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he was inducted into office; and there you were.
Now it wouldn't have made so much difference what George W. Stener's executive and financial
qualifications for the position were, but at this time the city of Philadelphia was still hobbling
along under perhaps as evil a financial system, or lack of it, as any city ever endured--the
assessor and the treasurer being allowed to collect and hold moneys belonging to the city,
outside of the city's private vaults, and that without any demand on the part of anybody that the
same be invested by them at interest for the city's benefit. Rather, all they were expected to do,
apparently, was to restore the principal and that which was with them when they entered or left
office. It was not understood or publicly demanded that the moneys so collected, or drawn from
any source, be maintained intact in the vaults of the city treasury. They could be loaned out,
deposited in banks or used to further private interests of any one, so long as the principal was
returned, and no one was the wiser. Of course, this theory of finance was not publicly
sanctioned, but it was known politically and journalistically, and in high finance. How were you to
stop it?
Cowperwood, in approaching Edward Malia Butler, had been unconsciously let in on this
atmosphere of erratic and unsatisfactory speculation without really knowing it. When he had left
the office of Tighe & Co., seven years before, it was with the idea that henceforth and forever he
would have nothing to do with the stock-brokerage proposition; but now behold him back in it
again, with more vim than he had ever displayed, for now he was working for himself, the firm of
Cowperwood & Co., and he was eager to satisfy the world of new and powerful individuals who
by degrees were drifting to him. All had a little money. All had tips, and they wanted him to carry
certain lines of stock on margin for them, because he was known to other political men, and
because he was safe. And this was true. He was not, or at least up to this time had not been, a
speculator or a gambler on his own account. In fact he often soothed himself with the thought
that in all these years he had never gambled for himself, but had always acted strictly for others
instead. But now here was George W. Stener with a proposition which was not quite the same
thing as stock-gambling, and yet it was.
During a long period of years preceding the Civil War, and through it, let it here be explained
and remembered, the city of Philadelphia had been in the habit, as a corporation, when there
were no available funds in the treasury, of issuing what were known as city warrants, which
were nothing more than notes or I.O.U.'s bearing six per cent. interest, and payable sometimes
in thirty days, sometimes in three, sometimes in six months--all depending on the amount and
how soon the city treasurer thought there would be sufficient money in the treasury to take them
up and cancel them. Small tradesmen and large contractors were frequently paid in this way;
the small tradesman who sold supplies to the city institutions, for instance, being compelled to
discount his notes at the bank, if he needed ready money, usually for ninety cents on the dollar,
while the large contractor could afford to hold his and wait. It can readily be seen that this might
well work to the disadvantage of the small dealer and merchant, and yet prove quite a fine thing
for a large contractor or note-broker, for the city was sure to pay the warrants at some time, and
six per cent. interest was a fat rate, considering the absolute security. A banker or broker who
gathered up these things from small tradesmen at ninety cents on the dollar made a fine thing of
it all around if he could wait.
Originally, in all probability, there was no intention on the part of the city treasurer to do any one
an injustice, and it is likely that there really were no funds to pay with at the time. However that
may have been, there was later no excuse for issuing the warrants, seeing that the city might
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