Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-09-12
CHANCES in the Financial World.

statement Was tndt tle DuSlleSS VI ti'V
country is now transacted upon a cash
basis. The retailers of the country,
recognizing the fact that the profit OF
the jobber is secured largely through
the discounts for cash allowed by the
manufacturers. have come to recoS-
nize the substantial benefits of them
selves securing similar discounts a
notable result of this growth OF the
cash system has, of course, been the
large falling off in the volume OF COM
ner.ial paper, thus largely harro"ihs
the interest earning field for capital.
This tendency of the times is en-
phasized at the present time py 'ie
announcement that the Great west
will this wear move its own crops. Ihe
past few wears have been remarkapl!
prosperous ones for the west ana as
rasult of the happy combination of
large crops and high prices the period
has been one of very general hquida-
tion. While there is no way of getting
at the grand totals in this debt paying
process, they are known to be some
thing enormous. The Western farm
mortgage is rapidly passing from
sight. and as result the interest
charge formerly paid to Eastern cap
ital has been largely reduced. 1t GER
tainly marks an epoch when the
Great West is in position Of financial
independence. and when the President
cf the American bankers Association
makes the unqualified assertion that
commercial paper is going out OF
vogue, and discount paper becoming
almost unobtainable. The immediate
parent in the plethorl of funds shown
by the bank statements, in surprising
ly few failures reported by the mer-
camille agencies, in the retirement OF
many of the great mortgage com
panieS. and in the notable decline OF
interest rates. Under the stimulus of
Republican prosperity the people OF
this country have been paying instead
of borrowing, and the United States
has become one of the great creditor
nations of the world
1t must not be assumed. however,
to result in any permanent idleness of
our surplus capital. The indications
point to lower interest rates, but the
present period of liquidation is simply
the natural reaction from the pinch
and depression of Democratic hard
tir1es When the OH debts have hpen
adjusted the people of this country
may be depended upon to turn their
attention with characteristic energy
to new fields of enterprise. This is a
country of magnificent resources, as
yet largely undeveloped. The events Of
| the past year ana q half have also
opened up promising fields for the very
large growth of our already rapidly
expanding foreign trade-which in turn
will mean additional activity in all de-
partments of production. The home
market will feel the vast stimulus of
steady work and high wages, and the
farmer as we'll as the manufactures
will come in for share in the general
prosperity thus adduced. At present
the effort is to keep abreast of the
home orders for the replenishing of
stocks that We're depleted. and in many
instances, exhausted by the hard times
brought about by the Democratic free
| trade regime. When these have been
| in a measure filed there will still re
| main the splendid opportunities
afforded by the rapidly growing vol
ume of our export trade. The world is
coming more and more to appreciate
market for them has increased in re-
cent years at an astonishing rate.
| Especially has this been the case in
iron and steel products, which may al
| most be sad to constitute the pulse OIL
our Industrial prosperity.
But the present condition of affairs
| is scarcely less significant politically
than it is industrially. For years the
Democratic and Populistic dema gogues
of the West have delighted to picture
the East as the national money lender,
a greedy, sectional Shylock. Mr.. Bryan
designated it as "the enemy's coun-
try" and men of the Harvey, Tillman
and Atgeld stamp have followed him
in a similar strain. But all this is
changed The West has declared it's
financial independence of all other sec
tions of the country. 1t is prepared to
move its own crops. Its banks have
surplus funds, and are prepared to dis
count its paper. This very condition of
affairs puts the final nail in the coffin
Of the free silver heresy. Any country
that can do business upon a cash basis
is certainly not burdened by any per
capita lack of currency. The greatest