The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-07-28
RE AnERIcAN rEounLE.
Too Much or the Good Things OF Earth
A People Blessed with More thai

A People Blessed with More Than
EBOash.
y. y. Tribune.
Another bountiful crop blesses the eoun-
try and rewards the toll ofthe husbandman.
1t is not now a question Of statistics; for
estimates 1t Is a little too late, and for re.
turns OF actual yield a little too early. But
VIC know the essential fact that the country
will have an abundant supply Of every i'm
portant product Of agriculture. II wheat
falls a little behind last year, a great surplus
OF more than q bushel to every inhabitant
remains on hand. The yieldo Of wheat and Of
oats Is enormous; the crop Of vegetables,
and especially OF potatoes, has been re.
msrkably large, and all indications now
favor a large yield Of corn and OF cotton.
| With abundant corn and hay, the feeding
OF animals will be cheap, and we may look
for an ample meat supply, not only thls
season, but for the next year.
Our difficulty in this favored land seems
to be oneof which hardly any other coun:
try can complain-we have too much OF
almost everything. The condition. as
General Butler once loosely observed. is
less one OF oyer-production than one oil
under-consumption. Presumably he did
not seriously mean that a country could
have too great an abundance OF all things
that satisfy human needs. But the number
|of bushels OF wheat that the average
American will eat yearly does not change
very much, whether the supply Is great or
small. II we have more than about enough
to make q barrel OF flour ior' every ir-
habitant, old and young, and TO COW,
the seed for next year, we must either ex-
port the rest or carry itoyer as surplus.
Cheap and abundant corn can be turnad
into hogs, it il true, but the number Of
hogs that we can eat or probably keep is
also limited. Cotton will keep, even II we
have more than the world wants at present;
but the grower will consider that $50 in q
bank, drawing interest for a year Is better
than a bale OF cotton lying in a shed. SO
somebody must lie out othis money for a
year or more, II we have to carry over a
surplus which, at present, nobody wants.
II used to be a difficulty that we had
more than enough products OF the farm,
but lees than enough oil 1.-THE products OF the
mill, the loom, the furnace or the mine.
But now no manufacturers as well as agri-
culture complain Of overstocked markets.
The mills have turned out so many woollsn
and cotton goods that prices are incon.
veniently depressed. Iron establishments
Of high reoute go into the hands Of receiv.
ers because they have too much unsold
iron on hand. Coal miners stop work
part OF tho time this year because the sup
ply, being larger than ever, Is larger than
the present demand. In the tanks and
there is more oil than the
whole world can consume in eighteen
months. The whisky dealers are loaded
down with more whisky than the country
has ever consumed In fifteen months. And
30 1t is in other branches not a few; we ap.
pear 10 have a superabundance OF things.
But 1t does not seem necessary 10 be very
much distressed about our lot. In other
countries, people have not enough; here
have mole than enough; ia not that
In other lands the people are
overcrowded; here the things to eat, 10
wear and to use are overcrowded, and that
ia certainly the pleqsanter embarrassment
Of the two. Would 1t help US a1y II, in.
stead OF feeding workmen here, who make
cur own iron, anu woollen and cotton
goods, we should go to England for
products, and send thither q
quantity OF grain and meat to feed
the half=starved workers? True, we cannot
sell as much OF our products abroad as we
would, because the higher level Of living
And Of prices here increases the cost q
production; but It is desirable on that nc.
count TO push down our labor and prices
TO the level Of other countriesY The evil Of
over-produc,ion in certain branches will
cure itself soon. But nations stagnate for
generations, and even for centuries, with.
out finding a cure for degradation Of labor.