Albert Steinway is interviewed by a New York World reporter: “Orders are coming in, but very slowly, as people are afraid to contract for fear that they cannot pay. We have a sufficient margin, however, sufficient to pay our workmen something, if not all they earn, for three or four weeks to come, but that at the very furthest. The utmost difficulty is experienced in getting money. To be sure, we can obtain sums of money in large bills but these our workmen cannot use. Small bills cannot be obrtained as they are all out of circulation. We cannot pay our men regularly. We are forced to pay them so much on account, when the money comes in, and while it is only disagreeable to us, it is seriously inconveniencing them. We might pay them in checks duly certified, but you see they are of no use. Their butchers and grocers would not take them, as they themselves must have currency, and that is the reason why a lock-up of currency has such a bad effect upon workmen at once. Paper they can’t use and money they can’t get. Our payroll amounts to about $24,000 every fourteen days, and you can see, therefore, in what manner it affects our workmen, as it is fairly impossible to raise that amount at present. Today I managed to make a raise of $6,000, which, as you can see, I am now paying to my men on account. I use every endevor to get their money for them, but you can see how we are placed. But I do not think this matters can remain as they are at present. It is the evil result of men taking their money out of the channels of legitimate business and placing it in the hands of bankers for the 4 per cent interest which it yields. This money is then speculated with, and stocks of unbuilt railroads are bought. If these same men had deposited in banks used for the accommodation of merchants, as either loans to them or for the purpose of discounting their paper, legitimate interests would have been advanced, to the benefit of he community. As it is, we are forced to suffer because unhealthy speculation is indulged in. And when the depreciation of values reaches the manufacturer or merchant, it creates heavy losses upon him and he suffers. We are just beginning to feel it, and I think that, judging from the present circumstances, the shock will be severe.”