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OFFICE OF THE HERALD, Los Angeles, Jan. 25, 1897. "Wherever there is much puffing there is little talent; and where everything is recommended as excellent there is scarcely one thing entitled to that commendation." + + + Monday being a legal holiday there are no real estate transactions of record for that.day. which accounts for the absence from this column of the usual list of mortgages and releases. + The Southern California Savings Bank has paid a dividend of 3 per cent to ordinary depositors and from 41/2 to 5 to term depositors. Stockholders have recelved six dollars per share for the past year. + + + There is some gratification in the belief that despite the Klondike, mining will continue a leading industry in California, says the San Francisco Newsletter. A great many people have awakened of late to the fact that there is gold to be found within our borders. Even the merchants of this city who worked so assiduously with the anti-debris clique to throttle hydraulic mining for a space of ten years, at a cost to themselves of over eighty millions of dollars, are prepared to admit now that the industry is worth fostering. This is a step in advance, certainly, and for which we can be devoutly thankful. Even the "booming" of Alaska mines for the sake of corraling the trade of the individual who, impelled by inordinate greed, is willing to risk his life, has not interfered in any way with the work of development going on throughout the state, in a small way, it may be said, but all the safer for that. There are chances now to get cheap investments. The Alaskan fever has penetrated some of the interior camps, and men can be found ready as usual to throw away a certainty for some uncertainty with more glittering prospects. This will be the opportunity for men of more conservative ideas. Money will go farther here than it does on the Yukon, not to speak of the difference in the mode and conditions of life there and here. Last year quite a number of young mines were opened in the northern counties of this state, up to a point of development where they are now self-supporting. Legitimate mining is now popular with the public. and no doubt, when the last of the Klondike immigrants take their departure for a new home in frozen wilds, we will have a little boom of our own to even matters up. + + + The leading Chicago bond house of Farson, Leach & Co. says in the Bond Buyer as follows: We have been having a very spirited demand for municipals since the turn of the year. Our clients are desirous of getting their funds out again. but our large investors are insisting upon a little better offer, rate of return than we are able to although in many cases putting money out at best rates obtainable. The sales during the last few days by municipalities would indicate that prices will remain firm. The most notable sale was the $300. 000 City of Cleveland 4's to one of our Chicago banks on a 3.25 basis, an unprecedented price for a Cleveland bond, and actly the same rate as that received by the City of Chicago In both cases, however, the successful bidder was several thousand dollars over the next highest bidder, so that the sale is hardly a criterion of the market. Our New York office reports a heavy demand, and our January sales will undoubtedly break the record in amount. More bonds are coming upon the market in the Eastern States now than in the West. The opening of spring and good weather will bring about many improvements. The depression in the western country has been so very great that all public enterprises have lagged. Better times will see a great change in municipal affairs. The appraisement of the Fair estate throws some light upon the values of certain stocks. the quotations of which in public are rare. For example, Selby Smelting and Lead is quoted at $145: Fulton Works at $75: Golden City Chemical Works at $18 1/2: Mutual Savings Bank at $321/2. and the Pacific Rolling Mills at $3. Shares of the old Morgan mine, which has been closed down for many years, are valued at over $4 per share. The bulk of the personalty consists of railroad stocks and bonds. Not a share of Comstock appears on the list, although many people believed, or affected to believe, that the Senator had more or less interest in the mines up to the hour of his death. + + + John Wanamaker thus summaries the grounds of his belief in life insurance business proposition: "I was insurable and accident or ill-health might come at any moment, when I would not be insurable. Other reasons are that life insurance is one of the best forms of investment, because it gives, after one deposit, an instant guarantee that may repay principal and interest and more. Life insurance in the long run is a saving fund that not-only saves and takes care of my deposits, but takes nie into partnership. not infrequently returning premiums with interest and profit. Life insurance regarded from the standpoint of quick termination is more profitable than any other investment 1 could make for my estate. It enables a man to give away all he wishes during his lifetime and still make such an estate as he cares to leave." + The returns of different fire insurance companies, just filed with the commissioner, show that business on the coast was generally profitable for the past year The life companies also made large gains during the year. National Bank Changes The latest bulletin of the comptroller of the currency, dated Jan. 17. 1898, gives the following, among other changes: National Bank of the of by Republic Liguldation-The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dated Jan. resolution of its stockholders, 11.1898. The National Bank of Odessa, Missouri, by resolution of its stockholders, dated Jan. 11, 1898. Incorporations Larsen, Balm & Co., Fortuna Humboldt