The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-22
SOUND AND SATISFACTORY.
Not Disturbing Factor Found in the
| Business Situation.

Chicago, Aug. 22.-"The over
whelming pTeponderance of evidence
is that the business situation is sound
and satisfactory" says a summary of
10000 opinions of bankers and manu-
facturers issued by the Commercial
National Bank of Chicago.
Our reports are unanimous in say
ing that the prosperity in every line of
business during the last year has been
superlatiVe. The vital question which
i everyone is asking has to do with the
future. Is the wave of prosperity still
rising or have we reached the crest
and begun the descent to more mod
crate conditions? The answer to this
question is bound up in the factors
which enter into the credit operations
of the people.
1.-THE reports We have received indi-
cate that by all the tests we have men
toned the credit situation on which
all else finally depends is sound.
Less Rapid Pace Welcomed.
Not one of the thousands of re-
plies negatives this conclusion in
definite terms. That there has been
a marked easing down from the ten
sion of the spring and winter months
of the year is generally admitted, but
It is admitted without a trace of re-
gret or misgiving. The country had
been rushing ahead at a whfrlwind
pace until the tax on credit and capi
tai accumulations compelled a respite
precedented. The result is too familiar
to all men of affairs to need exposi-
ton. The strain on the money CEN
ters of the world has been very great.
There is no easy money in the civil
lied world today.
"The consensus of opinion is that
the demand of legitimate business will
continue to absorb all available funds
for some time TO come and there is
nothing in our review to suggest any
IN faC of oct OF haf
the year end liquidation.
Diminished Speculation
"To 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
demand for the things of modern life,
we call attention to the world phe-
nomenon of stagnation in the purely
speculative department of affairs.
Recently we have seen a record low
price for the British consolidated debt
-'consols'-indicating that the rewards
of capital in industry are so attractive
as to prompt withdrawal of funds even
from the acknowledged chief of invest
nent securities. The same phenomenon
in its application to the funded loans of
all governments except our own-and
for this there is a special and artificial
reason-and in its application to the
bonds and shares of the exchanges, is
a further light on the tension which is
everywhere felt in money affairs.
TT is a curious and striking fact that
in all the thousands of replies which
enter into the picture of the business
situation before US there is hardly a
reference to the speculative lethargy
which contributes so large part of
the news from day to day. And yet
II is a truism familiar beyond need of
mention that the security markets ex-
ist merely as governors of the supply
of mobile capital. OF necessity their ac-
tivity must decline when economic
forces drain from their stocks of stag
nant capital When the mobile capital
of the world is needed in productive
enterprise or in distributive service II
must necessarily desert the stock ex-
change, and security speculation must
inevitably wane before the necessities
and overstepping Importance of in
dustrial activity
Raising the Standard of Living.
THE high cost of materials and Ia
Dor, and especially certain inefhciency
of labor, are noted by some of our in
fornants as unfavorable factors in the
situation. The worldwide struggle Of
all classes to appropriate more of the
comforts of advancing civilization and
TO share more generously in the salts
factions of living have brought about
important changes in the labor situation
and the temper of workers everywhere.
The demand for higher wages and