Company of America was at its height.
Naturally there was much discussion concerning the defects of our
financial system, of the needs of elastic currency, of a central bank,
etc., when the Sixtieth Congress met in December, 1907. Several bills
were offered for the establishment of a central bank; some for the issue
of a special currency by the government; others for the legalization of