St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-06
TIE MINNEAPOLIS BONDS.


The failure Of the city of Minneapolis
to float its per cent bonds issued in
aid of the construction of the new court
house, is an interesting local illgStra-
ton of the condition of the money mar
ket. Under ordinary circumstances
they either would have been eagerly
sought for in competitive bidding, or
could have been disposed of at private
sale with the same facility with which
ordinary merchandise is bartered.
Now, although no one questions the
high credit of the maker of these secur-
tiles or their general attractiveness as
an investment, not single proposition
of purchase Is elected in response to
their Offering. The explanation of this
is that the street is flooded with gilt
edged paper of every sort which can be
had at prices paying a rate much higher
than 1 per cent, and the institutions
and individuals who have the means
and the willingness TO make long time
investments are so few in number that
their aSsimilating capacity can be salts
fed at a much greater profit to- them
selves than the Minneapolis bonds
promise.
Tue prevailing stringency along the
investment and speculative lines is due
to great many causes. among which
two are conspicuous. The disastrous
elimination OF South American sDecu-
latiOn entailed a tremendous destruction
of capital and settled feeling of dis
trust, even among those who lost nothing
-, to-
gress will do on the silver question
makes people hesitate about tying up
their money in forms which will not be
readily convertible. If this country is
to adopt a silver standard, there may be
complete REIMBURSEMENT of prices, and
capitalists TO not propose to be caught
on the wrong side in the shuttle. When
the crisis is past, and the subject Is
settled one way or the other, matters
will go with some eyennesS, either of a
former or OF a new mold. But until
then timidity will prevail.
This state Of affairs carries with it les
SONS often retold, but winch 10 eXpe-
rience is able TO teach. The curse of
speculation is visited on limitless areas,
and the occasional instances of great
wealth which its history supplies are
only proofs of cOrTespQndingly great
losses in other quarters. Laws and
public opinion are alike pOwerless to
regulate these things, and it is the fate
of the modern business world to see in
every commodity periods of unwar-
ranted imitation and of protracted de-
preston alternate. The healthy shap-
ing of supply to fit demand is never
maintained except for brief periods, and
it is only out of an averaging Of wide
extremes that a happy medium is
reached. Periods OF excessive activity
carry almost as much danger as do
those of congestion, and he will be a
great philosopher who, analyzing the
cause of such irregularities. viii sug-
gest some sort OF a remedy.
Another lesson of the situation is the
stern necessity which rests on all pa
triOts, without regard toparty, to wrestle
seriously with the currency question
and put it on a footing Of permanent
stability. Agitation on the subject is in
evitable as long as the suspicion is aliev
that either standard faYors one class
of the community at the expense Of
another If gold basis does mean a
decline in prices of all other commodi-
ties except it, and the inpoyerishment
OF every form of industry for the ag-
grandiZementO of the owners of that pre-
cious metal. it does not furnish proper
medium of exchange. If the silver
standard. on the plan now advocated
under the free coinage cry, does involve