Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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Septemher 15. IRfiH The Recbrd and Guide. 635 Mr, B.—I think I caich your idea. So long as the United States dept-nds upon its crops exclusively, it can never be sure of prospei - 0116 trade. What are the money-making occupations of clHssea or nations? Sir O.—The most lucrative business in the civilized world is banking. The money lender deals with all the larger and more vital interests of mankind. The banks and the banker are the custodians of alt the money of ibe community not actually passing from hiiud to baud. The tanker lends the money of hia clients at as liigli a rate of interest as he can command. But it is considered bad banking, you know, to allow any interest to the person who owns tbe money. A national bank which would pay any interest to its depositors would spfcdily get into disrepute and would lose its charter iu time. This is the rule of banks and bankers the world over. At any rate the richest men of tiie world are bankers, for the business itself is the most profitable, and wherever there is conceutialed the most banking or lending capital, the nation to which it b^-'longs is the most prosperous in a business point of view. It is London and Paris which are the great money centres, not New York. Mr. B.—But this does not tell the whole story. What otJier em¬ ployments are more profitable than agriculture and less so than banking? Sir O.—Commerce and manufacturing. Before the modern era it was the merchunt who gathered to himself the wealth of nations. The very name "Merchant Prince" tells thd story of tiie greater riches which trade insured as compared with agriculture. In the modern industrial world, the manufacturer has come to the fore, ana the great prosperity of France and Eogland is based on the fabrics tbey have produced. It is easy to see the advantage a manufacturinR community has over one devoted to agriculture. The American produi^es certain metals from bis mines which he sends to France for sale. The cost to theFrencli manufacturer for the raw material is say ten or twelve certs, Wiih them be produces a French clock oi a beautiful bronze ornament, which coLumaiids in the markets of the world from fifty to one hundred dolhtrs. Or the American jiroduces cotton for eleven cents a pound, which ia oonverted in Eugland into a fabric, which may be worth a dollar. The American gets a paltry return for the hardest kind of labor, the Englishmen and Frenclimen a munificent reward for tbeir technical skill and artistic taste. Heuco the order of profltable employments iw, flrst, hanking; second, commerce; third, manufacturing, and, fourih, the last and poorest, agriculture and mining. Now we Americans have no commerce of our own with foreign nations. Our flag is absent from every sea under the sky. The proflts for transporting our great agricultural exports is monopolized by foreign merchants. We have some manufacturing, but our tariff confines our sales to the home ni'irket. Great Biitain can sell to every nation ou earth, lo 1,300,000,000 people, but ihe American manufacturer must conieut himself with tbe 55,000,000 of his own countrymen. Our banking is also confined to our own land. Who ever heard of a ^oreignloan contracted in New York ? Oura is a debtor nation. We pay tribute to the money kings of London, Paris aud Amsterdam. Mr. B.—I declare you make me feel uucomfortable. How do you account for the prosperity of the country since the Civil War, if the profitable occupations of mankind is monopolized by other nations and we are confined to agriculture, the poorest and least lucrative pursuit known to tbe human race? Sir 0.—We have had a virgin country to occupy and improve ; the potential wea.ltli of the United Siatea is simply incalculable. The history of our country is a huf^e land speculation; yet specu¬ lation is hardly the word. There has been an enormous advance in land value, which has been justified by the increase in popula¬ tion and our future prospects. Compare the saleable value of the soil in this couutry one hundred years ago with what it is to-day, and there will be no wonder at the appnrent prosperity of tbe countrv, although in the meantime our main business—farming— has been in itself far less profitable than comuierce, manufactur¬ ing and banking, in which we are surpassed very greatly by other nations. But so long as we depend mamiy on crons, we can bave no assured prosperity. Great Britain made large profits during the years when it had continuous crop failures. Its outlaj' for extra vegetable and animal food was a mere trifie compared with its profits in banking, manufacturing and commerce. Mr. B.—All this is very general. Is tJiere any special cause at work which makes you regard the future doubtfully ? Sir O.—In repeated conversations, commencing last January, I have pointed out the peril to prices in the "shorteningof tbe yard¬ stick ;" tliat is, in the legislation of the commercial nations to dis¬ card silver and make gold the sole unit of value. This has led to such an appreciatinn of tlie yellow metal ihat for the last ten years there has been a steady decline nf all values. Of course this was only apparent, for the real phenomenon was the appreciaiion of gold due to its increased ufe in commerce, at a time when its sup¬ ply was falling off in the mines of the world. Ma. B.—Yes, I remember in The Record amd Guide of May last you advifed owners of any kind of property to sell out, buy gold, and put everything into money. Sir O.—And did not the course of prices subsequently justify my forecast? Would not the owners of the cotton goods and the woolens sold recently at auction have profited had they taken my advice? The sarae cause is in operation everywhere, and the sufferings of the industrial world will soon become intolerable unless au international ratio between gold and silver ia agreed to by the several commercial nations. Mb. B.—But surely you regard the outlook in this country as promising? Sir 0,—Yes; luck il) by law we cannot reduce our paper cur¬ rency. We retaiJ all our gold and silver, which amounts to nearly $80,000,000 per annum, and tlien it is expected vve will import some ■130,000,000 or $10,000,000 of gold this fall. With the coinage of at least:;,000,000 silver dollars monthly tbere is a constant supply of silver certificates. These facts, peculiar to this country alone, sus¬ tain prices and may give you bulls a chance to get the best of your antagonists for the rest of this crop year, but should we by any accident reduce the amount of our circulating medium, be it paper or specie, then would come a ruinous fall in prices. Still I do not see any immediate danger of that occurring. Our large crops will insure a retention of the precious metals in the country and no Denaocratic majority in Congress will dare diminish the amount of currency afloat; so go ahead, friend Bull, and make money while yon may. What the Laborers Want. Mr. John Swinton presented to the Senate Committee his panacea for the woes of labor as follows : 1. The revival of the incnniB tax by Ciingresg. 2. Thd estnblishment by Cungress of a National Bnard of Industry, empowered to collect labor statistics of all kinds, enibracing the daCa of co-operation, lhe eight hour qiie.ition, the toil of factory wonieii and cliilrtien, and other things underlying the welfare of tbe country's workers. 3. The establishment in theGoveinmPiit, bv Congress, of efficient Bnarda of Henllb, and of Education, and of lublic Works, underacouipreheusive sys em and iiolioy. 4. The establisliment of Government industrial schools and colleges, as in the French system. 5. The public ownerehip of railroads acd telegraphs, as in the Belgian sy.^item. (i. The freedom of patents, OS in Holland and Sivilzerland, but with a royalt, system. 7. The establishment of postal tanks, with all that_the term implies in the British system. 8. ThH enactment of such land laws as will prevent tbe holding of great tracts of our country by corporations and iudividuald, includiuK foreign landlords, 9. The public ownership of coal, iron, gold and other mines, und petroleum walls. This is a rather extensive programme, but, no doubt, (he general tendency of things is for the central government to assume new powers and exercise greater control thau during our earlier history. Democracy, according to the Jeffersonian ideals, would not tolerate any such platform, yet there is much to be said in favor of many of lhe above propositions, though some of them are clearly imprac¬ ticable. Tbe significant thing is the drift of opinion amoug the masses in favor of the assumption of greater authority by the general government. The important announcement is made that the railway commis¬ sioners have passedareeolutiondemandingthatallthe roadswhich pass through any section of this state Khali make quarterly reports of tbeir financial condition. This, of course, must mean theirgross receipts and expenses, and a record of stock and bonds outstanding. Had the Stock Exchange declined to list any securities unless the company they represented made an exhibit of their flnancial condi¬ tion monthly, it would have saved the investing public from grievous losses and prevented tlie multiplication of wild cat companies; but the brokers have killed the goose that laid the golden eggs, and hive driven away their customers who would have remained in the street, had they any show for making money. Sometime we will have national railway commissioners, who wiil demand of all com¬ panies such reports as will give stockholders and the public a clear idea of the actual condition of every company doing business in |lie country. When that time comes, the loaded dice which rail¬ way magnates have been using in the great game of speculation will be taken from them, and the outside public will again have a chance to deal in the street. When railroads are under official supervision, there will he a new birth of confidence in the railway securities of well located lines. Some years ago we pointed out the tendency of all business to organize into exchanges, and we urged the metal dealers and real estate brokers to take advantage of thu benefits of as-ociated efforts of this kind. The metal dealers took our advice and now ihe real estate interest has determined to have its form'd exchange. But there is danger that advantage may be taken of the popularily and prosperity of recently formed exchanges, to organize bogus or impracticable bodies which would sell seats that would have no real value. At least two exchanges have come to grief; the Open