rules,
and that function they can perform very well in regard to such
expenditures; but the expenditures of the government for the
District, rivers and harbors, fortifications, pensions, and certain
other objects, are not defined or regulated by law. In the case
of the District of Columbia, a few officers named in the appropriation
bill are provided for by law, but the great body of the expenditures
is for streets, alleys and public improvement, nine-tenths of all
the appropriations made for the District being, in their nature,
new items not fixed by existing law.

On the 6th of May, 1884, the country was startled by the failure
of the Marine National Bank of New York, an institution that had
been in high credit and standing. The circumstances connected with
the failure excited a great deal of interest and profound surprise.
Immediately in connection with the failure of this bank the banking
firm of Grant & Ward, in the city of New York, failed for a large
amount. Their business was complicated with that of the Marine
National Bank, and disclosures were made which not only aroused
indignation but almost created a panic in the city of New York.

Almost contemporaneous with this the insolvency of the Second
National Bank of New York, for a very large sum, became public,
and the alleged gross misconduct of the president of that bank,
John C. Eno, became a matter of public notoriety. Steps were taken
by the officers and stockholders of the bank, including the father
of the president, to relieve it from bankruptcy.

Also, and in connection with the failure of the Marine National
Bank, there were disclosed financial operations of a strange and
extraordinary character of the president of that bank, James D.
Fish. All these events coming together caused much excitement and
disturbance in New York. They led to a great fall of securities,
to a want of confidence, and to a general run, as it is called,
upon banks and banking institutions, including the savings banks.
It appeared as if there were to be a general panic, a financial
revulsion, and wide-reaching distress.

At that time also, and in connection with the other events, came
the temporary suspension of the Metropolitan National Bank, one of
the oldest, largest, and in former times considered among the best,
of all the banks in the city of New York. This was partly caused
by rumors and stories of large railroad operations and indebtedness
of Mr. Seney, the pre