The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-02-03
CAPITAL LEAVING US.

"Wnat do we care for abroadT' Is
tic contemptuous question of the fnan-
ciers who would settle the money ques-
tlcn, as they say, in tile light of Amer
ican interests only. If there exists a
,nan SO blind to the Importance of a
country's position in International
trade as to contend that the United
States can disregard the opinion of
Of the rest OF the world as to proper
standard of value, we commend to him
q study OF the course of last years
foreign trade, says a prominent West
crn Journal. In that twelvemonth we
eent abroad coin and products to the
amount OF s27O, 100000 In excess Of what
we received There is In this country
today Just that much less capital to be
invested than there would have been
had our policy been such as to COM
mand confidence instead Of evoklng
dlstrust Nor is the performance ended.
With all our vast volume Of exports
and our curtailed purchases, we can
make no head against the tide. Gold
is going out In a deeper and more
rapid stream than ever. The United
States is being drained Of It's pro-
ductive resources to satisfy the insane
folly of those who believe that a
spurious AmericanIsm calls on them
to oppose any policy that falls in with
the views of abroad"
This mighty nation has been built up
and enriched by the action Of two fac
tors; the labor of our people and the
employment Of capital. The latter has
been, In great measure, contributed
by the people OF other countries. Es-
peclally for tho last thirty years, the
money OF the old world has flowed in
upon us in ever-lncreasing volume; at
tracted hlther by the productlveness of
our enterprises and the possibility of
earning larger return. We have
hailed this as a great good. There is
no message of the mayor of city.
the governor OF state the president
OF the United States, which does not
accept the incoming OF capital as a
blessing and as assurance OF growing
prosperity 1t Is because our bonds
have been taken, our industrial Sc
curities eagerly purchased, and capital
sent there by ten thousand channels
to help our labor build up new indus-
tries that we have become the mighty
Industrial power that we are. on
this theory and by this process we
have grown. II we are going to reverse
II now, let us at least look the con-
sequences squarely In the face.
Let our friends who are fond OF
talking about determination against
an American product" when they re-
fer TO silver. look at the facts. The
most portentious of them all Is that
capital is being withdrawn from this
country as rapidly as II once was sent
to It. We have TO send abroad, in a
normal condition OF things. probably
about siOOOOO.OOO a year, as interest
ana other charges upon foreign invest
ments already here. Put It at the
highest estimate, which is siO,OOO,OOO a
month On that basis, $i5O,OOO,ooO of
Investments We're cancelled last year
by doubtful foreign capitalists. We
have no means Of ascertaining what
the normal movement Of capital to this
country per annum would be under
favorable circumstances. But II we
were to add the cessation Of that sum
to the si5o.OoOOOO deficit displayed by
the trade statistics. we shall see that
we are certainly losing from s2ooOOo.Ooo
q year upwards. Can we afford thisg
The cause is in no way doubtful Amer
lean Investments are stIll more tempt
ing than those to be found In any
other quarter Of the world. The bonds
or mortgages upon which there has
been no discount or default would still
Induce the EngiIsh or German capital
Ials 10 look 70 the United States rather
lhan to any other ield. But there Is
sn- nereclnv u,acter that rises before
him. WIN the principal De paid IN
I,oaesf money, "a tho money he scnds,