The Meeker herald., 1893-07-29
OPINIONS oF FINANCE.


the Causes OF tho scarcity of Money.
ST. LOUIS. July GA daily paper
which has already made itself repu-
tation for the Wholesale interviewing
turned loose Il corps of reporters the
other day with n view to getting the
opinions of the business men of st.
Louis as to the cause of the financial
depression. In only one detail was
there much unanimity of opinion.
Most Of thaas interviewed ouid that
there was very much less stringency
than generally reported and that there
was no falling oM in their business
returns ut all commensurate with the
pessimistic utternnces of public men.
Several representative business houses
reported Ii slight increase in receipts
for June. over juno of 1899, and very
few spoke of any FILLING off. The
general opinion was that the worst
had been seen and that money would
ICON become plentiful in the market
The views on the silver question are
rerv diverse, although of the gentle
men interviewed quite a ma jority ridi-
culed free silver as panacea for tinan-
.ial ills.
/ Right on the heels of these sanguine
expressions comes the report of the re-
sordcr of deeds showing nn increase of
over ESQ, 900 In the consideration money
in real estate deals recorded last week
as compared with the second or indeed
any week in July of 1892. The figures
are quite a surprise, but afford much
qualification in real estate circles.
Work on the large buildings in the
city continues rapidly and neither the
building nor the real estate interests
are depressed, as they should be if
financial experts are correct in their
summaries of the situation generally.
There was n great sensation on Sat
urday when it was reported that the
secretary of five large building asso-
Citations and n real estate operator on
\ large scale had been detected in EN-
bezzlement if not forgery, and that he
had skipped the town. The latter por-
ton of the report was premature, as
he spent the following day at his own
home. What the final outcome will
be of the numerous investigations now
being had into his accounts and bust
ness methods is not known, but it has
: TRANSFERRED that ho has been borrowing
money for some time at q high
rate of interest from the same shylook
whose exorbitant rates of inter
est expedited the ruin and suicide OF
the late assistant city treasurer. The
scandal in question has done good
rather than otherwise. Tor 1t has led
TOT series OF inquiries being made
which has resulted in proving the
solidity and strength of The numerous
building associations of the city.
The street car returns for the second
quarter of 1898 show the great popu-
larity OF electric roads. The total
number OF passengers carried in the
city during the three months was 20,
1856, 745, with receipts in excess OF
100000 The quarterly totals are
increasing rap d y and are now almost
as large as were the annual returns in
the old days OF horse cars. The Mis-
souri, or Olive street road carried more
than 100000 passengers, and every
road with down town terminus car
ried more than a million.
1t is announced semi-ofIicially thai
the new Union depot will be finally
finished this coming winter. Abou
400 men are now working on the struct
ure which appears TO be nearly com
pleted. The bulk of the work now IL
be done is in the approaches and thu
track and switch laying, together
with inside finishing of the depo
buildings proper. Work on the roo
of the sheds with their enormous spar
is very difficult in the hot sun. bn
fortunately great pr gress was ma IL
on this during the spring and the i'm
mense area and even acreage of glas
is we'll nigh complete.