Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1908-01-02
RESUME OF
WALL STREET
CONTINUED from Page Two)

sirable, owing to heavy increase in
currency and the impossibility of
contracting when demand subsidies.
So much for the effects of imitation.
Congress Must Find Remedy
Congress owes the country a rem
edy for the present defective condi-
ton of our currency system, without
further tinkering or procrastina-
ton. Failure to do so will be a
gross and damaging neglect of duty.
There is no question today on
which such a confusion of ideas pre-
walls as on the currency question,
and Mr., Roosevelt might do we'll to
place SO COMPLEX a subject IN the
hands of a body of recognized ex-
perts; men of ability, reputation
and experience.
The worlds production of gold
goes on apace at the rate of about
500, 000,0 annually. Our own
stock of the precious metal has
been augmented by the recent inn
pOrtation of over 100000, 900,
largely drawn from the Bank of
England. The net gold movement,
however, for II months ending No
vember resulted in an excess of i'm
ports aggregating only $50,00O,00O,
compared with $1O4,000,O0O the
same time last year, Next spring
we may lose a considerable portion
of recent imports.
There is but little doubt but that
financial depression has passed
through its most serious stages.
Liquidation has proceeded on an
enormous scale, and the shrinkage
in values has been estimated at over
$500, 100000. In the better class
of securities depressing factors have
probably been overdiscounted, and
the tendency is now toward a fair
! recovery. 1t is not yet quite clear
that liquidafon is complete, be-
cause of the heavy mass of undigesI-
ed securit es remaining.
Time Needed for Readjustment
Some time will elapse before the
the cleaning up process is complete,
and good many new projects will
have to be either reorganized or
entirely wound up. The unsettled
condit on of credit is also a disturb
ing element, although this will dis
appear as confidence revives. 1t
may alse as well be recognized we
are in for a period of dividend re-
auctions, although this contingency
has been largely discounted by pre-
vious declines. On the other hand,
there is enough in the prosperity of
the farming classes and the COM
paratively sound condition of indus
try referred to above to warrant
more hopeful views than existed a
month ago. In the efforts to rebuild
confidence we must not expect inn
portant recovery. The first step to
take is to cease calculating upon
the old standard of values or from
the old point of view and to candid
ly recognize that in business values,
the volume must be thoroughly ad-
justed to the new conditions.
Contraction must rule for a pc
riod. There are still diseased spots
exposed by the upheaval; credit is
still disordered and in Wall street
considerable clearing up will have
to be done before the effects of the
) promoters debauch are over. A
: great many unsuccessful enterprises
. will have to be wound up, involving
more or less liquidation. But all
this can be done quietly, as was the
case in much of the liqu' dation of
the last three months; and need not
necessarily interfere with recovery
in the best class of stocks and
bonds. Some idea of the congested
state of the stock market may be
obtained from the fact that during
the last five years the total amount
of new securities authorized was
$4,000, 00O,000 the eleven months
of 1907 alone accounting for ST.
/ 000,000,000 of this total. During
the latter period our railroads au-
thorized $1.400, 600, 900 securities,
of which they were able to issue
only one-half. owing to money mar
ket conditions. OF industrial securi-
ties less than $500, 100000 were au-
thorized but nearly $400.000,0OO of
these appear to have been issued.
American Credit Impaired
The outlook abroad is certainly
more assuring. Our panic imposed
a heavy strain in London, Berlin