The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-08-05

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A Financial Look INTO the Next six
gHtt-.FEI Months. .l1s ei5Js
-. 70 [FFVnn tie Chicago 1FfGlnle)
The last dollar of the last Govern
ment loan is taken. Opportunity. for
investment In Federal securities, ex-
cept at a premium, has passed, at least
until Congress shall authorize another
issue of bonds. Six months, perhaps a
longer time, will elapse before that body
can perfect or'1egalize any financial
plan for the future. The Secretary of
the Treasury has no discretion, inean-
while. He is rigidly bound up by the
terms of the statutes as they stand on
the books. Ifihe, were intrusted with
unlimited power, except the power to
borrow more money, he could do moth
ing but what he will now be compelled
to do-turn his whole attention to Dro.
yiding to-day for the inevitable expen-
diture of tomorrow.
No estimate can be safely made of
the amount of revenue that will come
into his hands until Congress does ns-
semble.g Expected results depend upon
SO many contingencies that all prophe-
cies may fail. In our opinion he viii
be compelled to kite along as he can
with Certificates of Indebtedness, and
by them fill up the deficiencies in re-
cetpts, and thus keep his machine run
ming until he gets relief. In any event
there is no possibility, certainly no
probability, that, in the next half year,
he can do anything toward red1cinpr
the amount of the circulating medium
now atioat. We explained yesterday
from the story told by official docu-
nents and careful; estimates, that the
gross amount of cnrrency-nntional
and bank currency-in the hands of
the people, was very large. We stated
1t to be eighthundred and fifty millions
OF dollars, and we believe that we were
rather under than over the mark. 4 5
The loans all being absorbed; the Go
vernment being unable to make any
move toward the redemption of its
notes; the banks impelled by strong
self interest, being unwilling TO do any-
thing but push out the last dollar
In their vaults; the pockets of the peo-
pie being full Of money-we ask, What
is to be the tendency of affairs? Are we
TO have hard times and prudence, care,
economy and safety in the management
OF business; or, are we to have a ple-
thortc money market, and a period of
wild, visionary and fatal speculation3
We see nothing to prevent the occur
renee of the latter All the conditions
which invite it are fulfilled, and in our
opinion, no power can prevent itstreali-
cation. Hereto fore the loan market IN
which the Government has been the
largest and most profitable customer,
has acted as, a safety valve by which a
dangerous accumulation ofrthe specu-
lntiYe spirit has been prevented. That
valve has now been shut down. 1t is
probable that all Government bonds
viii rise to o slight premium. If fthey
DO, and to a less extent if they do not,
the inquiry will soon be on every side,
What shall II do with my surplus mo-
neyI How, can i invest it SO as to get q
good returnT When these omnibus
sounds strike the public tear-an evi-
denoe that capital is begging for custo=
mers-the day of,specpla is not far
| OIL. In. the beginning the gambling
tendency may be guarded and cautious;
but it grows7by' what it feeds upon; and
before Congress gets ready to tinker up
the finances, y. the speculative mania
viii be universal and furious. We do
not now see, and perhaps, nobody can
tell, what it Will first nttack; but when
once started the public may be- sure
that 1t will seize everything in its turn.
s.. 1t is probable that railroad stocks, as
they have long been the favQrites Of, the
speculative : classes, niay, feed the
first impulsiOn; and from them
J.
l5whatsoeVer else of real or fictitious
value !men- are, accustomed to deal
in; and, perhaps, before the peo-
iple are aware ofthe tendency ofnffairs,
or haye ecOmprehended the true reasons
kof the movement, the country will be
in blaze of excitement, equal to, if
not far surprising, the great Jttr0rt of
March, 1884, when it was the rule in
| New York, and to less extent in Chica-
| go for every speculator to make a for
tune in n week. We think we see
plainly enough that mining, oil, and
manufacturing stocks, as well as grain
and all the great agricultural staples,
up like so many bubbles, and that the
entire property of the country will be
whirling In a vast erial eddy, from
which before the storm is over, the
wrecks and fragments of fortunes de-
Istroyed and enterprises foundered,
will strew the ground MS thickly as
down trees in the track of n windfall.
There Is another agency in addition
1 to those that we have mentioned that
will contribute to this dreadful result;
and that is the small bonds of the va
frious loans that have been taken by the
/ people. We do not know the amount
| of the "fifties, y "hundredsn and tsfive
hundreds'' that have been issued; but
the sum Is saimmensej and we do, moi
1 know that In q time of either panic OF
speculative excitement, these bonds
now quietly reposing in bank vaults
chest tillS, bureau drawers and breeches
pockets, waiting the setni-annual pay
tments OF interest, are only so many
pieces of paper that viii form an addii
! don to the circulating medium. Strin.
tgency will bring them forth to pay
tdebts, and the desire ito make money
4 by speculation will put them lying II
Il the air like SO many autumn 1eayes.
Ma Add them to the eight hundred and
,lfifey millions OF bank and national
4 currency, and We have an amount foul
times as great US that required in 8
lsound and healthy condition of affairs
Tito do the entire business of the I6oun.
ItryI When, then, we remember how
small an addition to the bank paper ol
the former speculative periods sufficed