The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-06-25
WEALTH OF THE WEST.


business without paying tribute to the
east in the way of interest on Dor
rowed money. That condition existed
so long that Wall street became ac-
customed to looking upon the west as
its natural debtor. 1t could not real
lie that there would ever be a time
when the west could do business on
its own capital.
Most of the wealth of the country
is really created in what Wall street
calls the west. and with few good
crop years the west poured the money
into New York in payment of its OBJ
legations New York did not stop to
think that this flood of money would
not keep up. and hence there was all
sorts of speculation caused by the
plentiful supply of money.
Then came the time when the west
had paid its debts and it stopped
sending money east. The east had
poured its capital into all sorts of
schemes and did not have enough left
to carry them out. The wildcat
companies began to collapse and Wall
street thought the whole country was
going to ruin. Before that a. slight
furry in Wall street would shake the
business foundations of the nation,
and New York could not understand
that there had been a change in con-
ditions. But while Wall street was
panic stricken the west went on as
prosperous as ever and knew nothing
of Wall streets troubles except what
it read in the newspapers.
But now New York has woke up
and is ready to admit that the rest of
the country is not financially depend
ent upon it as it once was. The last
jolt that caused this awakening was
when C. S. Jobes of Kansas City went
to Washington and captured the en-
tire Philippine bond issue, just after
a New York syndicate which had
been formed 70 gobble it had inform
ed him that ne could have none at
all. Mr.. Jobes' little coup was en-
phasized when the east learned that
the greater part of the $1OO,00O.0o0
loan to the Japanese government was
taken by western banks with money
deposited by the farmers of the west.
Wall street is now willing to admit
that the west is financially independ-
ent. Under the heading THE indie
'pendenee of the West the New York
Financier, the leading weekly f1nan-
cial paper of the country, says edi-
1.-The west and south are inclined to
simle at the pessimism which per-
vades eastern financial centers. Visit
ing bankers from the other side of
the Mississippi and from south of the
Ohio report no depression in their
sections. On the contrary they are
unanimous in their stories of pros
perity. Their customers are doing an
orally are satisfied with existing con-
ditions. Such statements are to be
accepted as true in large degree. The
west is prosperous, and the south is
not behind in this particular. AS a
matter of fact the west has worked
out its financial independence and
with another year or two of good
crops the south will have achieved
the same comfortable position. The
depth of depression, so far as the west
was concerned. was reached, or cuI-
minated, rather. in the 1893 panic.
and the effects were still so much in
evidence in 1886 that the campaign
for cheap money found that section a
ready listener to the fallacious
theories of the 16 to 1 party. The
farmers were in debt. business was
bad, and stagnation, rather than
progress, was the rule. What has &C.
CURED since then to change the stu
alton is a matter of history. The
farmer is a capitalist, with money in
the bank; trade has revived and a
period of development has set in
which bids fair to continue without
interruption. Now all these factors
are for the good of the east, quite as
much as other sections, but the east
attempted to take advantage of them
too early. Before the west realized
it's own good fortune the east was dis
counting it in all the marts of eX-
change. It was intoxicated with the
mania of speculation, and mad with
the fever of piling up wealth without
effort. In the natural course of things
the fever ran its course and reaction
in form which still survives. follow
ed. The east is pessimistic after its
! debauch, but the west and the south,
never having entered into the mad
struggle to increase wealth without
work, were unaffected. Hence we are
witnessing a confirmation of the beau
tiful law of moderation, as applied to
those sections. The west still has the
wealth it won. Money is being used
legitimately in every direction. The
DankS are aDle 10 compete WIN Inelr
eastern neighbours; they have album
| dant funds for their needs, and in an
other sense they have assisted in
making St. Louis, Chicago and Kan
sas City metropolitan points for their
convenience. A few years ago Chi
cago handled scarcely any southern
| accounts; now that city has profitable
| connections throughout the entire sec
ton. St. Louis and Kansas City take
care of their own tributary territory
and the southwest as well. Local
money has financed numerous enter
prises of magnitude in the entire
country west of the Mississippi.