The Washington herald., 1907-11-04

respect, and the general stock OF gold
in the country is far greater than that
of any other land.
OF greater importance than any other
factor. Is however. the one oft noted in
this column. that the people of the
Western section engaged in agriculture
have passed from a condition Of perma-
nent poverty 20 one of permanent af
fluence. The occupation in which they
are engaged was one that was for
very long time previous TO the year 1903
unremunerative, because the production
of foodstuffs in the world WAS perma-
nently in excess of the demand therefor
To-day the population of the worlG las
increased so rapidly that II has far out
run the production of fOodstuffs, and
higher prices for articles produced or the
Western farms are here and have come to
stay.
1t would be the greatest Of blessings, TOO
If it should be borne in upon the West be-
fore existing troubles are over that the
position so generally taken there Of ex-
pecting Eastern people and foreign in.
vestOrs 10 bear the entire burden of con-
Quoting Western railway enterprises while
at the same time these enterprisese are
harassed in every possible way by the
Western politicians and State legislatures
is a state OF affairs that in the interest
of the West itself should not be suffered
to continue.
No Cut in Dividends.
The directors of the Pennsylvania Rail
road Company set at rest on Friday ru-
mors that had been in active circulation
throughout the week that the annual diyi-
dend on the company's stock was to be
reduced. The stock, however. did not
rally with any particular vim on this
announcement, the fact attesting, as
seemed. that the heavy liquidation that
had been going on in it had been produced
by some other force than that of any ap-
prehensiOns concerning the dividend. The
influence upon the market of the decline
in pennsylvania stock was Offset by the
strength Of the Union Pacific shares. due
In part 10 the formal consideration by
the Union Pacific management Of plans
looking forward to tie distribution among
the stockholders of the company's bank
ing assets. and in part TO the weu-ground-
ed conviction in many quarters that the
Hartman regime in the company's affairs
is nearing an end.
Three specific forces were operating dur
ing the week that were generally alluded
20 in banking circles as being likely TO
produce a greater immediate change for
the better in the general situation than
any others that could possibly exist. One
Of these was the large engagements OF
gold in Europe for our country's account,
which aggregated up TO the close of the
week nearly $30.000.000. These engage
ments. it is true, disturbed the European
financial markets not a little. leading 70
a fall in securities there. and TO a large
advance in private and official rates of
discount.
However this might be. Europe had the
gold on hand TO give to US when we asked
for It; and. inasmuch as il is now con-
ceded that our Indebtedness to foreign
markets Is 80 per cent less than it was
last year at this time and as it is OBJ
vious that our exports are now coming
forward al a great rate. while our imports
are decreasing. Il follows inevitably that
our natural command over the foreign
money markets is by no means inconsider-
able.