The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-12-29
rnE WEsrERN nusINEss NOON.

The Farmers Paying Cash and Buying
FreeIy-Wby Money Does Not Return
10 the East as Formerly.
A Chicago correspondent Of the New
York Bulletin, who keeps that paper con-
stantly informed as to the condition OF
the crops and Of trade in the West,
sends the following report to its issue Of
Saturday last;
The weather is all that could be asked
for. Stores arc full Of buyers, and the
streets crowded with people carrying
home Christmas gifts. So mnCh for the
city. Two or three days spent In the
country shows even more animated pic
tuTe, II possible. The first requisite for a
good country trade is that the roads must
be in fine order This is now the case.
Frozen hard and worn smooth by the i'm
mense movement OF the farmers to the
towns with corn and produce Of every
kind, which finds ready and paying
market. On Saturday | was in several
towns along the line Of the Chicago and
Alton Railway, in a section Of country
devoted exclusively to corn aud hog rails.
ing. The sights ] saw that day were
enough to convince every man Of common
sense that our farmers to-day were never
as we'll of. When corn in Illinois at the
point of production brings S8 cents per
bushel, that means prosperity to every
one. A crop Of corn at this price is far
better than q crop Of wheat, even OF the
magnitude Of the present one and at the
present price. Wheat is only sown in
certain localities. Corn ia planted every
where. Consequently the money that "a
crop Of corn at present prices puts into
circulation is felt everywhere. l went
into the stores in these towns-perfectly
crowded with farmers buying clothes,
blankets, boots, and many OF The comforts
Of lie which for years they had hoped for,
me the most favorable aspect Of this i'm.
mensO internal trade was the fact that the
majority oil 1t was all for cash. stood
by and watch great bundles Of goods as
they were handed out to the farmers, and
never saw a single one OF them ask "to
have II charged," but planked down the
cash, and that was the end oil it; I donot
suppose that the scenes l witnessed on
Saturday are confined to any one locality
in the West. When we take into consid-
Grafton the facts OF the thousands OF towns
and tho hundreds Of thousands OF our
farmers who are now purchasing so freely,
is it any wonder that l was led some time
ago to predict, with the conditions we
have now, ''the largest holiday trade this
country has ever seenT
II is natural that such stale Of things
as is depicted above should work an i'm.
portant change In the customary move
ment Of money at this season Of the year.
II seems that the Eastern bankers have
been expecting the usual return OF cur
rency sent West some weeks ago 10 facili-
tate the movement oil crops, but, contrary
to their expectations, the amount that has
returned is quite small as compared with
former years. The reason for this change
is thus explained: The West, by It's enor-
nous outflow Of grain and provisions, has
been growing rich within the past few
years, and the money sent out 10 pay for
the crops Is being absorbed ut home, now
that active local business Is reviving. A
New York paper, specializing on this
slate OF things. remarks that ''the same
influences that have brought about the
importations Of SO large an amount OF gold
into New York have wrought 4 revolution
In the domestic exchanges, and as COM
pletely set aside all precedents Of the do
mestic movement as 1t has Of the foreign
movement of money" 1t is noted also
that "never before In the history
OF the country was the West so
little indebted to the East as 1t is at the
present time-the chief indebtedness be-
ing on time loans in the form OF bonds
and mortgages" Itisevident from this that
the Western people have been saving and
economiaing to pay, during the flush times
they have had and are still having, their
local scores, and that by reason Of this the
Western merchants have also been able to |
satisfy, to large extent the claims OF
their Eastern creditors. The time was
when there was plethora Of money at
New York and Boston for months at q
tine, aud that during the same period the
West was almost literally bare oil the
means to carry on It's affairs. The great
er equalization oil the circulating medl.
um which this change in the monetary
condition Of the West implies, hit should
continue, will prove salutaryin more ways
than one. 1t will check in New York that
tendency to stock gambling which many
OF the banks Of that city, when
overloaded with money have been
in the habit Of encouraging BY the
freedom with which they have granted
call loans and by certifying checks, II