The people, then, whom I had seen at the bank
were in reality the very ones whose opinions were most worth having; they
declared its advantages to be incalculable, and even professed to
consider the immediate return to be far larger than they were entitled
to; and so she ran on, nor did she leave off till we had got back to the
house.
She might say what she pleased, but her manner carried no conviction, and
later on I saw signs of general indifference to these banks that were not
to be mistaken. Their supporters often denied it, but the denial was
generally so couched as to add another proof of its existence. In
commercial panics, and in times of general distress, the people as a mass
did not so much as even think of turning to these banks. A few might do
so, some from habit and early training, some from the instinct that
prompts us to catch at any straw when we think ourselves drowning, but
few from a genuine belief that the Musical Banks could save them from
financial ruin, if they were unable to meet their engagements in the
other kind of currency.
In conversation with one of the Musical Bank managers I ventured to hint
this as plainly as politeness would allow.
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