Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-07-05
FACT AND GOSSIP
IN MONEY MARTS
CAPITAL Not Alarmed at Nomi-
nation of Wilson New Pol
icy in Effect.
sv q. c. FORBES.

NEW YORK, July 5.-Capital will show
- 6ght over the nomination of Woodrow
yCtIson Nor would it have been STAN
nAded by the selection of Clark, Under
wood, Harmon or. any other candidate
capitars new policy is TO WOO the pub
Tic more and the politicians less. If it can
souare itself with the great mass of the
neople It will not spend millions in win
ming over the good will of the politicians.
"rhrice is he armed who hath his quar-
re lust" Capital is conscious that its
nosition is less open to condemnation than
n was five years ago or ten years ago.
There has been financial housekeeping.
All hooks and corners have not yet been
swept clean-they never will be until
prescription for remaking human nature
has been discovered But in certain di-
Yections the cleaning process has accom-
plished much. Take our great railroad
corporations. How often do we now hear
of them corrupting the dominating state
legislatures? How often are wholesale
lootings of railroad properties attempted
today? Have not the relations between
the railroads and the public undergone
remarkable improvement?
Then capital has become reconciled to
real reductions in tariff schedules. It ex-
pects few fayors in this connection from
the progressive Republicans and fewer
still from the Democrats. But standpat
ism is no longer 3 fetch.
What our financiers do not view with
comfort is the prospect Of three parties IN
the fielG for the next four months, The
one thing that the financial world can not
withstand is acute uncertainty Once 1t
knows what Is to be done 1t can adjust
itself in advance; but If it be kept guess
ing if it he doomed to stay in the dark,
It becomes nervous. The worst feature
OF the political outlook, from the capital
istic viewpoint, in the confusion, the COM
plcation. the doubt that a triangular con-
test will involve There is still a feeling
in certain influential circles that Roose-
Welt will withdraw, despite his protesta
lions TO the contrary.
Today optimistic interviews will no
doubt, be- given out by Wall Street peo
pie assuring everybody that everything is
all right and that Wilson need not be re-
garded as a menace. But it will be pass
ing strange If no outburst of nervousness
is witnessed between now and November
4 incidentally, should the stock mar
ket suffer a severe slump. great many
potential investors would act promptly
Quite a few are waiting and hoping for
just such break
Here is the philosophic summation of
the politico- economic financial situation
lrawn up by one of New York's promi-
aent investment banking firms:
II is evident from the political de-
velopments of the last few weeks that
the lines Of cleavage between the two
established parties have become less
sharply drawn on the old issues, and
that in their stead new forces are
being created which, for better or for
worse, appear destined to determine
to what extent tho so-caIed pro
gressive' politics are to govern the
attitude of the nation toward vested
capital
That business itself is not worrying
over-much about the future solution
OF these problems is evident from the
steady flow Of trade inu.cated by the
increase in total clearings (notwith-
standing the great reduction in activ-
Ivy on the New York stock exchange;
by the material advance in basic
metals: by the increasing demand for
labor; by the decrease in the number
by the volume of our foreign trade,
which reached during the fiscal year
Just ended the enormous total of four
billions of dollars, easily the largest
total in the history of our country
AS these results were achieved while
the general complaint of Indifferent
business was being pretty generally
voiced all over the country, 1t seems
pertinent to ask whether more
active development would really have
been healthy
We are of no two minds in assert
ing that anything in the shape of a
boom would have produced a much
less sound condition, and would in
evltably have laid the seeds for flu
ture retribution
Unanimity politically has not vet been
arrived at by Big Business. If all three
candidates run wall Street will have
1hiculty in agreeing upon a favorite.