The age-herald., 1901-05-19

from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Wall street Is attracting the attention of all classes. Day follows day, and record follows record No man knows at ten in the morning what will happen before three in the afternoon. The unparalleled record of yesterday may be distanced by that of today. The phenom4nal has be- come commonplace. No cloud appears in the sky to cast its shadow, to cause ap- prehension or create alarm. The market place is full of buyers clamoring for stocks, be they industrial or railroads They not only clamor, but chamber.
 Brokers once ready to prophecy what the future had in store now declare that they have no understanding of the situ- atIon. They know prices have been steadily going up for six months. There haze been few favorites. Orders from all psrts of the country pour In upon them. Firms unable to transact the business entrusted to them refuse to open new accounts; on the flour brokers almost faint from exhaustion; clerks labor day and night to post their books, and the fever of speculation heats the blood of all.
 The millions of shares daily bought and sold represent hundreds of millions of dollars in property. The buyers and sellers reside in all sections of the na- tion. and they are of all conditions of life and of both sexes. Indeed, the daily press records not only the winnings Of the Morgans, Belmonts and Vanderbilts, but of messenger boys and chorus girls as well.
 Such colossal transactions involve an enormous amount of cash. whether
 -x-t. ffnw. n- ulation by investors or by financiers. The cash is visible. It exists. This affords a spectacle in itself It represents In a small way the surplus wealth of thena- ton. It demonstrates the existence or great wealth among those who have en- tered Wall street either in a large or small way Could such an exhibition, such a spectacle be made five years ago? The thoughtful, well-informed man will answer: In May, 1S96 such an exhibition of ready money would have been a phy- sical impossibility.
 No student of our times can witness the panorama of Wall street without asking these questions: What does 1t mean? Is 1t speculation gone mad? IS 1t wholly a gambling craze? There IS abundant evidence in the history of H. nance to show that thousands will be- come victims of the mania of specula- ton, especially in such times as are com monly reported to be good or pros perous" The South Sea scheme Cor bub- ble) invited upon the waves Of specula- tion in 1l20, mote than a half of England Few escaped the contagion, and wild cats of all kinds found packers and vic- tims. The fever for shares in Kaffir mines destroyed the savings of half the servant girls ip London, and for while presented to the world an up-to-date Monte Christo, one Barney Bernato of South Africa Is there a parallel be- tween the speculations of today and those referred to?
 It has been suggested that there ar' three classes of buyers in the presen market The speculator. or Simon Pur' gamble., who plays the market on margin; the investor, who Is buying confident of his opinion that stocks will attain stiu higher prices, and interest will declins; and the f1nanciers, who are sseekip@ the control of corporations by securing majority holdings.
 A brief outline of the trend of affairs in the past may in a measure serve to throw light upon the present situation
 Our national history has been one of commercial and industrial progress. In 1861, the cival war suspended internal development The nation, divided into two camps, levied upon all It's resources to maintain the disputants. For twenty years previous to the armed conflict pro- gress in developing the West was re tarded by the slave question. It hung over the land as lowering and omnibus cloud The question was solved by ar enormous sacrifice of life and property And then beg aa an era of development unparalleled in the history of the world The West, with no question hanging over 1t to imperl its future, was made accessible by railroads. It was opened
 CR ct tion by brave men from the North South and East.
 From 1865 to 1900, a period of thirty hv' years. enormous strides were made. II the West millions of dollars were Tn vested and lost and millions were plant ed like seed to wait the ripening o years Farms were cut from the prairie mines were opened, towns sprung up populations forced themselves to be rec ognized ms towns, cities and states. Stee replaced iron. telegraphs knit closer tht separated communities, electricity con ferred its benefits, and around and about the mounds covering the buried millions sprang up an enormous, mcalcuiaDit wealth Where were the Dakotas Kan sas. Nebraska in the scale of productive wealth in 1870? Not only this row of States but the immediate states te either side?
 The Boston and New York banker In vested in projected railroads They bull them at time when rails were imported from England and the price of steel wa' prohibitive and when the hauling power of an engine was limited to thirty tons No guide or surface indication pointed out with reasonable certainty where th' busy marts of trade would be established fin time. All was conjecture and road' were built to connect Sstant points Road after road was built through plains occupied by buffalo and Indians In an ticipation of future developments, shares were floated and bonds sold. Profits dit not arrive on schedule time, but interes day came with regularity. In default or interest payment road after road wen into the hands of receivers. Stockholders lost hope. Panic came. Some road' went out of existence. others were los in the mighty process of reorganization
 The population went on. Farms devel oped mines were opened, factories wer' operated. and the poor old bankrup roads performed an almost divine mis sion for the people and proved the wors kind Of an investment for the moniee Investors. In 1897 the European demand for wheat sent the prices skyward, al most to the dollar mark. The Argentine India and Southern Russia wheat fieldi failed. the Dekota, Nebraska, Kansas Iowa and Missouri farmers supplied tht world The prairie of 1870 became the worlds market garden in 1897. Compare the annual yield of the wheat fields ir 1900 with the interest In default in 1872 A country that had bankrupted railroads %Ao 3O Days REPAYMENT
 NNE0E cents. 0AwN