The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-11-15
Too Much Capital.

Ir is refreshing in these times even to
hear of a man who has so much money
that he doesn't know what to do with
it. There is a barber uptown, pos
sessed of a small shop and large GUS
tom, who is in this singular predica-
ment. BY thrift and steady shaving,
also by the profitable haircut and re-
viving shampoo, he has in the course
of some years gathered in the snug sum
of $4,000. This sum, instead of max
ing him happy and comfortable, has
made him haggard and consumptive.
Sleep has forsaken his eyes and rest his
bed, because under the latter, in gold
and locked in a trunk, is his fortune.
The care of this by day and night has
worn on him till he is as thin as his
shears, and he eyes each stranger who
enters his shop with suspicion keen as
a razor, to make sure he is not a rob-
Der in disguise. The cause of this
home investment at no interest, unless
self-interest be comfortable thing,
was the breakage of two or three saw
ings banks which had much of marble
building and little of cash assets on
hand. Frightened at the news, the
barber at once drew his $4,000 from
the bank in which it was placed,
though that bank was "One of the
four or five in this city which are con-
sidered as good as Government bonds.
Since then the poor man has had no
peace of his life. nor has his spouse
Jared much better. The chamber re-
sembles small arsenal and barricade
combined. The door and windows have
l,,,s c0 IS Il
and the barber is on the constant look
out for new patents. Thus he is liter
ally in the condition of not knowing
what to do with the money which he
has shaved and scissored all his life to
get. And this condition is more serious
than might at first be imagined.
The gentleman who related the cir
cumstances Of the case believes in the
easy-going system of Epicurus. He
calculates closely, but the aim of his
calculations is generally how to just
60 through the year and have nothing
left. This method has its merits, he
claims, in that he is perfectly free from
sharpers, bank failures, stock depres-
sions, and the thousand and one cares
which harass the financier. Speaking
with all seriousness, it has become u
troublesome question to those who have
money lying idle how to invest at once
protitably and safely. l have con-
versed with such men, and also with
those who make investments study
and business, but they have not made
plain the perplexity. The latter say
that the continued disclosures of dis
honesty, which have been confined to
no grade, or trade, or profession, have
shaken the public confidence to such an
extent that people begin to distrust
everybody and everything, and, in many
instances, withdraw their capital when
that is possible, even if they lose by so
doing. Numbers have been made SO
sharp and suspicious through losses re-
sulting from official rascality or subor-
dinate frauds that nothing satisfies them.
Real estate used to be a staple resort,
but the depreciations in that line have
for the time being put it clean out of
market. Western lands are no longer
an alluring bait since the frauds perpe-
trated on Fasteners through swamp
owners. Stocks are regarded about as
safe to handle as is a hand-grenade;
and the Government does not pay well
enough. As for going into business,
the banker knows better than to sug-
gest that, if he does not know what else
to suggest. What world it is, when
many have capital without interest
and many interest without capital!-N
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