The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-29
THE NATIONS FINANCIAL STRENGTH.

| Now that the Wall street crisis has
been safely passed, the feeling all over
the United States is one of satisfaction
that it came when it did. That there
must come reaction after the high prices
and excessive speculation, winch have
marked Wall street for six months past,
| was realized on all hands. That 1t
came as it did, with rush, is likewise
a matter of congratulation, for the
| business interests of the nation were
better able to stand such a shock, than
the strain of a prolonged depression.
Since the break there has been a strong
feeling along speculative lines, without
there being noticed any tendency to-
ward imitation of prices, in other words,
| the general market seems to have
| reached the condition described as
strong and steady.
The rush of speculative interest,
which has been the mark of the street
since last fall has had one noticeable
effect. The brokers of prominence,
whose judgment is followed by their
customers, have done their best to dis
courage rash speculation. Even when
the tide of business was highest, when
there were sales reaching one million
shares day on the street, these men
did not lose their heads. They fore
saw that there must come a day of
reckoning, and they did what they
could to discount the avalanche In
stead OF encouraging the tendency to
buy on margin they took the opposite
course. BY admonition and by demand
ing larger amounts on margins from
their customers, as a protection to
themselves and the market, they placed
1T beyond the reach of many men who
would have been in the market for
small sums. to deal 1t has been the
complaint during the past half year
that the small man could not do bust
ness with the facility of old The wis
dom of such course has been disproven
by the rapid recovery of the market
after the slump. and the fact that that
black day was not followed by serious
disturbance of the banks not a single
failure being recorded.
But apart from the fact that the
losses fell where they would be least
felt, upon the big houses and operat-
ors, there Is a lesson in the disturbance
of the street which Is of good omen for
the people of the United States. This
lies in the demonstration that there is
now in this country sufficient financial
strength to withstand any ordinary
furry, and come out of it too. with
greater reliance in the trustworthiness
of our great fiscal institutions. Per-
haps the most important of these evil
dences was given when the new British
loan was offered to the public. 1t was
then for the first time that In the dis
tribution of the loan a large percentage
was allotted to this country. Within
a couple of days after this loan was
opened for subscription 1t was oversub-
scribed. More than $3.50 900, 900 was of
ferred on account OF these bonds, and
even yet there may be an additional al
lotment for the New York bankers
that there will be from this time on
interest in all foreign money markets,
yet it is an opening in that direction
Once it Is found that the United States
has money and lots of 1t to place in
such loans the foreign governments
will not be slow to get into this new
market with their offering of bonds |
The phenomenal increase in the
amounts of money held on deposit in
the banks has been the best testimony
as to the prosperity of the country. |
the corollary. That there will be an
added weight given to the representa- |
tives Of this country in foreign coun- |
ellis, must follow. Carpers over the poll |
cies of the United States in the past |
must bow to new conditions. Organism,