New-York tribune., 1896-01-31
WALL STREEr INTERPRETED.

rreitinc an he time about Wall Street West
.-r friends WHY % You actually imagin" that
Wall Street greed s the cau>c Of high interest
r,ld elsewhere. losses u borrowing farmers
elsewhere. hi.h freight rates on Western rail
r,al>. scarcity Of currency in Western states;
WHY not grasp little truth about The matt'rF
Wall street &. nothing but a lending shop for
the money - the continent. II nobody sent
money here to bc loanel In order To get safer
ln.in,.. ,han Ice could get N home, Wall street
cNchluecs would shut up and wall Str''t DanAS
would get ont ~ business
More than half the loans made by all National
hank. IN New York are. In fact made hy them
only - agents for various country banks. 'u'
of S3Gi Our 600 loaned. according To quarterly
statement. S2OG0OOooo was due TO other Ma
,l,nal banks The money Is sent here 10 hc
loaned because the NcwYor banks have the
confidence Of their correspondents all over the
country are known 20 be conservative ana Pru
dent. and in a better position TO foresec trouble
than bankers anywhere else, and have larger
opportunities To- make safe loans than can be
found anywhere else Your crazy. wildcat bor
rover. whether In Florida or Oregon gets his
loan nj home II he can while the man who has
something solid 10 justify a loan goes straight
10 Wall street because there he can get money
cheaper than anywhere else on such property
Men are not fools for sending their money
here II is handled more safely in the long rum
and with less percentage Of loss, than anywhere
else I'm the country. and for that very reason N
lower rates OF interest. Whatever they feel
willing 10 risk on various shady ventures bank
crs elsewhere risk at home, but the money they
put into Wall Street they count as their surest
reserve.
This money comes largely from the West and
South The good farmers and merchants OF
those sections. who haye money lying idle which
they do not want to tie up In permanent invest
mcnts get something for the use OF 1t often.
and get 1t protected and guarded always by
their local banks only because those banks can
use part of their reserve In Ncw-York Since
they must have something here to meet demands
at this monetary centre. and can use money here
more safely than anywhere elsc they send as
much here as they conveniently can. The crazy
town lot spcculator Of Il Western town curses
Wall Street because ii gets, and uses without
loss or risk, the money Of his local bank which
he would Ike to gamble away in boom"
The frenzed wheat or cotton speculator emptes
his anathcmas on Wall Street because II uses
in promoting productive industry or transporta-
ton the money he would like TO stake on prices
of products But the West and the South are all
the richer because their last reserves for great
emergency are not squandcrcd in betting on
land or wheat cotton
The money comes here because caution and
conservatism usually control the financial instl-
tuions Of Ncw-York. Sitting always In front OF
measurelcss disaster, II Berlin or Paris or Lon
dom South Africa or Turkey, Washington or
Albany make mischief, the great managers OF
institutions here are forced to keep their eyes
constantly open 10 all sorts Of possibilities. They
compete with each other so sharply, when there
Is any chance TO lend or invest with safety, that
they crowd down as far as possible tn lending
rate for the whole continent and that they could
not do II the West and South were not all the
time trusting over S2O0,000,o00 TO their judg-
mcnt. experience and wide knowledge, because
the money IS safer here. althot 1t actually earns
less than II would be- anywhere else. Through
their lonnS the most important productive In
dustrcs OF all Western and Southern States
have been developed. Through their loans the
railroads, which have more than doubled the