The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-29
FROM OTHER PENS.

LOAD ON BANKING CAPITAL.
In 1875 the ratio of the capital of
national banks to total liabilities was
So per cent. In 1885 it was 81; in
Wesley c. Mitchell. of the Uni
yersity of California. bringing out
these facts in the Journal of Econem-
les. shows that - the decline in the
ratio has occurred in prosperous
times. During hard times there is
practically no change in the 3oad OF
liabilities imposed on bank capital
A movement so constant may be ex-
pected to continue in. the good times
we hope mayssbe now well resumed.
Professor Mitchell shows that the ratio
was exactly the same on. August ~,
1907, and May IA. 190S-before and
after the ranic-but the decline since
then has beensresumed. The capital
ratio in state banks has declined from
Al per cent in 1878 to IS per cent in
1908. That there need be any element of
peril in this tendency Professor Mitch
ell disproves by citing the Canadian,
Er- glish and Welsh banks, which have
Let suffered from panics like ours.
The Canadian ratio has declined from
46 in 1878 to 10 now. The English
end Welsh Joint stock bank ratio has
within the same years gone from 10
to IL.
one dollar of banking capital
throughout the English-speaking world
IS dong TWICE the 8OIk IL d-o a SShOA-
ation ago. The same is true IN many
ether forms of business. Whatever
safeguards are thrown about deposits
by banking custom or by public super
y sion will continue this striking Illus.
ration of the increasing function or
credit in business life.-New YORK
World.
RAILROADS AND GOOD ROADS.
The officials of the Northern Pacific
railroad are evidencing an earnest
purpose to cooperate with the state
in the matter of the construction OF a
general good road system They nave
offered for example, to assist in the
construction of spurs to reach points
Suita BILE for quarry locations, Where
| the state can secure rock for maca-
dam roads They offer further to turn
| over to the state all abandoned rights
of way where it is possible to use
them as part of any state road, ana
generally to aid in every way possible
in the perfecting of system OF state
| highways.
! There is enlightened self-interest in
this. 1t is @ good thing for the rail-
roads to have better roads in the state,
to facilitate the moving of freight to
| the railroad lines and cheaper the
| cost of this work as we'll. The heaV-
| lest TRANSFORMATION charge borne to-
day by any article of farm produce, in
| proportion to the distance Travelled,
| is on the movement from the farm
1 to the railroad station. In many cases
it costs as much to move wheat from
the farm to the railroad station as it
does to move it from the station to
| tidewater. $50 miles or so away The
| better the roads, the easier ana cheap
er it is to move farm produce from
the farm to the warehouse where 1t
is shipped, the more tonnage there
will be for the railroads to handle
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
| RAILROAD AND THE FARMER.
By the purchase of 5O-acre farm
in Delaware for an experimental sra
ton the Pennsylvania railroad pro-
poses to demonstrate how agriculture
can be revived in section where IN
recent years it has gone into decline
The life of a railroad is traffic. I'm
productive territory furnishes little
freight. In undertaking to give free
instruction in scientific farming the
Pennsylvania railroad is taking the
long view.
If the arabic lands of the eastern
states now lying idle were brought un-
der intensive cultivation it should &C
far to overcome the pessimism o.
prophets like James ]. Hill. who fore
see trouble ahead for the United
States as its farm products fail tt
keep pace with the growth of popula
ton. In studying how the resources
of the territory covered by its lne'
can be fully developed the Pennsyl
! vania railroad has undertaken a fal
more practical labor for the uplift o
the farmer than can be accomplished
!, by any dreamy scheme of fedora
J commission. So far as the stock
| than the manipulation of the stool
t market by spectators operating from
railroad headquarters.-New Yorl
| World