The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1890-09-19
THE FINANCIAL FURRY.
RevIew OF tho Causes That Have Pro-
duced StrinSency In the Money
Market and Their Prob
able Result.
THE LATEST ON THE SUBJECT.

| bN''O~
writer in Louisville on financial affairs ia
the editor of the Commercial. In a re-
view of tho financial situation he says:
If the statement that comes from the
customs branch Of the treasury depart
mcnt to the effect that the duties to be
paid on importations made to anticipate
the Mckinley bill only aggregate about
81 0 900 600 the ground for a large element
of the scare that has troubled the money
market in New York for some weeks past
has been swept away. The secretary states
that the surplus in the treasury now is
nearly $50,000,000 less than it was at this
time last year; that $2S,O00,000 of the
existing surplus is in tho national bank
repositories and practically in circulation
and that the amount hold in the treasury
is no more than the fund put there by the
banks to reduce circulation, which, by
recent act, was transferred from Il special
account to the general and availablefunds
Tho treasury has paid out large amounts
in buying bonds and will buy more, and
has anticipated interest very freely. Be-
sides, tho new treasury notes. given for
the purchase Of silver bullion, have begun
to swell the circulation. The business Of
the country is on hard money basis and
| is essentially in n sound condition, and
the demand for money for moving the
crops is no greater than usual at this
season. The aggregate currency supply
of the country in gold, silver, gold and
silver certificates, greenbacks, national
bank notes and new treasury notes, all at
par with gold, was never absolutely as
large and never so large, relatively to the
population of the country, as now. The
banking system Of the country, making
checks and drafts and other forms of
credit available for complementing the
currency supply, was never SO extensive
or so we'll difused over the country.
Notwithstanding all these facts, how
c~cr, there is scary feeling at Our great
monetary center which engages the atten-
ton and has called for the intervention
and help of the financial department of
the government, and it is important to
know what causes it and how fur it is
justified
There is an unusual scarcity Of money
seeking investment or waiting employ
ment about New York citr. Tho bank
reserves arc low, and, with oil the dis
burscmcnts Of the treasury, they do not
increase as it seems they should. 1t locks
ne if tho immense speculation i'll real
estate in boom cities, in founding new
towcs, in developing mincra! properties,
and in the many new forms of trust sccur
tiles, had begun to tell on the available
cash surplus Of the country Vast amounts
of money have been locked up temporarily
in development schemes, a great deal has
been sunk in the last year or two in COL
lnpscd booms, and great deal has gone
into securities unknown on the stock
exchanges. 1t is true that as to tho last
there has been to large extent change
of the form Of investment, rather than
an increase Of it. but much money invested
has been drawn from sources ordinarily
tributary to the New York money supply,
and much Of that released did not flow in
that direction. The development and boom
speculation has been nearly az great as
the great speculation in building unre-
muncrative and strategic railroads, which
was tho immediate cause Of the crisis Of
1873 but at that time the business of the
country was on an inflated basis, done in
deprecated currency, and infected al!
through with the reckless gambling spirit
generated by the long use ofa currency Of
huctuating value. while now the regular
business of the country is in the main in
healthy condition. done on sound specie
basis, and unusually free from speculative
tendencies. There is nothing in the situa-
ton which make a money stringency dan
gerous to the degree or in the way that it
was in 1873.
Whatever has brought about the strin
gcncv, whether the causes noted above
alone or iii conjunction with others, there
is no doubt that the scarry feeling was
intensified by the belicfthat something like
81 90 ,000, 900 of duties would soon have TO
be paid OH goods imported in anticipation
OF the Mckinley bill. The treasury state
mcnt that the amount payable is only about
one-tenth as much as supposed will have a
tendency to cause much more comforta-
bic feeling in the money centcrs. The
administration can be relied on, on gem
oral principles, to manage treasury opera
tons SO rs to distress business as little as
possible, and it is certain that on the eve
of the Fall elections that there will he no
treasury can by any legal methods pre-
vent.
New York, Sept. ls.-Thc stock market
was less active to-day and the temper
was more mixed than it has been for
many days, but there was OIL the whole a
materially better feeling, especially dur
ing the forenoon, than at any time during
the past week. The general impression
was that money would be easier after
to-day. but there would he an active
money market throughout the fall or until
the funds which are now engaged in
moving the crops shall have found their
way back to this center.
There was therefore renewal Of the
hesitating character which was SO pro-
nounccd some time ago in the market,