The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17
THE GENERAL FINANCIAL
 SITUATION IMPROVES

ing the air with threats that never again will they put their balances in reserve eenters if these balances are not avail able in times of need. All of which would seem to prove the contention that bank deposits in other banks are more likely to be sources of weakness than of strength. This il will must neces- sRfily fade away as the maintenance Of balances in large cities is vitally essen- tial to the smooth running of the ma ohinery of business, and the expeditions handling of products.
 An encouraging feature is found in the fact that mercantile houses every where will be sustained until after the holiday season.. Everybody of conse- quence recognizes that if left alone the merchants will realize very large sums from their holiday sales and that with the time thus given them will be able to mass their resources and put them selves in better shape than they were when the storm broke. After the first of the year there Is likely to be a gen. erai mercantile liquidation. According to information received by commercial agen- cies and other reservoirs of commercial data the merchants throughout the in- tertor and the west have been specu1at- ing in thsir way as heavily as the gam blers in Wall street. They have loaded their shelves with goods of every de- scription, which must be sold for what they will bring, in order to meet bills Fortunately this expected liquidation of merchandise will be in section of the country that is superlatively rich. It is the expectation that the great farm ing classes which have raised s4, LOG, 600 600 to 5000 0O0,000 of products every year for the past decade will find the bargains irresistible They have the accumulation of ten fat years and represent the real mass of buying power in the United States. On the showdown they are re- lied upon to ''save the country and in so doing fill themselves up with the good things of earth at auction sale prices. The money which they are ex- pected to pour into the pockets of mer- chants win be the lubricant to set in easy motion once more the machinery of busi- ness. It sounds very beautiful and if the theory works out there should be witnessed by the end of another ninety days a generous inflow of cash at the great cities which will inaugurate a period of easy money and a resumption of &C., tivities in many quarters where there exists a species of parsaysis at present.
 Many very important people are in sub- stantial Accord in believing that there are 40 to 60 points ahead in purchases of some of the standard stocks now obtain able on basis of to 9 per cent Com binations are already forming for the quiet purchase of favorite stocks in an- ticipation of a great rise in prices. In almost every instance the expression is voiced that no speculative expansion need be looked for and no very great rise in quotations until after the turn of the year Bankers are harshly insistent upon speculative repression. They want to see the floating supply of stocks absorbed, but they want the certificates to go into the hands of the public and not into the possession of speculative syndicates or individual plungers. They will have no money to finance speculation and make that as plain as words can convey. New ertheless rich men who can afford it are buying stocks gradually and consistently, fully believing that the period of depres- sion will not be long lived and that d return to normal conditions will be wit messed certainly before the end of the first half of 1908. They do not antici- pate anything like the bulging prosper ity of the last few years, but are con- vinced that there will be an abundance of reasonably cheap money within the reach of solvent borrowers and that the first thing to feel the good effects of restored confidence will be. the stock market It was first to foreshadow the impairment of credit and in the natural order of things should be first to reflect real improvement.
 The more the Steel Trust looks into its purchase of Tennessee Coal and Iron the better pleased 1t is. For s30, ,000, ,000 the corporation gets property variously estimated at from s100,000,O00 to S1,700, ,000,- GOO. Here is the way one iron specialist of note figures it out: According to one estimate Tennessee Coal and Iron has 1,200, 900 tons of iron ore and 2,OO0 0OO 900 tons of coal estimated at s1 per ton, the valuation for the iron and 20 cents per ton valuation for the coal, which is the basis upon which the iron and coal de- posits of the Steel trust in the north are appraised. we have $1,700,O0O,00 in addi- ton to which there must be added IT blast furnaces, two steer plate mills, 103eO coke ovens and 200 miles of railroad. On a northern appraisement of southern iron and coal values the 200 0O0,000 tons of ore at 25 cents a ton figures at s30o, ,000, ,000 and the 2,000000.000 tons of coal at 10 cents a ton figures s200,0 ,O0o a total of s500, 100000. Big figures these.
 A weird story finds circulation to the effect that when the cyclone struck the town three weeks ago. or whereabouts, John D. Rockefeller went into session with MT. Morgan and volunteered his entire resources to help bulwark the sit nation, which he realized was in acute jeopardy. It is insisted that on this mo- mentous occasion MT. Rockefeller un- covered resources which included s90,0O0,- 900 in cash in New York safety vaults and more than $3O0,000,000 in gilt-edged
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