The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-30
In THE BUSINESS WORLD

When the money question moves into
first place, as 1t usually does at this time
Nof year, and the matter Of a sunieiency .of
money leads every other consideration In
the world of finance, a little OF pessimisnn
is always to be found coioring the bust
ness reports Of the day.. - - -. Il. !
. The country breads tight money. and
the slightest development that can be
taken as foreshadowing q stringeney Is
enough to cause uneasiness. It is then
that the nervous fears of the ultra con
asrgatfves ma. expression, In doubt as to
the future, 1t Is then that the opinions
Of men with the naasterful grasp Of .the
economic conditions Of the country gained
In the. school Of hard practice are e@of
value. ! . <1.l@5I - - - -
The week brought a full interview with
James r. Keene, So closely are his in
.terests bound up With Wall street, that
many look upon Keene more as a type
Of the successful speculator than: as a
f1narcier in the stricter Interpretation Of
that word. It is q fact, however. that
some years ago, when the country was en-
joyif1g just such a period Of prosperity as
at present, Keene gave out q famous In
tervtew in which he predicted that as a
result Of overexpansion Of credits, the
country was due for. a period of declines
in securities in the leading commodity
prices, a decline In the wage scale and a.
general all around depression. This fol-
lowed shortly, and upon this forecast and
a later series OF remarkably astute :hnan- :
cial analyses his reputation Is based. The
present period Of expansion. he believes Is
not anywhere near it's climax. The fun-
damentals are absolutely sound. There is
no false bottom this time. Six years Of
1t have put the farmer, the railroad, the
merchant and the workingman on firm
ground. Aside from some great and un-.
expected national calamity, nothing can
stop the present upward trend.
Secretary Shaw's statement that he will
not follow precedent and buy bonds, as did
his predecessor, Secretary Gage, but In
the event Of a money stringency will In
itories, was considered avery opportune
announcement Of a wise platl,ss
f From July to date the west has sent
into New York $s2,ss4, 900 compared with
S42.4o7, 900 in the same period in 1901. And
New York sent to the west $2l,947. 900
against SIS, 10000 last year. This is only
one evidence that there is more money in
the west this year, whore more money is
needed. %s n
It is probably true that many large east
ern financial institutions owe large sums
In Europe, but these debts will be light
move across, and, unless we have been ex-
travagant, 1T is in no sense a. bad sign
that we have borrowed abroad and to
some extent have discounted the good
crop results. It only proves that in our
wonderful expansion we have gone abroad
for more ready money with credit SO high
that foreign investors are glad to, send
their money to us.
The president hasbeen going through the
east saying some timely things upon the
great question of the trusts. Any busi-
ness man who reads these speeches can
1lSh Ae11A " tss1vS. 44t1S SoAA11AS11CH III lu0
general future Of the country strength
ened thereby. There Is in them nothing
OF radicalism. and much OF conservative
common sense. AT the same time there
is mp blinking Of the facts as to the ne
cessity Of government control Of the sit
suation.s
The week developed a weaker tone in
cereals with declines in wheat due prin-
cipaliy to better weather conditions in the
northwest and the prospect Of an increase
in the movement OF new, wheat to mar
ket. s
Conditions in the staple jobbing and
manufacturing lines continue favorable
An unfavorabie feature IS the suspen-
ston Of operations at many iron tuEnaees