Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1859-09-23
VOL. 80. NO. SO.

rybody was getting rich, and the complaint Was
that those who wurkea il forges and factories
/ were making more than their share. The farm-
ers we're told that Europe would buy wheat aud
pork az better prices, and they again fell into
the Trap by letting IN foreign food, worked up
into cloth and silk and iron, to an extent that
once mora laid the manufacturers on their
backs. Then followed an era of good times
for laHers aud sheriffs, diversified With an ex-
ploson DC all the banks ii 1897, and as abso-
lQte an extinction Of hunireds of millions of
capital Is il il had been sRailad up By fire.--
The coin Of the country flowed out as fast as
il eould be gathered up, tae Government lived
By shinpIasters-just as 1t IS doing now; public
and private credit we're extinguisliad, and the
knocked Gewn 10 oue-half. Nobody gained by
the wager but the rich, and only few Of them.
They became richer while the poor became
poorer.
This infatuation lasted till 1912, when the
farmers thought they had kept the manufactu-
rers down lo1g enough, and so again set them
on their legs. The country rose up from its
sackcloth and ashes as if touched by the
magician's wand. Bankrupt States we're quick
iy enabled to resume payment, the banks came
back into the cash line, old factories and fur
naces were again active, while many new ones
were baist, railroads we're opened canals dug,
the PROSTATE West vent bounding onward iB
a new career Of prosperity, and instead of an
export OF all our specie, an influx of forty
mlliioDs of dollars within FIVE years established
credit, Doth national and private, on q basis
that would have remained solid to this day, had
not the old infatuation returned to plague us.
The impulse given to all forms of human in
dastry was prodigious. Iron rose from home
production of two hundred thousand tuns, in
1912, to eight hundred thousand tuns. in 1916;
while coal, IN the sane period, increased its
paoduction from one million two hundred ana
fifty thousand 10 over three million tens. The
met who mined this coal aud slnelted this iron
we're all the while consuming tie Hour aud pork
which they kept the farmers busy in raising,
and as they made good wages SO they paid good
prices. Agriculture again prospered, farms
went up in price, and the country was not only
getting out Of debt, but getting rich. A homo
market for cur food was again proved to be the
best.
These facts are all historical. Yet, in the face
of them, we began 10 1916 the old wagering as
20 how much foreign merchandise We could con-
HH--@S NltACAk oSSS--.tnS 1aihi uO OaAiSk
has been continued ever since, and il going Oh
wlilo we wife Some Que has said that a new
generation of fools comes up every three years,
aad others, that they never die.
At this rate Of conversion, and With the
signs Of The times around US, We invoke the
small sprinkliBg of wise heads among US to ci-
pheE cut the mentsl status Of the nation three
years hence, unlcss sharp turn is made in our
career, 4 seven years itch CT low prices has
lnaniftStly oegun among the farmers. Nobody
opens coal mines, or builds new factories, whils
those who own railroads are sick unto death of
them. Wheat has fallen enormously since New
Years, aud the fai has made more than one
uaan beggaE. As the aeW ercp comes for
ward, il must fail still more, until it goes low
enough 70 uuderseH the English market, other
wise II Will rcsaain here. AS long as this in
sane wagering IS persisted in. tic process Of
geaeral tattening out will 90 on. We may
oear up longer non than aiu:eiime, because we
have the MINES of California to lean upon
The millions she produces merely pass an fran
Stta through our minis to Earope. Every
dollar Of il is anticipated before it reaches Us,
pledged TO pay for foreign food. Where should
ge be if it could be kept among US