﻿ESAEEY: STATE BANKING IN" INDIANA 



257 



The total cost of organization had been $614.45, and this amount 

 was more than offset by the premium received on the bonds issued. 



A study of the hst of officers will show that the Bank was in 

 good hands. Its president, Samuel Merrill, had had considerable 

 experience in "financiering." He spent most of his life in the 

 state's service. He was state treasurer, from 1S2S to 1835, coming 

 to Indianapohs in 1825. Before this time he had served three 

 terms in the state House of Representatives. In the cause of 

 temperance, of anti-slavery,., and of education he was a leader. 



J. F. D. Lanier, president of the Madiscn Branch, came to be 

 one of the greatest promoters and stock brokers of his time. He 

 came of a distinguished Huguenot family of North Carolina. He 

 was educated for the law and practiced at Madison, where he was 

 connected with the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank of that city. 

 His service as clerk to the state legislature for several years gave 

 him a wide acquaintance over the state. In 1850 he joined Winslow 

 of Madison in forming the banking firm of Winslow, Lanier & Co. 

 of New York. It was this firm that furnished Governor Morton 

 money to run the state during the Civil War, after the legislature 

 had refused to make appropriations. 



Hugh McCulloch, of Ft. Wayne, was the most distinguished 

 man of the group, and his biography is inseparable from the financial 

 history of the nation. He was the most distinguished banker of his 

 day. He succeeded Fessenden as secretary of the treasury, March, 

 1865. As controller of the currency before this, he had established 

 the National Banking System. To him more than any other singl(> 

 man is due the honor of financing the Civil War. 



The Bank was prosperous from the start. Men had sub- 

 scribed for its stock deliberately and there was little evidence of 

 speculation. Taken as a whole its officers were beyond criticism. 

 The Whig party controlled the state and kept Merrill at the head 

 of the Bank till 1843. Then his place was taken by a worthy suc- 

 cessor. Judge James Morrison, who held office till the Whigs again 

 gained control, ten years later, and placed Ebenezer Dmnont in 

 charge. These men by the policy they established, placed the 

 Bank on a firm foundation in the confidence of the people. 



The Panic of 1837 



The Bank passed through two severe trials. The first of these 

 grew out of the Internal Improvement activity which began in 

 1836. While both the Bank and the Internal Improvements were 



" Sanifc Reports, II (1835), p. 1 ff. 



» Harding, The State Bank of Indiana, p. 12. 



