The Bank Failure, the Postmaster Letters, and the Fickle Financiers of Seattle
When a Seattle bank collapsed, twenty-five men wanted to be receiver — until the controller of the currency discovered the same businessmen who protested one candidate had just praised him to the skies for a different job.
Charles H. Baker, of Seattle, son of William T. Baker, of the Board of Trade, Chicago, has been appointed receiver of the Merchants' National bank, at Seattle, under somewhat peculiar circumstances. When the bank went under some time ago it became necessary to appoint a receiver who would satisfy the different interests involved, as large sums were at stake. Accordingly the list of candidates grew daily, until there were twenty-five names on the list under consideration by Controller Eckels. Mr. Baker had been a candidate for postmaster at Seattle and had filed with the department unusually good papers. It was finally proposed to appoint him receiver of the failed bank.
When the intention of the controller of the currency became known in Seattle there was a storm of protests from well-known business men, including the president of the defunct institution. Not understanding the matter thoroughly, Controller Eckels sent for Mr. Baker's indorsements for the postoffice job. What was his surprise on looking through the papers to find the very men who protested against Baker's appointment to the receivership had but a short time before written the most laudatory letters and telegrams, declaring he was the ideal business man's candidate for the position of postmaster, and commanded the support of all the commercial world of Seattle. This settled the fate of the protestors, and the appointment of the Chicago man's son was made out without consulting further the fickle financiers of Seattle.
“What was his surprise on looking through the papers to find the very men who protested against Baker's appointment to the receivership had but a short time before written the most laudatory letters and telegrams.”
A failed bank, a contested receivership, and businessmen whose private endorsements contradicted their public protests — the mechanics of financial crisis and reputation management have barely changed. Seattle's Merchants' National Bank failure was one of many that followed the Panic of 1893, and the episode shows how small the city's commercial elite was: the same names sat on every board and signed every letter.
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