The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-18

Chicago, Dec. 1.-THE Chicago Daily
News SAYS:
The statement may startIe the gem
eraI public, but in the financial world
the report Will cause no astonishment,
! although the condition be unprecedent-
ed in the monetary history Of the coun-
try.
For nearly two months money has
been the cheapest thing in America
as hnanciers phrase it. For a. fortnight
call loans have been made in. Wall
street as low as one-half per cent,
| while short-time borrowers with ap-
proved collateral are accommodated at
31s Der cent in Chicago.
The bond markets are absolutely bare
of frst-clasS securities yielding more
/ than 31A per cent.
Today . per cent coupon issues were
bought on the exchanges at 137, and
high grade stocks that pay dividends
| at the rate of > per cent per annum
were quoted at 132. Chicago S5.NOrth-
I western common was an instance.
Firms that make a speciality of in
vestment securities acknowledge that the
demand for values has exceeded the
supply three-fold. Fairly safe issues
have been absorbed and there is no di-
minutiOn in the funds seeking place
ment.
| The national treasury states that for
! the current month money in circula-
/ ton has increased $50, 303, 722. This fol-
/ lowing d gain of $4,000, 900 for October,
makes a total expansion of about $l5,-
| 0G0,O0O for the last sixty days. Com
| pared with a year ago, the total circu-
latiOn of all kinds of money is $685.
000 greater, and amounts in all to 81
/ S86,800. 600. The perspective reveals
| even more money.
| On the first Of Lie year corporations
will distribute about $780,, 900 in in
terest and dividends. Besides, exports
are increasing rapidly, while imports
are decreasing quite as rapidly. The
latest figures tell that the exports of
merchandise from this country exceed
those of Great Britain for the first time
/ in the history of the two countries. The
| United States is in the unique position
| of desiring to buy the American stocks
| and bonds that are held abroad.
RUSSIA WANTS TO BORROW.
1t is this condition that has warrant
ed a foreign government in making ten
tative Overtures for a big loan. The
| borrower is supposed to be Russia The
representatives OF that country We're
negotiating with French bankers some
time ago for a large sum, but the trans
action was not concluded.
Ex-ComptroIler of the Currency Eek
els has heard of the overtures made by
a foreign power to raise money on this
side
''The monetary condition of the coun-
try is today quite unlike anything we
have heretofore witnessed" he said
Despite the unusual activity in all
character Of stocks and bonds and IN
general business lines, deposits grow
! in the banks largely beyond expansion
of loans There certainly is no present
I a~f of a
change. There can hardly be one, with
the amount of money flowing into the
.country from. abroad and the increas-
ing demand there for our products.
Whatever discussion appeared some
weeks since as to the raising OF rates
of the Bank OF England and the impe-
rial Bank of Germany, has now passed
awa-.
1T seems that, so far as German
conditions are concerned, London felt
there might be trouble in Berlin, be-
cause the banks had not been prudent
in advancing to so great an extent on
securities which the banks themselves
were really interested in. because the
customers to whom the advances were
made had not the means themselves to
finance them. This condition OF great
demand for money Immediately re-
fiected itself in London and Paris, and,
though much less SO, in New York IL
is stated by those in a position to know,
that the change is now for the better,
and. though money is still wanted in
Berlin there will be no great strin-
gency or any difficulty because the
situation was faced in good time. As
a result. no further advance is antici-
lpated in the rate of the Bank OF Eng
land.
ADVANCE IN SECURITIES.
Z doubt if the definite announcement
of the signing of the treaty OF peace
with Spain has had much, II anything,
to do with the surprising advance IN
all characters of securities. AS a mat
ter of fact. all the effects of such an
act had long been discounted, as had
every step in the war, in so far as bust
ness was concerned. Much of the ad-
vance is upon the basis of merit, ow-
ing to generally improved conditions
Some, however, is purely speculative,
and may be carried to an extent thtlr
will cause a reaction.
This reaction. while it might be Sc
rious under other monetary conditions,
would have less marked effect with
the plethora Of money on hand every
where throughout the country.
$50 great is this that have heard it
I. intimated from good sources that there
has been some real discussion of one
of the foreign powers negotiating d
loan in New York. All this is accentu-
ated by the fact that American inter
i ests are loaninS abroad. The force of
economies in management and expendi-
. ture is not the least of the reasons for
a betterment in values of slow and
: more thorough organization in carry
8 ing on great enterprises The reduction
of prices in so many things is now
compelled to be met by better systems
/. of administration and greater volume
T. of business. Necessarily is this so in all
classes of industriais and railroads
.'As for the banks. it is the greater
volume of business alone which enables
e them, with so great a reduction in the
payment for transacting the business,
to make a fair return upon the capital
: invested.
"All this benefits more than anyone