The record-union., 1893-09-11


safe limits the world over, and the uncer-
tainty of the results of change of admin
lstratlon in our own country, have all
tended to make the timid grow more
timid and to shake the confidence of the
braver ones, till general lack of conf
dence prevails over the whole country.
1t has undoubtedly been the severest
Crisis yet known. and yet California has
sustained the pressure as we'll as any
State in the Union, and better than al
most any of the younger States of the
West. The merchants have had a very
hard time, but they have talked but little
and have not loudly complained. They
have fortified themselves as well as they
could and have been as Ienient as possible
to all those indebted to them. Money
has been very scarce in the interior, and
| although grain and fruit was ready for
market it was with great difficulty that
sufficient money could be raised to pay
the actual labor of gathering. A larger
number Of country storekeepers than
usual have had to be assisted Many
have failed and been forced to make a
| settlement, while most of them have felt
| that they could pay in full if allowed
time.
In San Francisco no failures of any
note have occurred among whole
sale merchants, if we except two notable
ones in lumber. Our banks have done
all in their power to accommodate Gus
| toners, though it has been but little COM
pared to their depositors' wants. Upon
the banks the pressure has been almost
as great, and they have been forced to
| discontinue overdrafts. If a depositor
needs money he must first consult the
bank and not take it for granted that he
can have all he needs. But the strength
Of our banks has been in mark ed con-
trast to those at the East. The coin has
| been ready to meet any demand that was
! due. The reserve fund of many San
Francisco banks was sufficient to meet
every depositor's demand at sight, and
the same was the case with Sacramento
| banks, their sound condition having been
the subject of special mention by the
! Bank Commissioners at their last exam
ination. The most critical examination
found nothing to take exception to, and
our banks may be regarded as perfectly
solvent.
The year 1898 has undoubtedly been
one of the most disappointing in the his
tory Of the State. Good crops and no
profit. Grain has fair average yield
and sells at unprecedentedly low prices.
Farmers are not afforded any facilities
for storing, and borrowing money, but
must accept any prices that the purchas-
ing markets would pay. Some have sug-
gested collusion between banks and
shippers to get wheat cheap, but a
greater fallacy never existed and the
banks could only furnish money to en-
able cargoes to be made up and the ex-
change sold to REIN burse them as quickly
as possible. Wool has been difficult to
sell even at half usual prices. Both
scarcity of money and uncertainty of a
change in tariff laws has stopped all de-
mand and it was difficult to find buyer.
Fruit has been very abundant and beg
ging a market. Those so fortunate as to
reach an Eastern market promptly found
fair returns for green fruits, but can
neries have been deprived of their usual
banking facilities and in very many in
stances have remained closed and the
pack will not be one-half the usual
quantity, while dried fruits have as yet
only found limited sale. Hops alone
proved the exception and will pay as well
or better than an average of years. The
crop is good in quality and quantity and
prices remunerative.
The hydraulic mines would have sup
piled almost a sufficiency of gold to have
kept this coast in money, but even they
have not been able to get at work under
new Government regulations. And yet
Will all tu6Se ulSappOlnIln6ntS ana cur
tailment of the annual wealth production
of the State there has been no wide
spread alarm or distress, no crowding
pushing to the wall. California's
strength has been conserved in the mu-
tual support its citizens gave each other,
and her commerce is carried on more
generally with her own capital than
almost any other State in the Union.
Twenty-Five years ago Chicago was
said to be owned by Boston or New Eng
land, so great was the Eastern capital in
vested there in mortgages. Investment
companies and associations have located
largely in almost all the larger Western
cities and States, while our State has been
built up with its own capital, and neither
with savings banks nor Others is it the
policy to press payments during sucn
periods as the present.
California is strong, and her attitude
and condition at the present time show it.