The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-07-05
CHEAP MO N

1t is stated the English fnanciers are TAX
ing into serious consideration the advisability
of %refunding a large portion Of the public debt
of England, which is now bearing three per
cent interest, with bonds bearing q per cent.
interest. AS the 3 per cents command a
higher premium. they believe % per cents
can be foated at par. With this statement
before us we can readily conceive how easy
it would have been to refund a portion of our
own national debt under the funding bill
passed by the last Congress. That bill pro-
vided for the refunding of all the then out
standing SIS and Is, With new 3 per cent III
terest bearing bonds. For reasons
which are we'll known and which
reflect no credit upon him,
ex-President Hayes the bill. While the
bill was pending in Congress, the best finan-
ciers in that body commended that no difficulty.
would be experienced in ref,lnding the class
of bonds named at 3 per cent. Recent tran
~sactions in the money markets of the world
prove that they were correct. WINDOWS b
per cents have been eagerly seized in ex-
change for matured bonds bearing a much
higher rate of interest, and now command a
slight premium, This fact goes to show that
money has become surprisingly cheap in the
United States during the past few years. In
deed There is but little difference in its value
in the New York market and in that Of Lon
don, and that difference is becoming less each
year. We may therefore safely assume that
in the future, as our outstanding bonds ma
ture, hey may be refunded at 3 per cent, and
possibly al a lower rate of interest.
Why money has become so cheap in the
United States is no mystery to those who
have watched the course Of trade between
our ports and those of foreign countries. The
balance of trade has been largely in favor of
our country. During the past few years Eu-
rope has parted with large quantities of its
gold to pay for American produce, and still
she is paying it out. Late dispatches inform
us that the excess of exports of merchandise
from American ports for the twelve months
ended May 3lst 1881, were $3.50, ia, 1866
against $l62, 27O,sO7 in 1880, and that the ex-
cess of imports of gold and silver coin and
bullion for the twelve months ended May
OlSL 1871, were pJZ,LCo,Ool dSdluSI @if,Iol,-
PAP during the corresponding months ended
in 1880. This drain of the precious metal
from European Golfers is now tearing its le-
ultimate fruit. Our country is getting rich.
Money is becoming abundant and interest
rates are falling. But the wide awake capt.
talists know what to do with their surplus
wealth. Large enterprises are being pushed
forward and still larger ones are projected.
Three or four railroads are being pushed
across the country and numerous lateral lines
are searching for the fertile valleys ana rich
mineral deposits of the great west. Employ
ment is given to every willing hand and the
tread of the tramp is no longer heard in the
land. The screech of the locomotive and the
runbling of cars, the whistle of the steamers
and the splashing of waters, the roaring OF
FORCES and the changing of hammers, the
laundering of stamps and the seething of
metals all JON in proclaiming that COM
MERGE and the various industries pursued in
the country are responding to the power OF
cheap money. 1t is the lever that is forcing
the United States in the van of the nations OF
the world.