The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-13 00:00:00

MONEY AND BUSINESS.

(Prom the Springfield Republican, Aug. 28.)

Money continues obstinately easy. The very men who
have been imagining and predicting a crisis on account of
the southern and western demand are surprised to find
money lying on their hands. Nobody wants it or is will-
ing to pay more than than five or six per cent, for it on
Government collaterals. It is singular that this night-
mare of the vast amount of money required to move the
crops should annually tako such a hold not only of money
dealers, but of money writers, after it has been so often
etripped of its reality by the experience of successive
years. 'What we said last week about the theoretical effect
of increased production to render the exchange of com-
modities easier and thus relieve the call for money, the in-
strument. of exchange, has bean thoroughly borne out by
the traffic of the past week. The purchases of merchandise
on western account in the eastern cities has been enormous.
And notwithstanding the metropolitan notion that the
West was cashless and hungering for money in exchange
for wheat, a large part of those goods was paid for in law-
ful tender on the spot. The stockholder toile of single
salesmen making sales of $lB,OOO a day for the past week
in boot and shoe houses where a full score of them are
employed, and thinks that the dry goods traffic must have
gone above these figures. Tho lines of carts headed to-
! ward the three great western freight depots in New York
were miles in length, and the police have been
I put to their wits' end to keep the streets passable.
This acceleration of business is almost appalling, hut it
is not much more than acceleration. These goods must
all have been bought sooner or later during the autumn.
The feet that prose the prairies must all be shod, and
none of them will be likely to wear two pair at once, be-
cause of the present low freight rates. But when it is
crowded into a few weeks, as it has been, even New York
can see that the East has a crop to move as well as the
West, and that the two move together so harmoniou ly
that no extraordinary call for money is made. We have
said that this activity was not much more than an accele-
ration of business, a buying up before hand, in order to
take advantage of the low rates of carriage. But the con-
sequent lower prices of the things carried, when arrived
at their destination, will create scso new demand for
them. The abundant harvest will moreover make the
buyers feel rich, and those who have been content with
their barnyard boots will now invest in a better pair for
Sunday wear. In view of these considerations, we con-
clude that the West is much more likely to come to our
markets as a merchant, legitimately tendering value for
value, something to eat for emoting to wear, instead
of personating the " your money or your life" appari-
tion that disturbs the dreams of some financiers. As
for the South, the 2,000,000 of its 3,000.000 cotton
bales will go abroad, and square up our foreign ac-
count by the addition of $160,000,000 to our credit.
The other third will come North and go on to the
spindles of New England. It is alleged also that the South
for this 1,000,000 bales will demand the money. It is diffi-
cult to see why. We fail to hear of any monetary strin-
gency in the Southern centres, and incline to the belief
that they have as much money there as they can use. A
country that has been devastated like the South needs
most anything else more than it does money. In point of
fact, remittances of coin from the South to New York are
now of frequent occurrence. How can a country so poor
as the South afford to have a dollar of its scanty wealth
invested in that most unproductive and most seductive
form, gold coin? The sooner their cotton, and bullion,
and greenbacks are converted into shoes and spelling-
books, the more speedy and ample will be the return for
their toil. Gold has kept well down during the week,
notwithstanding some efforts of the bulls to give it
a toss. On Saturday the quotations ran as low as 1311,
to which point it has not dropped since March, when
it touched 130 k. On Tuesday it was assumed that
Bonds and Consols were drooping in the London
market, and that gold must be exported in consequence.
"Assumed," for the regular quotations of 1862's in
London on that day was 84/, a most gratifying figure.
But that was not the matter. A combination of
$7,000,000 was at work for a rise ; in other words, the
bulls were endeavouring to buy up that amount of coin,
hold it back till everybody was gold-hungry, and then sell
at a great advance. Fortunately, honest tradesfolk do not
feel very dependent on gold just now. Wheat and cotton
bills on Europe aro so plenty that it is almost a dead loss
of freight and insurance to ship gold, and nobody cares to '
do it. The importers who have coin duties to pay will
not pay much of an advance on present rates. Commerce
settles back in her easy chair and assures the speculators
that, if they want to get up a corner or a lock-up, "it is
none of her funeral," and the bulls and bears will probably
have their little scuffle at their own expense, paying mean-
, time a good carrying rate on their metal. For the week
ending August 21, the decrease in specie in the New York
city banks was $2,559,989, which is fully accounted for
by the export, customs demand and transfers to Cali-
fornia, in excess of the amount sold by the Treasury. The
Government disbursements for coin interest were $315,179,
and at the regular sale $1,000,000. There was transferred
to the San Francisco account of $.),000,000, taken in for
customs duties nearly 53,500,000, and exported nearly
$500,000. The balance against New York was there-
fore over four and a half millions, and that the pre-
mium was not more affected by such a drain speaks
well for the confidence of the market. Another feature
of the bank statement, to which we may advert in
this connection, was a decrease in deposits of $6,928,165,
and in legal tenders of $1,659,258. The decrease in
cash was therefore largely in National Bank notes,
which have been unusually plenty, the Governmeht
having paid for its bonds almost entirely in them instead
of greenbacks. Government bonds during the week have
been steady. A comparison of the quotations of Wednes-
day and the preceding Friday show a slight falling off. It
will be remembered that Mr. Boutwall's purchases of last
week, Wednesday, were not met by sufficient offerings. On
the following day the deficiency was easily made up,
nearly three times as much being offered as required. On
Wednesday of this week $2,000,000 more was taken out
upon an offering of nearly $4,000,000. Tho purchases of
the month were completed by the regular sinking fund
purchase of $1,000,000 on Thursday. So easy is the money
market that the utmost leisure is manifested in taking the
bonds to the Treasurer's office to be cashed. Indeed, if
the holders of them were at any time desirous of "realis-
ing," they of course would find it easy enough to do so by
putting their bonds down a very slight fraction. The
New York Times professes to know' positively that the
Secretary of the Treasury will continuo to buy bonds
through the remaining quarter of the year, probably at
the rate of ten millions a month. He will, it is thought, be
able to do this with his ordinary greenback revenue
receipts and the proceeds of the fortnightly sale of one
million of gold, drawing a little perhaps on the gold
customs receipts, which are likely to exceed the out-
going gold interest by $15,000,000. Southern securi-
ties have been dull, now Tennessoes rising one per
cent. In the Stock Market the consolidation of the
Wabash and Lake Shore Roads has formed the chief topic
of conversation. The consolidation took the public gene-
rally by surprise, as it was expected that the Wabash
Read would only be leased. The combination now com-
prises the following five roads and capitals : —Buffalo and
Erie $9,700,000 ; Cleveland, Painesville and Ashland,
$11,447,650; Cleveland and Toledo, $9,399,185; Michigan
Southern, $32,461,633; Toledo, Wabash, and Western,
$22,928,000 ; total capital, $8,936,468. This road has
1,120 miles completed and 105 miles building. A stock
dividend of 20 per cent. on the shares of the consolidated
Lake Shore will eventually bring the grand capital of
the new consolidation up to about $93,000,000. Tuesday
seems to have been quite a frisky day for the stook bears
Wall-street was the scene of considerable animation, and
it looked as if cool weather had brought back all the
old operators, full of fresh ugliness. The bears threa-
tened the Vanderbilt stocks, and by selling largely in-
duced a decline of from two to four per cent. The loss
was recovered on Wednesday, however, upon the report
that the long-expected consolidation of New York Cen-
tral and Hudson would immediately take place. So long
as such a consummation is possible, and is ready to be
rumoured upon the slightest excuse, the bears may as
well not hope for any extensive triumph over Van-
derbilt. Orders were also received from Saratoga et
buy for the Commodore, and complete confidence was thus
restored. North-western, which is still speculating over
the Presidential canvass, sympathised with New York
Central and Hudson, and rose. Pacific Mail was suddenly
inspired with activity on the report that a "retired Com-
modore, formerly in the direction," was buying stock to
get control of the company. Life on the ocean wave
seems to have been generally adopted as a preparatory
course to a career in Wall-street, probably because one
thus gets accustomed to fluctuations. In dry goods there
has been a fair business, and prices have maintained their
firmness, notwithstanding some manufacturers begin to
talk of running their mills on half time. The activity of
the trade has been considerably stimulated by the very
low prices of freight, and it is by no means certain that
these will immediately be succeeded by combination
prices. Unbleached shootings and shirtings have been
more active, and there aro no indications of a yielding
market. Not so much has been done in bleached. Prints
are the most animated, the demand being confined mostly
to the new styles. Woollen goods are perceptibly improv-
ing, shawls, overcoatings, cloths, and flannels having a
good trade. The importations of foreign goods aro large,
but the trade iu these is dull. Breadstuffs aro dull again.
The groat crops of the West are being cut early, and the
farmers are ready to get rid of them, fororunning the de-
mand somewhat. The buyers of early lots lost consider-
ably on their first shipments East. Provisions aro un-
changed.

(Front the Albion.)

WALL STREET, Friday Evening, Aug. 27, 1869.

The unfavourable bank statement of last Saturday, the
third of its kind in succession, exerted a depressing in-
fluence on. the Stock Exchange, and prices which had
previously been reced:ng declined rather sharply during
the early part of the present week, the Vanderbilt stocks
being the most yielding, and particularly New York
Central, which sold down to 195 k on Wednesday morn-
ing. This was in the face of the announcement that
the recent severe railway competition for westward-
bound freight had terminated by an agreement between
the Erie and the Hudson River companies to advance