Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1907-08-30
CDNMERCIALREPORT
CHICAGO BANK GETS OPINIONS
FROM over The U. S.
D,osperity on the Flood Tide-crops
excellent and Business Is on Sound
zasis-None May Deny It-Consen-
els of Opinion in Thirty Thousand
RepIies from Nations Doors.

following is an extract from the
arron and Business Report of the
commercial National bank, one of the
most careful and at the same time
ono of the most powerful financial
Institutions of Chicago. The report
L made up from replies to several
tbousand letters of inquiry sent out
n correspondents and others, and
.ropresents opinions of bankers, bust
ness men and crop authorities in the
west and southwest:
"We endeavor in this summary to
nresent to the public an answer to
fine question which all men are ask.
ing: is the business situation sound
and the outlook assuring? This an
swer is drawn from a composite pic
ture of conditions as graphically de- |
scribed in letters from thousands of !
banking, manufacturing and merchan-
dizing correspondents throughout the
country. Not far from 10000 separate
replies enter into the picture before
is and the definiteness of the image
is remarkable. There is no vagueness
or blurring about it. 1t is clearcut
and incisive.
The overwhelming preponderance
of evidence is that the business sit
nation is sound and satisfactory. Not
one of the thousands of replies mega
tives this conclusion in de-
finite terms. That there has
been a marked easing down from the
tension of the spring and winter
months of the year is generally ad-
mtted, but it is admitted without a
trace of regret or misgiving. The
country had been rushing ahead at a
whirlwind pace until the tax on credit
and capital accommodations compelled
a respite. The demand for goods to
meet instant needs, or to replace
other goods destroyed by wars and
calamities, or to provide for the GER
tain needs of the future, has been I'M
precedented.
"To meet this it has been necessary
for the manufacturers and distribu-
tive agencies of the entire world to
employ almost every available unit
Of money and to put into action every
pOtentiality of credit. The result is
too familiar to all men of affairs to
need exposition. The strain on the
money centers of the world has been
very great. In ordinary times the
stingency of one country is offset or
relieved by the plethora of another,
through the commonplace of the
mechanism of exchange. But it has
been different since the peace of
Portsmouth. There is no easy money
III the civilized world today.
ITO suggest an idea of the urgency
Of the demand for capital to expand
and equip the productive capacity of
industry so that it may be on a par
with the fast-increasing consumptive
dtmandfor the things of modern life
We call attention to the world phe-
nomenon of stagnation in the purely
speculative department of affairs. Re
Gently we have seen a record low price
lot the British consolidated debt
mountaineering that the rewards
d capital in industry are so attrac-
i've as to prompt withdrawal of funds
even from the acknowledged chief of
00''4-Niit oCO III llItos -lDC odAAlC DliC-
lomenon in its application to the fund
Cd loan Of all governments except our
V"h-and for this there is a special
ana artificial reasOn-and in its appli-
canon to the bonds and shares of the
Exchanges, is further light on the
!. 0nslon which is everywhere felt in
money affairs.
/ IS a curious and striking fact
/ Ial IN all the thousands of replies
r 'nich enter into the picture of the
n NSlness situation before us there is
a. Ia,uF reference to the speculative
D. ''largye which contributes so large
part Of the news from day to day.
anu yet it is a truism that the secur-
markets exist merely as governors
'ne supply of mobile capital. OF
9 mStNeSSlly their activity must decline
~ a .'I economic forces drain from their
i% r,o ,a. OF stagnant capital. When the
III r0OIe capital of the world is needed
Ho fu piouuctiYe enterprise or in distribu-
y. Co.,. service it must necessarily de-
w NJ, Tue stock exchange and inevita.
oro. "ane before the necessities and
~ activity " 30 '"'ioo u 1nu 10 u -
5sS tou me bankers of the country, with
KS :. y" exceptions in the far west, report
IA al extraordinary demand for funds in
il s.t nneS of business activity. Inter
4Sl ana !a'es are very firm everywhere
42l rssoI III the central reserve and larger
gss n 9neL'e cities the inquiry for funds SC
b,d a exceeds the supply that money
, G a. ''''lOed as very tight -
500 b BUSINESS is generally reported tc
80 tim SO s IN volume, making an excep
.lgs metz, 'OI the great hesitancy in the
400 and =, markets, especially in copper
400 eess, ,ne alloy metals. Voluntary con
200 ter +''ons in the prices of these ma
dev ' an nave made buyers wary, ant
Of frr ~te generally waiting in the hope
legs l .uE'aer forced declines,
thai DO, ' ae, high cost of materials and la
'rsss cy y, "a and especially a certain ineficien
ea.I !lforrnoaao,or' are noted by some of oul
g he s Itants as unfavorable factors il