Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1876-06-24

lne ldSl uulloeI VI tue oHhhEf D
Wagosine has "a prominent article on
"The Situation" which very forcibly
states some OF the facts which exist and
some of the consequences which ought
to follow, but do not We transfer the
first halt of the article to our columns,
as.follows:
"If the question were asked of each
one of number of business men en-
gagged in different branches of trade,
'What is the pricipal cause Of the de-
preston or want OF prosperity in your
particular branch of business ? the al
most universal reply would be, over
production, or "a larger supply than de-
mand But this is not cause for gen
eral poverty. The surplus over con-
sumption is wealth. In Great Britain
it is generally conceded that good crops
mean good times, and poor crops mean
hard times. But orr farmers complain
of poverty because of large crops. The
cotton and wooden mills pay no divi-
dends, and no other reason is given but
'over-production. So it is with every
branch Of trade;yet all this should mean
prosperity to us,-not times when will
ling workers are idle, and privations
and poverty are almost as hard to bear
as the evils which exist during state
of civil war. In fact, many compare
the So called good times oftwelve years
ago iavorably with our present condi-
ton, when bankruptcy to business men
and idleness to working men are so
common.
"What is the trouble? Large crops
and an over, production of manufactures
in other words surplus-must be
wealth. 1t is ability to pay our debts
abroad and at home. 1t should be
traffic for railroads and steamships and
profitable work for all We have, how
ever, a very different result Whence
does this arise and why is everybody
poor? Economy means reduced con-
sumption, and yet economy is the gen
eral step taken to cure the evils coming
from larger supplies thar demands. Is
not our situation different from any of
former times? Does not our trouble
come from other causes than those
which were active in 1887, 1915, 1857,
aud 1867 H.' I-.
The productive force Of steam is
new element. Numberless machines are
at work: mines, mills, workshops, and
lands are worked by steam, until only
profit limits production. The producing
power from steam in this country and
in Great Britain exceeds the manual la
Dor of the whole world. The great need,
then, is increased consumption; and this
calls for more monetary facilities, but
while the needs of the world are thus
growing with the increase ofpopulation
and of producing power, we have gold
absorbed unduly by nations who are
using single money standard, and the
money of commercial nations is,relative-
ly to its use, diminishing. The amount
of gold and silver in the world is SUBJ
stantially equal-about six thousand
millions of dollars of each,-but Great
Britain and this country have given up
the use OF silver money except for small
change; Germany proposes to follow her
example,and France threatens to do the
same. That is, while the civilized world
in other words, the part of. tine world
using steam-power-has increased its
production many times, and has doubled
its population, the production of gold
has diminished from ayearly average of
Sl46,0O0,O0O from 1852 to 1856, to
yearly average of $9a,OOo,OOOa from
1867 to. 1874, f,aa, q -..l'..- ,...
q And with this portraiture of the need
of more money 10 do the multiplying
business of the world, while the pro-
duction of gold is so rapidly falling uff,