Arizona republican., 1898-02-22
WHAT CHEAP MONEY MEANS.

Abundant evidence is presented that new stage will soon be reached in the financial operations of the day. The money which is being piled up in the great trade centers of the country is in quest of employment, and not only of employment, but of profitable secretion of income for those who hold it and who own it. Some of the foremost financiers are already keenly alive to the opportunity thus placed before them of carrying out their projects. In the first place they have sought to increase the value Of their interests in great corporations. To accomplish this they have formed plans aiming to reduce the cost of operating the particular kinds of busi- ness under their direction and aus pices. The Vanderbilts, for instance, have not only done this by issuing low and seven per cent interest, but have begun to consolidate their lines on really great scale. This is as much a sign of the condition of the money and investment market as was the refunding movement. But the two facts are merely the preliminaries of a greater policy still.
 The long and short of the matter is that money is so cheap that it is bound to find its way into all kinds of new r{o @f at New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, will not, because of the na
 ture of the banking business, be allow
 ed to remain idle long. Most of it is now in use, to be sure, but large quan- titles in excess of the immediate wants of the banks for current business can not be sent forth to earn such rate of interest as the real owners of 1t must be seeking. Yet the mere pos session of these funds by the banks which one may base such a conclusion as that. Where does the money come from? Whose is it? Obviously It must belong to men who have no way in which to exercise it's earning capa- bilities with directly satisfactory re- suits in their own favor They are the investing class in the strictest sense of that term, that is, in the con- dition of remoteness from contact with the actual machinery of finance. They are those who make banks possible, who give brokers their business Such individuals offer their money boldly for use in the large fabric of business activity only when they have confi- dence in the power of the handlers of money to make good use of what is entrusted to their care.
 It is unnecessary to explain whence this confidence springs. That it ex- ists, there can be no doubt, and it is gathering force and momentum day by day. And as long as the banks have the money which it has brought out of all sorts of hiding places, so long will they use their utmost skill to make it earn the largest rates of in- come. But the abundance and the cheapness of the treasure, while giv- ing banks reason for investing it at the maximum rates, will also awake in business men of importance in each community a realizing sense of their special opportunity in the circum- stances. As they can borrow cheaply they will seek to borrow on a large basis. They will form projects, for the employment of what they can thus ob- tain the use Of Of for a small considera- itef0n. That fact vii lead to the null tiplication of industrial and financier- ing activity. The machinery of trade will thus be wound up to run with great vigor for a longer or shorter period. The rate at which the money for this burst of enterprise can be ob- tained will steadily become higher, and in due time the cheapness of it will cease to be it's remarkable feature. When that time comes there will be evidence of prosperity on all hands