, 1873-04-03
Financial and Commercial.
SEATTLE. April 3 1879

SEATTLE, April 3. 1873.
the Puget Sound Banking Company
report gold in New York 1lS11la, currency
buying, ;SightExchange on Portland
and San Francisco. ! per cent. pre-
MUM. on New York l per cent. pre-.
MUM for Currency, ~ per cent. Pre-
MUM for Gold. Sterling Sight Drafts
sn Jay Cooke, Mccullough & Co., Lon
don, England, $5 10 per G. These
drafts are cashed by special agreement
all over Ireland, Scotland and the Con
inent free of charge.
By to-day's telegraph dispatches We
learn that gold is steadily advancing, il
having reached 11SH. This is caused
not only by speculation ON Wall Street,
but by the :tual scarcity of the precious
metal.
Last year, it is reported we exported
some $40, 1000, 900 more gold than was
produced in our mines. There is less
gold in the United States Treasury now
than any time since tie war, and we
would not be surprised to see the pre-
MUM advance much higher than to-
days quotations.
Currency is now worth S41a, with no
tranac'ions to note. The price of gold
in New York in no way effects our
trade, except tn. buying and selling OF
the small amounts of currency paid out
by the United States Government and
the drafts right here by parties from the
Eastern States. Merchants buying and
selling their goods on q coin basis, care
very little what gold is selling at in New
York, at the same time with currency
deprecated as it now is, merchants
cannot be expected to receive it in mer-
chandlze at the old time price of 80.
Our merchants report trade as good
for this season of the year, and the gen
eral outlook for the coming summer and
fall is good:
We hear of numbers Of new logging
camps being started. Logs are in good
demand.
Our coal companies both here and al
Bellingham Bay, are working all the
men they can.
The contract for building the forty
miles of road to the Sound will soon be
let and operations commenced. This
will bring to this part of the country IA
large amount of money. The building
of some 300 miles of the road by the n,
P.R.R., will stimulate migr on SO
that we can reasonably expect a larger
migration than for number OF yea 5
past. Therefore, with good markei
for lumber and coal, and the amount OF
money to be spent by the Railroad and
Immigrants, times cannot help but be
= better here this summer and fall, than
anywhere on the Pacific Coast.
The dry season is fast approaching
when our pro .erty-holders will wani
Fire Insurance Relative 10 the same VT
clip from the San Francisco Bulletin:
More of our local fire and marine un-
derwriters, together with the Eastern and
foreign agencies represented here, have
united in an appeal to their patrons and
to the public generally, for support and
maintaining equitable rates OF insurance
in this city and throughout the coast
The arguments presented commend
themselves to the good Judgment OF
those who seek protection through IN
surance. 1t did not need the direful ex-
amples of the Chicago and Boston con
flagations to convince Tishs-thinkins
people that the underwriting Interest
cannot be placed on too sure founda
ton. 1t is well known that these fear
full calamities swept away scores ofmush
room organizations, as we'll as some tha
had been considered quite competent tt
withstand all ordinary disasters. The
failure of these ephemeral Companies
has opened the eyes of the insurine
public, and there is apparently less O
that rushing after cheap insurance than
there was two years ago. Still there are
Companies in every community who are
willing to take risks at rates that arr
clearly outside Of the pale of safety eth
er to themselves or to the insured; aht
We regret to say that there are persons
in every community who are disposed
to take out these cheap policies unde
false notions of economy. As we un
derst tand the matter, it is safe and no
neceSearily cheap insurance that th'
people want; and they will be NOR
likely to find safe insurance in Com
panies who maintain equitable rates