The Portland daily press., 1883-08-10
The Business Situation

Nr-od1, eAlC Vp1iilOAc VI LUdnY we'll KNOWN
business men of that city, bankers, manu-
facturers, and merchants in various lines.
concerning the present con lition and pros
poets OF trade The opinions of such men
as are represented in this article concerning
matters in which they are well informed.
are always valuable. 1t is not necessary TO
assume that their judgment is infallible, or
that it is better than that of the same num-
Der OF other gentlemen, equally intelligent
who may hold a different opinion, if there
are such gentlemen. 1t is not necessary to
assume anything at all; but it is helpful TO
know what such men think and the reasons
they give for their Judgment.
The course of trade is not determined by
the dictum OF any man or set of men. They
cannot make prosperity or prevent it, save
as they work in accord with, or in defiance
of, certain conditions which, notwithstand-
ing all the study that has been given to the
subject, stimulated by the most powerful
of motives, self-interest, are not yet COM
pletely known and formulated. The actual
facts and results of nations business con
tinually surprise the most astuie practical
men and confound the most confident stu
dents of political economy. The optimists
and the pessimists, the theorists and the
workers, the cautious and the reckless, the
enthusiasts and the croakers are all deuded
In turn. There are reconcile factors in the
problem which they overlook in their c..lcu-
lations, and subtle influences which battle
their investigation. If all the conditions
could be apprehended, and their exact oper-
alton in combination understood, there
would be no disappointments, no failures.
no commercial cataclysms.
Always one thing must be borne in mind
in reading such opinions as these which we
print to-day, namely the disposition of ey-
cry man in business to put the best possible
face on the situation. They want to think,
and TO have everybody else think, that the
trouble, whatever appearances may be. is
not In fact serious, and even when they are
trembling with fear they viii not readily ac-
knowledge their anxieties, aud still less
will they publish them. They know the SEN
sitiveness of trade interests and the peris of
panic, and their natural instinct is to make
show of confidence whether they feel it or
not. We should not expect the men whose
opinions are quoted to tell The public that
crash is coming if they we're fully persuaded
of it. They will not willingly utter word
that would precipitate the crisis. Courage
and confidence are as necessary to carry a
business successfully through hard times as
they are to carry an army through the des-
perate emergencies of campaign. The
good merchant no more confesses defeat be-
fcrehand than the good soldier does, and
the great merchants know as well as the
general knows that the courage and hope
fulness of the mass depend upon his I'M
daunted and resolute bearing.
We do not say that the truth about the
business situation is any worse than it is
represented to be in these interviews, but it
must be taken for granted that they present
the case in its best light, and their utteran-
ces must be read with that understanding
or their precise significance will not appear.
1t will be observed that they all talk of the
recent great failures as if they were not indi-
cative of any general condition of weakness
as if each was the result of circumstances
and conditions peculiar to itself and was not
at all dependent on any general causes.
That may be true; but it is also true that
almost every failure that occurs. has its ne
culiar circumstances and may be traced 10
causes which indicate that the particular
business had not been wisely managed with
regard n tina airnt1 mot oe he
However the serious failures which have
already occurred may be accounted for.
we hold it to be true that they indicate a
condition of affairs in the financial and com
mercial world which warns everybody to
take in sail, make everything fast. and be
prepared for rough weather. 1t is true that
the limits of credit on account of most kinds
of specul alive ventures have been reached.
and that the banks and other corporate in
situations upon which all kinds of legiti-
mate business largely depend are becoming
very cautious in making loans. The effect
OF such action will be that those individuals,
firms and corporations which are doing a
business beyond their independent resourc-
es, relying on receiving assistance from the
banks are likely to be embarrassed in their
operations. But there is an abundance of
money and those can have use of it on reas-
enable terms who can give unquestionable
security.
1t is more than three weeks since the
New York Sun published its dirty SANDER on
President Garfield, inspired by the exposed
and malignant Dorsey. ! Everybody alive