The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-18
The Character of the Pennsylvania
state Loan.

State LOans
The financial security Of Commonwealth
rests on the double foundation OF sufficient
resources and popular confidence in the will
ingness and ability of the State to pay its
debts. Viewed from these standpoints, we
must assign to the new loan lately negotiated
by Pennsylvania the foremost place among
all the investments of the day for reliability.
When we consider the vast resources Of the
keystone State and the limited amount of her
indebtedness, which, when compared with her
assets makes her liabilities as drop in a
bucket, we can imagine no safer or more de-
sirable form of permanent investment than
the purchase of the bonds of the Common
wealth. The total debt amounts to $23,-
900. O0O while within her borders are rail
road and Government stock amounting to
over $500, 900, 600, with an equally heavy sum
employed in her manufactures and mining
operations. With the unlimited power of
taxing all this capital (except United States
bonds) which rests in the Legislature, there
can be no question as to the full ability of the
State to cancel her debt before it
becomes due, if she be so inclined.
The second requisite to financial prosper
ity, public confidence, is certainly well
attested by the eagerness with which the loan
was absorbed. From all parts of the State, in
small sums, came Hp the bids of the small
real estate holders for share of the loan.
But not on these alone does the proof of the
advantages of the loan rest. We notice among
tha nh hlisbad hide tho panas of ta tb roo c,raot
banking houses of our State, Jay Cooke & Co.,
Drexel & Co., and E. w. Clark & Co., the
bids from whom alone more than covered the
total amount of the entire loan authorized.
When we see men who have succeeded in the
past, who have successfully negotiated a vast
United States loan of thousands of millions,
who are universally esteemed the wisest
fnanciers in the Commonwealth, and hold the
foremost place for business tact-when we see
these men investing their millions in an enter
prise, we may feel we'll assured that that
enterprise is good. And in the case of the
State loan, $4,000, 900 were taken by these
houses. Thus we find both the masses of the
people and the ablest fnanciers uniting in the
desire to invest in the bonds just issued by
our Commonwealth.
Covered as this loan is by a capital fifty
times its amount, rendered secure by the
gradual extinguishment of the debt by the
sinking fund, which pays from one million to
one million and half year, there cannot
exist shadow of a doubt as to the perfect
safety of the investment. Looking at the
financial condition of the country, we are not
surprised at the eagerness with which the
loan is being sought for. With distrust in
all the marts of trade, with little business
doing, and general feeling of insecurity for
the future, it is only natural that people should
select this investment, at once permanent,
should they so desire, or in such condition
as to be rendered instantly available in money,
should circumstances render it necessary.
The loan is fully appreciated by our people,
and is being taken from the hands of the
bankers holding it at rate which will absorb
it all within ninety days. The overdue loan
will be received, principal and interest, when
parties purchase the new. Comparing ouI
State loan with the other investments in the
market, we do not hesitate to state that
in our conviction, it is the safest and most de-
sirable investment within the reach of thos'
who have capital on hand.