The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-03-11
The Martins Ferry Bonds Quick.
Nv Taken-What II Indicates:

Reference is made in our Martins
Ferry locals this morning to our notice
yesterday Of $1,000 corporation bonds
being for sale, and to the quick applica-
ton that was made for them. 1t seems
that there is plenty Of money on the look
out for safe and remunerative invest
ments. 1t Is only when it comes to a
business venture Of some sort that money
is scarce. As it is in this neighborhood,
so It is at all the business centres Of the
country at this time. For instance, the
Philadelphia Ledgr, commenting on the
condition Of the money market there,
remarks as follows:
ave do not remember 10 have ever
known a time when money was so much
in excess Of the demand as it is now.
There is very little paper making from
legitimate business operations, and oil
that little but a small proportion finds
Its way to the street or into bank Tor dis
counting. The inquiry all around Is Tor
paper, and, what is unusual, the bill
brokers are almost daily visitors at the
large corporations for their paper, and
arc so accommodating that they are will
ing to take it in almost any amounts, at
very low rates, and at long or short time;
and, what is even more singular, the
companies have little paper to offer. The
banks, Us we'll as the bankers, all want
paper-something out Of which they may
earn dividends. II is probable that the
railway companies will be flush in cash
for the remainder Of the year, but their
normal condition is that Of borrowing,
and they will be likely to return to 1t be-
fore the end OF the year. Their paper
will ere long be hunting the money lend
ers, thus turning the tables rs they-now
stand"
The Chicago Inter. Dean says thatmoney
is now offered in the open market iii that
city for sixty days, on good collaterals, at
G per cent per annum, and thateverytking
seems to indicate that it will go begging
ibis summer at per cent.
The question is, "Where does all this
money come from?" 1t is quite plain to
everybody that the business community as
D whole are not getting rich. On the con-
Lrary, it is we'll known that more than
halfthe merchants and traders in all parts
Of the country are getting behindhand,
and are losing their capital. Nor are the
agricultural community at large any bet
Ter of. Where, then, does this increase
1f money at low rates Of interest for un-
doubted security come iromH There is but
one explanation, viz: That the capital
If the country, represented by its property
If all kinds, is being gradually concentrat-
in the ownership OF the comparatively
mail class OF money.lending capitalists.
The fortunes OF all men who are engaged in
.radc, manufacturing, agriculture, or
speculation, are only the margin between
he amount OF their debts and the market
prices OF the property they hold. The
market prices OF almost every kind OF
property have been declining for year
nust, but the value OF the debts they owe
loes not decrease until their entire cap
ital has been absorbed. Thus the enter
prising and trading classes who raise
crops, build railroads and houses, manu-.
facture goods Of every kind and take
them to distant consumers-this class
whose capital is invested in commodities
or property Of one kind or another, are
losing their capital. But the money
lending class, the capitalists, who deal in
but little of anything but debts debts OF
individuals, corporations, or govern.
ments) lose little or nothing. The debts
due them are paid by the sacrifice OF the
capital or property Of the debtor, and it
is the money thus paid that comes into
the market again, but at lower rates Of
interest, because n large portion Of the
usual class OF borrowers have been crush
ed by the increase in the value Of their
debts, or in other words by the decline in
prices Of property and commodities.