. : xtmtk HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. REPRESENTING THE INDUSTRIAL \ND COMMERCIAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATEa. VOL. 21 SATUttDAY, OCTOBhRaO. i«T5 \( I 540. coNTe^!^8 vice demRnd, and the cliqne are said to have vigorously TBI CHBOinCLB ri-giiuied ilii-ii- piojcoU lor au upward movement which The iMtfMt ! flaw 408 Th* Pradaetloa and Cooaaap- TbcClMMlac Bans Smart.... 4M Uon or Soaar... were given up when it became certain that Mr. Bristow Om« rtoM and tb* Kv b- lai Ml MaajhfTa MimaMUw 407 BafHakRawa would not be deterred from his nsual course of anticipat- OaaaMreW ca4 Mliiallaaaaai Uslud HtktM laporu aod Kz- Rewt ing the time for the payment of the November coupons. pottt lor MpUmbar t09 The consequence was that a decline was started in the _ TBM BAMKSSS' OAUrTTB oMv HMfcM. 0. 8. 8«nt<i«a, (rold Room which would perhaps have gone much farther (laoUUooa of SCceka aad Bond* 41« _ Btrfcanca, Baw Torit iDTaaUaaai nti Btata, 0117 aad than it did if its progress had not been checked by the OItT BaaH. BoaMa Baaka. Oofpamtloa Flaaaaaa.. 417 PUWaalpUa Baaka. Nattoaal announcc*ment on Wednesday of the disaster to the "Big THB OOMMBwatl. OaaavcUl Bptloaa 411 4M BonanEu" mines in Nevada. It is worthy of note that OMinn „ 4n meaa 4t8 Br«"*ia*« 4U the amount of intere.st actually paid out at the Treasury, under this arrangement of ^Ir. Bristow's for pre-payment, 9lt)e tflironicle. has been less conKidcralilc tliau its apparent effects might TaaCOMWMCIAL AND FlNAJICIAI.CHROKICI.Bi* il»U«4 mk Bttur- liare led us to suppose. This fact elucidates a principle dag momiHt, mitk Ma tolMf im«m up to siMn^JU •/ l^fiimg. which in the strategy of finance is as important as in that TBBHB or •BBMBimim-PArABU ni BBTAap, of that " ability do a thing raa Oaaaaaetu. am fDUJKaAi. ladtir war; namely, the proved to >b«olkan, aad aaOad lo an alkan: a is Some of rar Oaa Taar (tadadtagnMi^i). often equivalent to the actual performance." Var Biz Mattel .T..:...T. ,. Napoleon's most brilliant campaigns were won, not so Bataertpdeaa arm ba easUaaad aalll ofdaiad aloppad bg a wrtttm arrU •raKWjaMaarlaaaftaL Tb* PabUifeata aaaaat ba laapoaalhla far Baaii- ,„,.,.». 1.V hi, actually crushing the enemy aa by demon- taaeaaaalaaa aadai^ Orafu ot Poaj «ea Baaay Ordaw. lia power to do so at any moment. Subatantially TMaalaal adnftlaaanaH aia pabMabad at M aaala par Baa for aark • laiaMlaa, bat wbaadalaWa aadan atachaatard*ai,afaaNLkMar<l«aa. tliesam« principle if* seen at the Clearing- Houn when the llbani dlacoaat la ad% Bo piialii at loallaaaM »alMMlliig ! tb« bwt hca aaa »a glta«.aaall adrart l awi aaat bata maa l ajBatWiHaa, Baae-al serenty milliouH of debts from our banks to each other this BatfenUBaaldiW aadriMadal aoinaa « eaMi par taa, aaah Iwaitfoa. V»m*ma > — morning will be paid and extinguished just as well by the TbaUadaaaaaaadltaOKaoooLa U at MO Aaatto FHara, Old Broad ati aat. «baia aabaartptlaaa ara laaaa at tba followlac raiaa de'JoBtc and beautiful mechanism of the exchanges aa if AaMal Babaartoliaa f Iba Cbrealcia QacladlBi poaia<«) t» U. Btzamlba'aAialpdaa .vT.. 1 U. everj dollar of the indelit<^lnc8s had been cancelled and vnuAB a. DAIA. I WIUAAU B. DABA k 00.. PaMlakat^ _ - sum in legal tender #oa« a. rLOTS, n. f T« aad tl WlUlam Bttaat, WBWTTBW T<rOBX. paid by the actual transfer of the Poor OmoB Box 4 ! mooey. The demonstrated power to pay is accepted under Vr A ntal tl»«»<m !• fanilthtd at MecoU; poataca oa tb« tama l« 14 agreed conditions actual payment. This principle has caata. VotamaaboaadtortalMcrlbaraaltl M. m eoaptata aoi of ew fca—July BIT A tbaOrow—mi ant FBAaoui. C— M seldom received the attention it merits from economic Um, ID ila i a la fur Mia at tba aSea. Alao oaa aatof Uovr'a BaassAa t* NAOAaiaa. ii> Uni. atztr-tbra* Tata aaa. Mi writers; though it i« one of the most powerful and moat C^Thr Ba>lM«> n'tataeal uf th<- Paii'nviCLa !• mioawtad aaocK prolific of the foni-s which keep our financial and indus- PImikM lDlare>'.< In Nnr York Cttr hy Mr. Crx). W. JonM. trial machinery in motion. Most of the modem improve- thoroughly TIK IICITEMEM 1.^ GOLD. ments in banking, if closely analyzed and The feverinh movcmcnUi in gold this week offer a new comprehended, will be seen to bo founded for the illnstrmtion of the instaMlity and iinr>crtAinty which papir moat part upon ingenious safeguards and devices for monej hu given to 'iir financial syntem, and whiiii c«r>Yiiig QputhJH great law of modem financial science, nothing can wholly relieve iia from bnt the resumpti'ii that the demonstrated ability to do a thing may, by of specie paymenta. The chief eaases to which tin ])roper precautions, be used as equivalent to the actual per- this oaoUIations in the gold room have been aaoribed are tlu' formance. We might show, if space permitted, how fire in Virginia City and the pre-payment of the Treaanr>- principle operates in relieving a monetary panic when, as iotereat on the pablic debt. Other ciroooistanoes have, in 1847 in England, the public excitement vanished im- of eonrse, operated in aid of tlic flnotiiBtions without mediately after the Bank Act was suspended. The extended altiacliug lu thcuiaclvcs special notice. With regard to troable passed away not because relief was by shown to be ao- the pre-payment of the gold interest, it seems not to have the banks but because such relief was This aid, as is well been exp4>cted by the specnlators, and it ia reported to cestible in case it should be wanted. have somewhat thwarted their manrcuvres and deranged known, was uot called for and was not given. The principle ihiu (.oiiiljiiiaiions. The supply of gold for delivery has instantaneous rtliof \v.is tlierefore duo to the of been drained o£F and diminished by well known caoses of we 4rc discussing, that the demonstrated accessibility equivalent to late, and high ratea have consequently been charged to a thing is often made in modem finance also go farther and borrowers. The gold balance in the Trcaanry is much the actual possession. We might panics for the last below the level which the exigencies of the pablic ser- trace most if not all of the financial —! 406 THE CHRONICLE. [Octoler 30, 1«76 fifty years to errors more or less ooiisjiicuous in tbc ap- speedy was the recovery from the first effects of the dis- plication of this principle to practical finance. Tliis, aster. The amay.ing elasticity and strength of the finan- however, would not be consistent with our present ])ur- cial condition of San Francisco partly accounts for this; poae, which is simply to point out the principle in (nics- still, it is certain tliat not a few of the productive forces tion as connected with one of the forces to wliicli have heretofore active in the Nevada industry have been extin- been ascribed some of the fluctuations \h]< wcfk in tlio guished, and that many enterjinsing men are crippled by gold market. their losses, especially as so large a proportion of these As to the other gold, movement we have referred to losses are not covered by insurance. Moreover, the evil the rise in the premium on Wedcesday on the apnounce- will be the more sensible because the capital destroyed is ment of the destruction by fire of some of the most very largely composed of machinery which "iV will re- productive mines in Npvj^af-^ <pn;scarctly be wondered quire months to replace in as productive a condition as it at when we take into account the magnitude of thu dis- had before the disaster. Turning, however, from these aster itself and the sensitiveness of the gotl market here narrower ajhd more.looal views of the calamity, and con- sidering it in a national point of, view, we see little rea- Wd, abroad. ,',| ._,,_ ,^,^ ;..:,:,:•,,. , Seven and a half millions of property were reported son to approve of such gloomy deductions as are referred destroyed, most of which had no insurance. In face of to above. The better opinion, we think, is that indicated such a destruction of working capital, it was impossible in the dealings of Wall street, that the fire at Virginia to see how the yield of the mines and the supply of the City, though a serious event in many private and public precious metals might be affected in the early future; aspects, does not forebode any great trouble in the fu- jEorithe companies which suffered the most were known ture, or threaten the supply of gold or silver in such a to be among the most enterprising and important on the way as to disturb the premium. Any influence on the Pacific slope. In view of these and other well-known premium from this cause will, in all probability, be small, .circumstances, we confess that we see much cause for temporary and soon counteracted. If, then, as is pre- gratification that the first effects of the shock were so dicted, the price of gold should rise, or should not recede small and abated so soon in Wall street. Had the catas- much, from the present level, the cause which keeps gold trophe occurred a few days earlier its effect on the move- up must be looked for in some other quarter. We are «a«nt8 of the Gold Room and on the prospects of general the more particular iu insisting upon these points, not business could scarcely have failed to have been aug- only from their practical importance, but because, as we said, ojiposed to has mented.