Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-03

years We would not have so much to "
vestigate. The trouble with this fortyhe-
afflicted country IL that We have all been
producing material wealth at such q rapid
rate that some men with courage and fore
sight have taken more than their share. II
In In, the past eight or ten years we had had lad
would not have had this swollen prosperity
today that has made prosperous properties
out OF bankrupt railroads, and has put
millions in the pockets Of men who have
been in on the ground floor. This country
has grown at prodigious rate since 1896
1t is not necessary to quote lot Of figures
to show this. Pig iron is the barometer Of
trade. The pig iron production of this
country today is three times what 1t was In
1896 1t is much more than twice what II
was in the boom year Of the Spanish war
And If you go right through the dry sta
tistics that are really very illuminating
when you get their perspective, you will
portionately: Men who got in right few
years ago. believing this country was en-
tering upon great period Of material pros
perfty, and who stuck to their convictions
through all kinds Of weather, are the men
who have accumulated swollen fortunes.
+
good many people In and out Of Wall
street are taking a lively interest in new
developments touching on the H. H. Rogers
$1O.OOOOOO loan to complete his Deepwatel
and Tidewater railroads. They continue to
attach great market significance to the
incident, and are ever Qui vive for con-
firmation of their theory that Mr.. Rogers
Is not only large borrower of money, but
he Is selling his stocks wherever he car
find market In order to still further
fortify his financial position.
-.
They attribute the continuous and heavy
liquidation of st. Paul. Amalgamated, New
York Central, Union Pacific, Southern Pa
cific. Anaconda and other Standard Oil
stocks to the necessities of Mr.. Rogers and
his associates to make themselves strong in
cash. Standard Oil interests are known to
have spread themselves out over the whole
map and to have gone into innumerable
enterprises in various fields of activity
aside from railroading and oil. Vast as
their resources are there Is a physical and
human limit to their financial power, as
there Is to that Of other combinations. Mr.
]. P. Morgan found that out four years
ago when the Standard Oil interests, flank
ed by Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and e. H. Harri-
man, jumped him mercilessly and forced
him to liQuidate on stupendous scale
The shoe IL now on the other foot.
-
The question Of the solvency of the
Standard Oil group does not enter into the
affair. That Is beyond and above sus-
picion. The interest attaching to the mat
ter Is the discovery that the supposedly in
vincible Standard OIL group is in a state
Of actual discomfort and obliged to go
into the market and borrow money to meet
certain exigencies in their program. This
discovery Is occasion for q malicious grin
to overspread the face Of Wall street,
which has SO often felt the disfavor and
punishment Of Standard Oil manipulation.
The savings banks returns are a pretty
good indication Of what the great mass
Of the people are doing with their money.
We have had in the past few months a big
speculation by people of small means in
public companies and real estate. A few
months ago the real estate boom was alb
sorbing most Of the speculative funds Of the
people: but since the great discoveries OF
real estate boom that has been overshad-
owed by the mining stock boom. Never be-
fore in the history Of the world has there
been such an enormous speculation by per-
sons Of moderate means in the stocks OF
new mining companies.
-
When wage-earners get the speculative
fever in times of great prosperity they
hold back the money they would ordinarily
put in the savings banks, or else draw out
the money they already have deposited.
And this Is what we see has been hap
pening in big way when we examine the
savings banks annual statements. Surely
last year was a more prosperous year than
the one before. and, under the same condi-
lions, we would expect to find q greater
gain in savings banks deposits. A year
ago the savings banks of New York state
showed an increase in deposits Of SOL ,O0O,-
600; the present report shows a gain Of
clearly that savings banks depositors with
held their savings from the banks in or
der to make other uses Of them. The re-
port also shows that while in 1905 there
was an increase in the amount Of money
withdrawn from the banks of $4,000 900,
last year this amount increased $4,000. 600.
In 1905 depositors made $1,000 fewer trips
to the banks to take out money than in the
previous year; last year there was gain in
the number of Withdrawals Of $4,000.
~
The savings bank summary also dis
closes the interesting item that, despite an
increase Of more than $1,000, 600 in the par
value surplus in the banks, the market val
ue surplus has declined SIC, 6OO, OOO-showing
a market value loss of $16.OOOOO0 because
of the decline in the bond market. How
evSr, bonds continue to pay their interest.
Coupons and savings bank depositors will
not worry much about this. The lower
price for standard bonds enables the saw
ings banks to get a larger return on the
this has enabled thirty banks to enter the
per cent class in the past two years.
nANH TS rWTCT uTcTTK