The first necessity was that of temporary loans for both the state and federal governments.
_Temporary loans to states._ Patriotic impulse prompted the immediate offering of loans by the banks. In Massachusetts the bankers of Boston tendered the state government a loan up to ten per cent of their combined capital. In Illinois the banks of Springfield offered the state $100,000 on the day Lincoln called for troops. This was supplemented by the Chicago banks’ tender of $500,000. Throughout the early days of the war the banks in all localities were called upon for loans on the credit of the state. These were funded at seven per cent, then the usual interest for such transactions.
_Temporary loans to the federal government._ The treasury of the United States was in a desperate condition at the outbreak of the Civil War. Lacking resources even for its daily needs, it was totally unprepared for the great strain immediately placed upon it. Secretary Chase did not have recourse to the bankers, however, until after the battle of Bull Run in July had proved that the war was not to be an affair of “three months.”
On the day that the news of the defeat at Bull Run reached Philadelphia, a young banker recently removed to that city from Ohio, an ardent partisan of Secretary Chase, drew up a paper offering to advance to the Secretary of the Treasury specified sums for sixty days at six per cent interest, returnable in specie or interest-bearing treasury notes. With this proposal he visited the principal banks and financial houses in his city, and raised for immediate government needs nearly $2,000,000 in one day. Chase was interested and grateful, and the fortunes of Jay Cooke, the young banker, were made from that day.
Early in 1862, when the government’s daily needs were increasing enormously, John J. Cisco, assistant treasurer of the sub-treasury at New York, made arrangements for a loan from the city banks of their temporarily idle funds. These were received on deposit for thirty days, subject to withdrawal thereafter on ten days’ notice. At first Cisco by this means secured much specie at four per cent; later, five and six per cent were paid for these advances. This money was largely used for the payment of the interest on the public debt. One banker in New York, it is said, became uneasy after lending the sub-treasury $1,000,000, and demanded its return. Cisco told him to send his carts for it immediately. The next day his faith in the government was restored and he concluded to leave his reserve with the sub-treasurer.