6 Conservative *
ritosi'Kitous
Or Financial s. Financial
Theories ,
IIV 1)11. S. A. IIOIIINSOX ,
Cliainnan of Committee on Finnneo , of the
Now York Board of Trudo nnd Transpor
tation.
If there is anything which our friends
who advocate free silver and fiat paper
money claim to
ABSOLUTE KXOW-
know with absolute
LEDUK BY FIAT MEN.
lute certainty , it
is that the gold standard is in the inter
est of the creditor class and ruinous to
debtors. ( Instance , Hon. Charles A.
Towne , in Omaha Bee ) . This they
all declare at every opportunity , and
by teaching the people of the West
and South that they are the debtors ,
and that the rich people of the East
are their creditors , they have caused
much prejudice and bitterness against
the East. The term , "New York gold
bug" has been so used that it lias come
to mean to silver men and other fiatists
a robber who is too cowardly to resort to
force to despoil his victims. They carry
their charges against the rich of the
East still further , and claim that with
the help of the gold standard they prac
tically enslave even their neighbors ;
that they have made New York a city of
tenants by so impoverishing the major
ity of its citizens that they are com
pelled to rent instead of own their
homes ; they assert that every family
would own a homo if it could , and then
present statistics to prove that compara
tively few own their homes in New York.
They also insist that the large average
number of persons occupying a house in
New York shows conclusively that those
who rent are obliged to crowd together
to reduce their expenses to the narrow
limit of their incomes. They also posi
tively assert that no one can long pay
interest on money borrowed to do busi
ness with , and not become bankrupt.
Believing that facts would furnish the
best answer to these claims and charges ;
that the East is
FACTS VS. FICTIOX.
the great debtor
.section of our country and that the most
successful business men are the largest
debtors , I indxtced the president and
secretary of the New York Board of
Trade and Transportation to ask each
member of that body for an accurate
and specific statement of his , or their in
debtedness.
This board is composed of about 800
firms and individuals , engaged almosl
exclusively in mercantile
COMPOSITION OF
cantile and manufacturing
THE BOARD.
facturing pursuits ,
and it is probable that no other associa
tion of equal numbers has a higher
average of substantial success and en
during prosperity among its members
it is not in any sense an exchange , am'
lothing is bought or sold in the board ;
only three of its members are bankers.
Many have not yet responded to the
equest , but as those owing little or
lothing would be quite as willing to
send a statement as the heavy debtors
vould be , and could do so with muck
ess inconvenience , it is fair to infer
hat those who have responded furnish
an average that is well within that
which a statement from all would fur-
lish so far as proving a large indebted-
icss is concerned. We have specific
statements from 144 firms ( some of them
ncorporated ) and individuals.
These 144 members owed at the time
; hey responded , $148,908,144.97. Of this
amount $183,302,191.72 was commercial
ndebtedness , and $15,545,953.25 was se
cured by mortgage on real estate.
Of the mortgage indebtedness , $10,789-
050 was that of individuals secured by
nortgage on their private real estate ,
and $4,750,903.25 was that of firms and
was secured by mortgage on real estate
jelonging to the firms. Probably most
of the mortgage indebtedness was due
to the savings banks of New York , be
cause while these banks can loan 05 per
cent of their deposits on first mortgage ,
; hey are permitted to loan but 50 per
ient of the market value on improved
real estate , and only 40 per cent on un
improved , and are thereby restricted to
choice loans. As these banks have large
deposits in banks of discount , much of
the commercial indebtedness is undoubt
edly due for savings banks money bor
rowed from banks in which they have
deposits. Many of the members of the
New York Board of Trade and Trans
portation being large employers of labor ,
some of them employing more than 5,000
men , they undoubtedly borrow a great
deal of money belonging to those in
their employ who have savings bank ac
counts. The number of depositors in the
savings banks of the state of New York
on July 1 , 1898 , was 1,823,031 , and the
amount duo them was $787,212,475 , the
average deposit being $431. The inter
est paid to these depositors for the year
ending July 1 , was $27,350,719 ; a con
siderable part of which Was ; probably
paid by members of this board. These
banks not being permitted to pay inter
est on more than $3,000 due any deposi
tor , are emphatically the banks of the
thrifty wage earners.
Here wo have reliable evidence that
the average indebtedness of 144 mem
bers of an assoria-
ixcoxTUOvEimUon osed of
BUS PROOF.
hghly } suncessful
business men , is $1,034,084.34. If the
800 firms and individuals belonging to
the board are as heavy debtors as those
who have responded , and it is probable
that the average for all is larger , the
total amount of their liabilities is $827 ,
207,472. If it were possible to got as
definite information regarding the debts
of all the successful business men of the
United States , it would certainly prove
hat they have enough experience to
each them what is best for debtors.
Consider this indebtedness in connec-
iou with the facts that the total amount
of real estate
THINK OF THIS AND -
m Q f fc
ALL MORTGAGES.
„
United States , January 1 , 1890 , was
iG,019,079,985 , while the total of mort-
; ages on acres , including acres in farms
and in suburban and town property , was
" 52,209,148,431 , of which but $1,085,000,000
vas on farms occupied by their owners ,
and you will see that the successful bus-
ness men of the country owe very
nuck more than the amount of farm
nortgages , and probably as much as the
entire mortgage indebtedness in the
Jnited States. Again ; the state , coun-
; y , municipal and school district debts ,
ess the sinking fund , of Montana , Wy
oming , Colorado , New Mexico , Arizona ,
Utah , Nevada , Idaho , Oregon , Wash-
ngton , California , Nebraska , Iowa ,
tforth Dakota , South Dakota , Texas ,
Mississippi , West Virginia , Florida , and
Kentucky , on January 1 , 1890 , was but
$142,003,897 , which is $0,844,251.97 less
; han the indebtedness of the 144 inem-
jers of the New York Board of Trade
and Transportation , who have responded
; o our request. The state , county , mu-
licipal and school district debts , less the
sinking fund , of all the United States ,
ixcepting Maine , New Hampshire , Ver
mont , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , Con
necticut , Newr York , New Jersey and
Pennsylvania , on January 1 , 1890 ,
amounted to but $607,241,827 , which is
probably much less than the indebted
ness of the members of our board.
These men are debtors because they
can make a profit on borrowed capital ;
very few of them
DEBTS MAKE
be
THEM CASH.
but long and largo
experience has taught them that it pays
them to use the money of those who
cannot make as much out of money as
they can. By borrowing not more than
half the actual value of their improved
real estate , they get money for less than
the income which they derive from the
property mortgaged. Many of them
own enough United States or other first-
class bonds to enable them to borrow all
the money they ever borrow , on call ,
hypothecating their bonds as security ,
thereby having the interest on their
bonds , and getting money for about half
the interest they would have to pay on
money borrowed for a definite time.
For a number of years money has been
so abundant that they very rarely had
to pay over 4 per cent for call loans , and
most of the time at the rate of but from
1 to 3 per cent per annum.
It would be absurd to call these men
"slaves of the money power ; " they , and
the many others
AUB THEY NIG-
GBRBTOOASn.
women employed by them , together
with our farmers and other honest