The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-01-20
GhAGmtelh1qennn
Tho Price OF Government Bonds

The Price Of Government Bonds.
We happen to notice that .: s. len
Forty bonds are quoted at llSs in this
mornings paper. This is an extraordinary
price for a security that pays only 5peF
cent interest in gold on itspur value, and
that at It's present price, and the price OF
uold. scarcely yields 4per cent in curren-
~. And, too, it is all the more remark
able when We notice the declining ten
Jency Of gold of late, in which the princi-
pal and interest Of these bonds are paya-
ble, and when We remember too, that the
option Of the. Government to redeem
tIesc bonds after ten years has now ma
mrc,l. supposing hundred dollar Ten
Forty bond to be redeemed by the Gov
ernment to-day it would yield in curren-
cy, counting principal and accrued in.
tercst, abou! 115, or nearly four per cent
less than its selling price this morning
The difference between what the bond is
selling for and what it wonld actually
pan out redeemed to-day, may be consid-
cred the premium the bond would natur.
ally commandin specie paying times.
No one. can fail to remark the extra
ordinary prices that government bonds
command as compared with other bonds
good bonds we mean-such us solvent
State, county and corporation bonds, on
which the interest is regularly paid. The
price they cammand is not wholesome
Indication. It's u sign that confidence
has not been restored, and that those who
have money to invest prefer to put it
where it is absolutely safe, even though
they receive in 80 doing only about two
thirds the interest they might get by in
vesting in other tolerably safe Sc
curities. There is such steady report
Of failures throughout the country that
capital, like the animal that comes out
OF its hole ona certain day in February,
and retires again il it sees its shadow,
prefers boarding itself up in govern
ment bonds at present rather than
take the risks Of other employment.
It's said that one special reason why gov
ernment bonds are so high at this time is
owing to the demand for them from the
best class OF savings banks, trust compa'
nies, insurance companies, Sc, many OF
which have been saddlcd with unproita.
BILE real estate on which they have had to
foreclosc their loans. The existing de.
probation in city real estate in the East,
and the consequent difficulty Of fixing n
reliable cash value on ii, has made these
companies unwilling to invest in bonds
and mortgages rs heretofore, and hence
the only thing left them is to purchase
government bonds.
When this sort of thing will have m
end nc, one is wise enough to foretell. It is
the experience, however, of the financial
world that capital frequently makes its
biggest mistakes at the very turning point
for the better in business depression. In
other words, thdt at the very time when
it should be bold it is weak and timid,
Just as before the depression set in it was
bold when it should have been timil.
The Rolhschilds are said to have made it
a rule to sell when people generally
wanted to buy, and to buy when people
generally wanted TO sell, and it is recorded
that they made vast amount OF money
by so doing. The question is are the
present buyers Of government bonds
ignoring the Rothschild rule to their own
detrimcnt2 Is it not quite possible that
they are losing sight Of golden oppOrtu-
nifty to invest money in deprecated prop
erty that hereafter they will be glad to
buy at a decided advance upon pres
ent prices.