The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-07-27
WALL STREET SEEMS
NEARER END OF TROUBLES;
REVIEW OF THE WEEK.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL
New York, July 26.-It was the inevitable
which happened in Wall street when on
Friday, amid a decentralization of prices, the
failure of two important Stock Exchange
firms was announced. The wonder is not
so much that the firms were forced to de-
fault as it is that disaster did not come long
ere this.
1t was as impossible to avert 1t as it
would be to change the workings of any
natural law. There are few persons still
left in the financial list and elsewhere who
regard the liQuidating market as nothing
more than a long-contirued bear campaign.
the result of some preconceived plan. in
which one group of capitalists has been
cunning" for some other group. to wrest
from them some property or other or to pay
off old grudges.
That men should hold such opinions is not
much a matter for surprise, in view of GER
tain developments during the recent craze
and the character of the stuff on which the
speculative element is for the most part fed
and the Astounding credulity of the stock
gambler. but If one glances down the stock
list and notes that good stocks have SUI
fered in like manner with poor ones, that
AS promotion schemes have shriveled
equally with BIS, that C's speculative coun-
tiers have declined fully as much as DIS. and
that there is no choice anywhere, it is sim
pie enough for sane man to conclude that
the movement is general and not specific,
that no man has gained any particular adj
vantage over any other, but that all are in
the same boat. and that boat a very leaky
one.
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.
WTatI ctr. hoo, Il
a simple econo mic problem-the law of sup
ply and demand or, as MIR. keene puts it:
stocks are good-at least, some of them
are-only there are too many of them"
To those who have head for analysis the
story can be told in no way more eloquently
than by few brief figures taken from the
reports OF the Comptroller of the Currency
for all the national banks of the country:
June 10, 1908. specie and legal tendersS 5ss 39 aos
July To- l9ol, specie ana legal tenders 556 U.s. lof
June + isSs. loans a sss9 81
july 10, lSel loans Observation-Disclosures. 2g5S gO6 379
June Is "SI ,sas i iHini
July 10. 1901, individual deposits 800. 294I sal 42s
Net increase, deposits ........ ess 1856 $50
"hat part the trust companies State
banks. private bankers and borrowing from
Europe would play to further swell these
totals it is impossible to compute, but ma
tional banks are widely distributed and
their business is fully representative of
what is going on elsewhere.
LOANS HAVE EXPANDED
Their figures show that with an actual
increase of only N6OOO.00O loans have ex-
banded SASS, 0o.OO0 and deposits book credits
have increased S259, 100000
1t is possible by covering other periods
than those selected to make a showing
even less favorable than the above, but
that Is not the object sought. 1t is clear
that on g basis of s16,OOO,0OO has been built
an inverted pyramid of $25e, 700, 900 of de-
post liabilities, obtained through the ex-
pansion Of loans to the enormous extent of
S45s. 100000, all within two years time That
this has caused state of unstable equili-
brium which bankers are at last striving
to check ought to be clearly apparent even
to Wall street.
This result is not much changedby the