The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-09-21
MONETARY COMMISSION.
;, (Conttniled from pane z.l


into the one single primitive industry of
cultlvatlng the soil. The United States,
instead Of continuing highly CONNER
cial and manufacturing nation, will, until
falling prices are checked, become more
and more exclusively agricultural and
pastoral.
Securities have already become 80 Inn
paired through falling prices that loan
able capital has fed sffrighted from the
newer and more sparsely settled sections
of the country and accumulated In large
amounts in the great financial centers
where securities are more ample. The
personal and property securities of indl-
vlduSls have generally ceased to be avail
able, except at the highest rates of
interest, or at ruinously low valuations.
Money can be borrowed readily only
upon such securities as bonds which are
based upon the unlimited tax levying
power Of the government, or upon the
bonds and stocks Of first class trunk lines
Of railroad corporations whose freight
and fare rates are practically q tax upon
the entire population and resources of
the regions which they traverse and sup
ply. The competition among capitalists
to loan money on these more ample
securities has become very keen, and
such securities command money at un-
precedentedly low rates. These low and
lowering rates Of interest, instead of de-
noting financial strength and industrial
prosperity, are q gauge Of increasing
prostration. Large accumulatlons of
money in financial centers, instead of be-
ing caused by the overflow Of a healthful
circulation, or even proof of a sufficient
circulation, are unmistakable evidence of
q congested condition, caused by q de-
creasing and insufficient circulation. The
readiness with which government bonds
bearing very low rate Of interest are
taken, instead of showing that the credit
of the government has improved, is
melancholy evidence Of the pFostrsted
condition to which industry and trade
have been reduced. There need be no
haste In refundlng the public debt at the
rates now proposed and considered low.
Unless the progress of the commercial
world in the policy OF contracting money
by demonetizlng silver Is checked, bonds
bearing a much lower rate Of interest
than any yet offered will be gladly &C
cepted by capitalists here and in Europe.
When the money stock is diminishing
and prices are falling, the lender not only
receives interest, but finds profit in the
greatly increased value Of the principal
when it Is returned to him. A loan Of
money made in 1909, If repaid in 1848,
would have been repaid with an addition
Of 145 per cent. in the purchasing power
Of principal and interest, besides all the
interest paid. Those who have loaned
money to this government since 1861
have already received nearly as much in
the increased value Of their principal as
In interest, and all the probabilities are,
In respect to the 4 per cent. thirty year
national bonds now being negotiated, If
they are redeemed in gold, that more
profit will be made by the augmentation
In the value Of principal than through
interest. Indeed, the signs Of the times
are that the bonds OF "a country possess
ing the unbounded resources and stable
institutions Of the United States, payable
In gold at the end Of thirty years without
any interest whatever, would, through
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