The New York herald., 1869-05-24
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL.

SUNDAY May g. 1909.
une xeek m Wall street an excited one, par
,,oulsrly In Its earlier stages. The opening or bus
xess was sgnazed by the report OF o very heavy
ta,nre which threw the various markets into
spasms The amount involved was not less than
mnpon and half OF dollars, ana, a. many houses
vere Known 10 be connected with the bankrupts the
greatest apprehensions prevahed. Fortunateiy tue
s,tter. with one exception, were able TO meet the
,osses TINS entaied upon them. The one exception
was a small house which was also compelled to
rena A house in the commercial line was COM
nailed To suspena, but from causes not connected
With the others. The dismay which these failures
created was but shortlived. Wall street gave them
INIT a passing thought and went on as usual On
saturday they seemed like historical facts in place
of recent events such Is the whiring tide OF bnsi-
ness in the great financial centre. In the local
money market they created temporary ripple
There was some additional activity In loans
ana closer scrutiny OF borrowers names, but even
this aneasiness or and the rate on call relapsed
70 six TO seven per cent on government and miscel
laneous collaterals When the borrower was willing
70 take large amount in lot lenders will
ING 10 ask only SIX per cent upon the ordinary stock
solaterals In commercial paper there was more
doing as usual at this season when the country
banks are free buyers. The rate OF discount for
prime double names ranged from seven to eight
with few exceptions at nine per cent. The bulls in
the gold market took advantage OF the excitement
20 run the price up l44 but the Secretary OF the
Treasury very judciously announced that he would
IN future sell two millions OF gold per week, the
enect oil which determination his part was sharp
decline TO 1903. Whatever the vacillation OF Mr..
Boutwell, in the beginning OF his administration he
has In this step made innumerable friends for him
self. As long he intends 70 exercise his
powers IN behalf OF the public and the
business community against the gold gamblers he
Will do what will render his term OF oflice an exem-
plary one. some uneasness is felt because he has
not as yet indicated that he will follow up his in
creased sales OF gold by increased purchases OF
bonds Doubtless this VIII follow. In all the none
nary transactions OF the government since the new
administration, its most bitter political opponents
will have to confess that a studious concern has
been manifested for the business interests which
eentre in New York Gold was not sold until the
spring stringency in money had gone by and the
metropolis was sufficiently supplied with currency
to enable 1t to stand the withdrawal OF the money
paid for the god. The currency balance OF the
government at the present time is about thirteen
millions the loss OF which from the money market
has not been perceptibe. A financial authority says
that ITO avoid these dangers 1t seems inevitable
that the Treasury shall buy two or three millions OF
bonds a week, or else shall in some other appro-
PIRATE way increase its disbursements so
as to deplete the vaults Of their accumu-
hating greenbacSs. One method which has
been proposed for this purpose is to allow the
nauonal banks to hold large government deposits.
II the Treasury refrains from drawing on these
institutions the expected spasm will, 1t is supposed,
be avoided. II our sagacious lawmakers at Wash
fngton better skilled in the art and science OF
finance should have had no clashing OF the lnte-
rests of the government and the people. They man.
age things differently in Europe, and 1t would be no
INJURY to our national dignity to take few lessons
from 30 experienced teacher. The weekly state
ment Of the associated banks is quite favorable,
showing, as it does. the following changes as COM
pared with last week.