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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1899)
10 'Cbc Conservative. The Now York TIIK FOK OF correspondent o f PB08PKB1TV. ing Post has been visiting Wall Street with the end in view of identifying the danger spot in the financial world. Ho concludes that it is Germany , and says it is the point to which bankers and in ternational traders are looking with the greatest anxiety. They are by no means unmindful of France , realizing that a serious crisis there would mean a period of liquidation which would affect prices at homo , but their chief anxiety is said to bo in the other financial center , Ber lin. lin.The The situation in Germany is said to be this. That country is several years along in a period of great trade and in dustrial expansion. To moot the drain upon her resources Germany has been selling great masses of securities , and incidentally , in connection with the de velopment referred to , her credits have been enormously extended. For at least two years the country lias been running under high pressure. There have been great industrial consolidations , such as we have witnessed in this country dur ing the last year , and the shares of some of the companies floated upon the Ger man public and continental markets have been overcapitalized the same as in this country , stocks having been issued not only upon valuations of plants and a reasonable consideration for good will , but also upon the anticipation for future years. Not only in Germany , but in Franco and England , investors have taken these shares at high prices. There has not been time enough to ascertain for a certainty whether the expectations of promoters and brokers as to the earn ing capacity of these industrials will be realized , but investors are beginning to grow suspicious and the continental markets are becoming unmistakably. tired. Investors are loaded to the guards , and they are looking about for help. Thus far the pressure to sell has not boon urgent , but the situation is re garded as more or less dangerous. It is not so easy to state just what would provoke a selling craze but a con flict between England and the Boers might precipitate it , or an unusually ugly flare up in French politics. The correspondent pendent of the Post then outlines what would in all probability happen to the United States should serious trouble in volve England , Franco or Germany , financially or politically : "Capitalists would begin to concentrate their re sources in most available form cash. A period of liquidation would set in Values in the German market being most inflated , selling would start first there. Berlin would unload on Paris , which is the closest market. Paris would in turn unload on London , and American securities held in the throe countries would bo dumped upon Now York. Thus America , although appar ently an outsider , would bo a quick suf ferer and got badly hit. The United States would get practically all that was loft abroad of her securities now held in Europe. In the end this might bo a good thing. It would wipe the slate clear of our foreign indebtedness , and American capital would bo able to take in its bonds and stocks now in the hands of foreign holders at from 10 to 25 per cent below current high prices. Such a decline would bo rough on American in vestors who are carrying lines of securi ties on margins , or who are in the specu lative market , but aside from the dis comfort and embarrassment in that quarter the experience would be bene ficial to the people at large. " It is at least possible , if not probable , that the clouds which overspread the European skies may pass away as they have before. Germany may stand the financial strain and escape with laurels untarnished , as she has done in times past. The warlike feeling may subside and harmony be restored by diplomacy. Franco and South Africa may quiet down into conditions of blissful tran quillity. Everything may be lovely , but just the same our homo people who are carrying heavier loads of securities than they can safely take care of would do well to keep a close watch on European financial and political developments in the near future. They have a direct bearing upon the market value of our securities , either for better or for worse , as the case may be. Uncertainty as to the outcome of complications abroad is a millstone which is now weighing down the American markets more than anything else. New Haven Register. There oughtto bo COAT. IN NKBUASKA. persistent , intelli gent and exhaxis- tive search for coal in the state of Ne braska. In the year 1868 THE CONSER VATIVE sunk a shaft 9x4 feet more than 100 feet in depth for the purpose of striking a second vein of coal at Arbor Lodge. The first vein was at the foot of a hill. It was overlaid by a cap of limestone rock and underlaid by a stratum of fireclay. It was drifted into for a distance of a hundred feet , but never exceeded a thickness of sixteen inches. The quality of the coal was fairly good , though it contained consid erable quantities of pyrites of iron. Since that investigation was ended , thirty-one years ago , there has been no more thorough or diligent search made in the state. But recently a well was sunk on the Beasley farm , two and one- half miles from Nebraska City , and in it , at the depth of 05 feet below the sur face , the diggers passed through a vein of apparently pure con I which was 12 inches in thickness. Is it not practicable to organize a stock company with capital sufficient to buy and operate a diamond core drill in Otoo and surrounding counties ? This drill brings up each stratum as it per forates it. Sometimes it is indurated clay , sometimes limestone , sometimes soapstone , and again it may be , at a depth of about eleven hundred or twelve hun dred feet , good coal. The coal found at Leavenworth runs under the Missouri river. It is seven hundred feet down to that vein. It averages a thickness of about 27 inches and has been worked gainfully for thirty years. If the same or a similar vein could be found at the depth of even 1,200 feet anywhere in Nebraska , it would bo better than a gold niiuo for the manufacturing inter ests of this fertile , cereal-producing country. The thorough geological investigation of the state of Nebraska for economic purposes ought to bo commenced at once and prosecuted with vigor until it shall have been ascertained positively either that wo have not or that we have coal in abundance for manufacturing purposes. TRANSCONTINENTAL TRANSPORTA TION. THE CONSERVATIVE notifies all wagon bosses and train owners who were en gaged in the freighting business across the plains in the decade and a half from 1850 to 18G6 that The State Historical Society of Nebraska , at its meeting Jan uary 14 , 1900 , will devote an entire evening to the subject of "Overland Transportation by Wagons. " Every person formerly connected with the wagon trail to California , to Colorado and to Salt Lake City will confer a favor by addressing his reminiscences of pioneer freighting methods to Jay Amos Barrett , secretary of The State Histor ical Society , Lincoln , Neb. , at the earl iest possible moment. THE CONSERVATIVE recalls the fact that the regular rates per hundred pounds from Nebraska City to Salt Lake City were § 19.50 , while freights to Denver were 12 cents per pound and finally as low as five cents per pound. But these are only suggestive items , and it is hoped that those who write of the early transportation "overland" will carefully and precisely give the rates which they know to have boon paid , per hundred pounds per hundred miles , and also passenger fares. The passenger traffic will likewise be taken up and considered. THE CONSER VATIVE remembers that the stage faro from Nebraska City to Salt Lake was $350.00 , and has an indistinct recol lection that the faro hence to Denver was $150.00 by the Holliday lino. All persons having accurate and de tailed information as to freight and pas senger rates across the plains at any time prior to 1860 will confer a special favor upon The State Historical Society by corresponding with its secretary as above directed.
