The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-05-03
Financial and Commercial.

A feeling Of perturbation is observa-
bic generally in the financial and COM
mercial world. A want Of confidence
exists, and the great majority Of trans
actions in money and wheat are mere
gambling adventures simply indicating
the hopes and apprehensions Of the par
ties between whom they are made. The
quotations for gold and government Sc
curities are well sustained, and on the
part of the latter there was tendency
to advance noted on Saturday in the
New York market, but all other classes
OF securities were unsettled, and, in
some instances, reductions of considera-
BILE significance occurred. -
One reason, and TO US it seems snf,
hcient one, for this condition, is the un-
certainty as to what action will be ta-
ken by congress on the currency ques-
t'on' If the contraction theory prevails,
values OF every description Of property
must shrink, and collaterals now sutfi-
cient to secure required loans will be-
come inadequate to justify loans of one
half or one-fourth the amounts. On the
other hand, the adoption Of an imitation
policy would tend to augment values,
and securities which can now be nv.
pothecated for loans Of few hundred
only may become sufficient to enable the
holders to borrow much large. sums.
Under such circumstances it is not
strange that both borrower and lenders
hesitate to negotiate.
In one way, the West is apparently
benefited by this state of affairs at the
East. 1t causes careful capitalists to
seek investments for their money in
mortgages on western lands, and thus
enables western farmers to borrow with
facility. But because Of the stagnation
OF the general business of the country,
and the consequent low prices Of farm
products and almost entire suspension of
public improvements, the good is more
than counterbalanced by the evil; and
when to these prejudical influences, we
add that ofthe high rate of interest chare-
edit will be seen that the West is as deen
injured as the East by financial con-
dition which wise legislation would nev-
er have permitted to occur, and which
will and must continue until congress
arrives at some decision or adjourns.
The Eastern wheat markets have
meanwhile exhibited the singular phe-
nomenon Of light receipts and fair de-
mand being attended with declining
prices, and this in the face of reports
favorable to the supposition that the de-
mand for expectation will be fair and
the quantity offering less than an ave-
rage. We are at loss to account for
this, on any other hypothesis than that
given above for the financial changes
which are noted. But there is one thing
which ought not to be overlooked in this
connection. While the decline in the
price of wheat has not exceeded 8 per
cent, and it is rather higher now than
it was at this time last year, the prices
of other commodities generally have been
reduced. For this reason, the compar-
at;ve value or purchasing power of the
dollar today is more than it was year
ago, and the price of wheat is according
ly considerably higher than it was then.
Whether the price will advance or
decline, and to what extent, between
this and harvest, depends on too many
contingencies to be predicted with any
certainty, and those who are indulsine
in such prophecies are only guessing,
and with the odds largely against them
at that. Our own opinion has been and
's still, that there will be an advance
before harvest, but we have no good
foundation upon which to base it, and it
is really nothing more than conjecture
spr,nging from hope.
In this market the receipts continue
light and buyers are not apparently anx-