The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-11-03
o MUCH N
AS a Nation. We Have Too Much Idle
Money

A happy condition indeed is that IN
which the surplus is too large, but
there is a limit beyond which a surplus
should not go. SURPRISES are gathered
not for the sake of having them. but
(6rst) to provide a working fund, and
~(seeond) to pay profits, says the Den
yer Mining Record.
The deposits in all classes of banks
have been increasing at a rate that
has already reached a point that is I'M
safe, in an Investment sense. Money
can become too cheap; it can become a
drug, just as an overstocked market OF
any kind. And it is really in that con
dition today. With. a certain amount
in the west financing the crop move
ment, and with considerable gold ex-
portation, we dc not notice this glut as
much as we shall do sixty days hence.
Then the grain now being stored in
bins, will be turned into cash-or n
large part will be converted into the
coin of the realm, and money will start
begging at decent interest.
Money should never be a drug. The
owner of money should never expert
enee a time when his capital will avail
him nothing. And there is less reason
for it now than at any other time.
There is no question that, we're capital
suddenly diverted to mortgages, every
available valuable mortgage in the
country would be taken up in a month,
with the capital of the country scarcely
touched. This was not true at one
time-particularly when the west was
one large plaster" But good crops,
increasing imports and exports, rapid
growth of mining and manufacturing,
have all tended to change these condi-
%tions, and now we find the principal
pastime the organization Of small
banks. This is not encouraging.
In fact, it shows that there is some
thing wrong with the public. The
mine promoters do not complain. They
state that the trend of money towall
mining propositions is healthy and
growing. But that movement should
be twice or three times what it is. The
public should understand that it is as
bad to hoard money as it is to engage
in wild speculation. Stagnant wealth
is like sluggish blood. Instead Of mean
ing strength, it signifies decay; "auto-
intoxication." There is not one of the
large millionaires who keep much ready
cash-unless it is Russell Sage. But
his business is to lend money ON short
time propositions. That means that he
will likely continue to hold first place
with ready cash. Rather han permit
his money to remain idle, he will take
a very small percentage. Therefore,
the ready money phase of Mr.. Sage's
business, is only relative.
The son of a millionaire recently
said, 81 asked father to stake me to
FIVE thousand dollars-think of it, only
FIVE thousand. He told me to wait,
that he had not five hundred in avail
able cash. Now, father is worth at
least one million dollars maybe two or
three, and yet he has only FIVE hundred
dollars in cash. He says he has fifty
thousand dollars maturing next week,
and he thinks he had better use that
for some investments and he wants to
stand me off,
That illustrates, perhaps in a slightly
exaggerated way, the condition of cap
~italists. They don't want much ready
money. What they have, they prefer
to keep busy. 1t pays them better.
And the individual must do the same
thing. If he would succeed, he must
keep his capital turning. And the
American public must start in to do
that very thing, or there will be stag
nation-and s~tagnation is a very bad
condition.
As a nation we nave too much idle
money. We could use $1,000, 000, 900
more capital in active work in this
country, but we don't want bank ac-
counts bullying beyond a reasonable
limit. That is where they are now.