Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1903-07-03
WEST is PROSPEROUS
Money Is Easier Here Than In
Eastern States.

sales published in the Daily Bono
Buyer, the Dallas city water bond
were sold at the lowest rate o
interest bid at any sale in tn
United States last week, excep
one. Dallas disposed of $15,0Ol
worth of bonds at 1904 per cen
interest, and the only sale reported
at which a lower rate was bid wal
at Atlantic City, New Jersey, wher;
bonds to the amount of $4,000
were foated at 1897. The rate o.
interest bid in the Eastern cities
ranged from to 5 per cent in
nearly every instance, even where
the amount of bonds sold reached
well up TO 100000. The only
bids of low rates of interest offered
at the Dallas sale were those OF
Coast buyers, the bids received
from Eastern buyers ranging from
4 to 6 per cent.
There seems to be no question
that money is easier in the Western
States than in the East at the
present time. The Portland Ore
gonian sums up the financial
situation in an able editorial,
printed in Mondays issue. That
paper says:
The cloud which has been hover
ing over the financial situation in
the East for several weeks is not
showing signs Of lifting, and, at
the same time, business in the
West continues to break records.
The stock market last week was
dull and lifeless, many Of the
prominent securities continuing to
seek lower level Of prices. And
yet wheat and corn advanced from
8 to 5 cents per bushel during the
week, much Of the advance being
due to strong speculative buying,
induced in part by unfavorable
weather conditions, but mostly
Through the decidedly l1vaitlIy
statistical position of the cereals.
This apathy of the stock market
and strength of the wheat market
reflects in marked degree the con-
ditions which make an easy money
market and prosperous timesi in the
West, while an uneasy money
market and growing stringency in
general trade is noticeable in the
East.
The West has wheat, corn, wool,
lumber, livestock, salmon and other
commodities which are always in
demand, whether times are good or
bad. The sale of these commodities
may be restricted at times when
the purchasing power of the people
is abridged, but there is Something
doing all the time" The man who
purchases a bushel of wheat fer rs
or 80 cents, whether he buys it on
the farm or on the Chicago Board of
Trade, knows that, under existing
conditions, there will De no water
out of his purchase. 1t
has an intrinsic value which the
whole world recognizes. The man
who invests in some of Wall streets
'undigested securities" is less GER
tain of the intrinsic value of his
purchase, and so long as this un-
certainty exists the stock market
will remain heavy. New York
bank clearings last week showed
decrease Of 11.3 per cent, compared
with the clearings for the same
week last year, and the average
daily clearings for the week were
$24, 100000 smaller than for the
week previous. Frequently in past
years the West has suffered with
New York, which is and will always
remain the financial center of the
New World, but at the present time
there is so much money in Western
banks and the general condition of
the people is SO prosperous that the
strained situation in the East finds
but small reflection here.
According to Bradstreet's weekly
review, every city west of the
Rocky Mountains except Seattle
showed an increase in bank clear
ings over the corresponding week
last year. This decrease in Seattle,
which was over Is per cent, was
undoubtedly due to a natural re-
apse which follows overcrowding,
md is no indication of a change
'or the worse in the rest of the
Pacific Coast cities, which were less
Affected by the uncertainty which
always attends a mining boom.
The entire system of mining in
Alaska has changed. The humid