The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-16
NEW wAREHOUsING PLAN.

In the progress or the world there fire.
quently come evolutions in commercial
methods that are fully as important as the
best inventions in the industrial field. By
way of illustration, 1t may be said that If
at the present day we endeavored to use
coin in effecting exchanges of commodities,
as did the ancients, business would come
to a standstill. The amount of coin in the
world would carry only about per cent
of the business, and 1t would be impractic-
able to carry II about the world fast
enough to do even that amount of work.
Probably the most important feature of the
commercial progress Of the nineteenth GEN.
fury was in the direction of methods for
mobilizing wealth, of finding ways to con-
vert wealth. such as wheat, corn, cotton or
what not into negotiable credits or money.
One Of the most valuable instruments for
this purpose is the warehouse receipt
bill Of lading, practically the same instru-
ment. except that one represents wealth in
a warehouse while the other represents it
loaded on shipboard or cars. The holder
of this receipt from the warehouse or trans
portation company can take 1t to the bank
and borrow cash up to close margin of
The government bonded warehouse for
imported goods or whisky on which taxes
have not been paid has been and is of i'm
mense service to importers and distillers
in the matter of borrowing money to carry
their merchandise until a market can be
for ikau he Of IN,
elevators throughout the corn and wheat
States and the big cotton warehouses at
Southern and Eastern seaports have been
as valuable in the banking facilities they
afford as in the shelter they give for grain
and cotton stored therein.
Now comes a new movement by a big
financial institution of Baltimore, marking
a distinct advance in the matter of financ-
ing manufactured products of nonperish-
able nature. The manufacturer does not
use a public warehouse, but a warehouse
of his own. 1t is the purpose of the Balti-
more concern to enable the manufacturer
desiring to avail himself of it's negotiable
| receipts to put his warehouse and goods I'm
| charge Of a custodian approved by the
| banking house and bonded by an allied
| fidelity concern. Receipts are then issued
| for the goods in storage. and these receipts
| enable the manufacturer to borrow money
with them as collateral In banking centers
| away from home, where his individual
credit may not be known. At present a
| manufacturer unless the plant be a large
| one with a long established credit, must
borrow from home bank. and when his
home bank cannot accommodate him he
must do without: and thousands have failed
| for want of working capital with ample
assets in the way of manufactured product
| on hand.
| This plan, IL carried out conservatively
| enough to give the receipts recognition in
all the large money centers. will prove of
| inestimatable value to the smaller manu-
facturers Of the South. particularly to lum-
Der companies. cotton congresses. etc. Its
tendency will be TO greatly reduce the
risks in manufacturing the more staple
products and to steady both production and
prices of such commodities.