The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-10-19
BANKS AND INTERIsr..
An Ignorant Answer Given 10 hank De
y po.itor by the Register. a,i

. N ElIe ffi --------iA 49, 1bilI "a 4alr
An rgnornnt Answer Given TO u bank De
2lt po.itor by the Register.
TO tho Editor Of the ln.clllgencer. ,.t
SIR:-The following question and an
swer appear In the Register OF last
Wednesday: M :.
WHEELING, w. Va, oct. 10. +.
TO the Editor OF the Register ~
B"DEAR SIR..-Will you permit nc
to ask you q few questions? And please
answer through your paper Z i have
been n deposItor In our city banks for
n number years. ! used 10 get 6 per,
cent per annum and for great num-
Der OF years ] have only been getting
3 percent. Question: Now, what has
caused this decline in my interest on
deposits? Do You attribute It 70 the
decentralization OF silver, or Is It be-
cause there Is more money In circula-i
ton than there was when the banks
paid 6 per cent? What year did the In
tercst on deposits In banks begin to
decline? IFonly ask this for lnforma-
ton, sosif you can Will you kindly an
swer. and ityou cannot, VIII you d.
rect Inc where | can get the desired In
formation. and obllge a III
I'll IA .9 A Respectfully Ss3
~: Z, Il I, "DEposlToR.. "a
There Is not more but considerably
less money In circulation now than was
In circulation when the banks of this
city paid 8 per cent interest on de-
posits.R II the banks are not able now.
60 be so liberal with their dcpositors,sit
Is because of tho lcssencd prosperity of
the country under the gradual con-
traction OF the currency than has been
going on since 1873. because OF the de-
monetizatIon of tho currency that has
b,eelftgoins on since 1873, because ofthe
demonstration of the most important
OF our money metals. r. e : > We do
not know in what year, the interest on
deposits In banks began to decline. ETA
we VIII give our! correspondent
some advice, however, which 1t will
be worth his while to heed IL he has
money to loan and Is dissatisfied with
the 3 per cent the banks allow him. Let
him take his money out OF the banks
hands and place 1t on some mortgage,
either In this state or In the west He
can easily get 6 per cent from those
who must have money, but cannot get
1t without borrowing 1t at IA high rate
of interest and then only to. the extent
OF about one-third the actual value OF
the propertyEthey have to offer as sse-
curity. II our correspondent has money
TO loan and wishes TO go into the :usury
business. II he will look about him he
can get allftte way from TO Is per
cent for his money. Money under the
single gold standard is dear article
and people are anxious to get it. If he
has 1t lie Is lucky. He can easily loan 1t 3
and make nice thing out Of 1t. But
God help the other fellow who has 1t
not. and has nothing but his land and
his labor as his capital"
more ignorant answer, from
business standpoint and actual knowl-
edge OF business principles. could not
be given.
It is true that many years ago all
the banks paid large interest on spe-
cial deposits. At that time there were
good reasons for so doing. that do not
exist to-day. si-
Money in those days was by no
means plenty and the banks were
forced to offer good round rate of In
terest to obtain the requisite amount
neededtto do business with. but as an
offset, the rate of discount, charged to
borrowers. was at that time fully as
large In proportion, running from 3 to
10 per cent. x s-s-- ii.slI,5
u ~ pusllAesS4Oled al kllu increased, the
prosperity brought about correspond
Ing increase of money and the rate Of
discount began to drop, until 1t reached
In this locality, an average Of 8 per
cent. There have been cases during
certain periods OF the years, when to
large consumers 1t was even less. Nat
urally, there followed reduction In
the interest rate on special deposits,
which is the whole thing In nutshell.
As to the advice in regard to loans
that will bring i.all the way from 6 to
Is per cent, 1t Is very bad advice, for
with large amounts of money seeking
good real estate investments at per
cent. 1t would be folly for borrower
to pay more. Also the man that offers
to pays to 10 per cent, let alone Is, you
may rest assured that he is on the verge
Of bankruptcy and will soon get there.
Then the investor will have the boot
on the other leg and be calling on the
Lord to help him out, and forgive him
for being a greedy fool. W,
~ Wheeling Oct VI .HzS'.'tt5t - zff5{t