The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-02-06

uurun"nis may exist Tor allowing II -
remain abroad. The loaning rate in the
open market u 80 nearly the same at
London and New York that II II not
easy " see what inducemcnt there II
to draw II hither. specially as It's ar
rival would stiil further depreAs the To-
cal rate of interest II had been ex-
pcctsd that. In view Of the Bank Of
England rate being ~, per cent above
the open market rate. the bank would
reduce its raae Tbursday; but the fact
tlnt II kept II at 3h per cent seems
10 ifppy that the managers desire 20
prevent the export N gold and 70 Gre
ate "A rate which would encourage loans
by New York 10 London a few days
more will develop this situation more
fully. In the meantime. the course Of
our foreign trade shows little tendency
towards any reaction from the large
surplus ~ exports over imports which
han prevailed for the past hye months.
on the contrary, the imports at New
York for the first three weeks Of this
month amounted to only s2s, 900. 900.
against N3.5OO.oOO for the same period
Of 1896. showing a decline Of 30 per
cent. and the movement at this port
II generally proportlonate 70 that at
others
In general business. though there Il
no active boom such a. some have un-
reasonably expected. yet there is fair
aggregate Of transactions. After such
a profound shock as the country expe-
rfencs-d last year. there Is. however, a
remnant Of caution which induces a
hnnd-to-mOuth method Of buying that
produces some disappointment among
sellers, although the aggregate Of trans
actions ls undoubtedly larger than their
impressions lead them TO suppose. An.
other fact tending to the interruption
Of business lies In the breaking up OF
many OF the smaller combines" =" which
Is producing much irregulRrity In prices
of quite wide range Of articles Upon
the whole. however. the volume Of bus
mess being done shows a steady I'm
provement. which promises 20 gradually
extend as the various forms Of derange-
ment inherited from the last three
years years OF distrust are removed.
The current agitation Of the taxation
tsH -
among the investing classes, and
evoke general dissent An invidious. ex-
resive state tax on the rich would sim
ply result in driving that class out
~ the state and. even worse. 1t would
drive the thnfly, after they had ac-
cumulaied a fortune. out OF the country.
This country would then. sooner or Ia
ter, suffer as "Old ireland" now does
from ahsruteeism. The rich always
keep their money invested and hence
Ia circulation all the time. by ioaning
q out on bond and mort gage. or In pur-
chase of real estate or securities they
realize an income II they locked 1t up.
as many people in the West and South
have been educated to believe is the
case, they would really be using their
own money to break their backs, as
they would lose all income from II, Men
who have had the sagacity and ca
pacity TO make a fortune in this ooun-
Try are too shrcwd to hoard or keep
their money locked up In a safe deposit
box, which cuts on all income, For
money to make money, Il must be put
out az interest or FOR profit in some
way or other The more extravaganza
amongst the rich the better II Is for
the trades people and their army OF
employees. The rich become less rich
thereby and the poor the better Off.
There is no better method than this to
distribute wealth. The rich are not 10
be feared In this country by the poor,
AS the entailing Of estates is prohibited
and all property Is always in the chan
nels Of commerce.
HENRY CLEWS.