Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-01-01
The Business Condition of the Country.

1t can hardly be questioned, says me
Bait. Sun, that the great boom inaugural
ed in 1879 and 1880 has spent It's force' ana
that business at present is conducted upon
a narrow margin of profit. 1t is on'y with
difficulty that the country maintains itself
on the high plane of productioY and con-
sumption reached in the censuJ year. In
some lines of manufacture production has
been excessive. Under the Stimulus OF our
high tariff too much capital was put into
the protected industries, production out
ran umption, and in tleir efforts to get
rid of accumulated stocks of goods the
manufacturers were compelled to sell at
rates that have dsmoraized prices. he
duced prices have necessitated the practice
of close econemy if manufacturing is to be
continued at IL profit. Not unirequentiy'
the profit has disappeared, ind the wheels
of mills aud factories have been brought to
a stop. Such is the explanation OF the re-
duction of wages. strikes and suspensions
of which so much is heard from time 70
time The iron businessis at low epD.
More than half the furnaces of the country
are out of blast. The wooden mills OF
R6o lslls ssfaada, the cotton mills OF Massa-
SsRnsetts. the knit gods mills in New York,
and more recently the Sool-ehfeau HILLS
of whose enormous PROS so mucn was
! heard a year or two ago, admit Til absence
j on an active demand for their wares. y
lis decided increase in the nunaber q
ures. The growing frequency ofestensiv'
ires-an unfailing sign of tight times ant
contracting values-is 4 fact OF the sam
kind. Still it must be admitted that a fai
1 amount of business is being transacted
Railroad earnings show no very materia
decrease. Careful and conservative traders
are making profits, though they may moi
be ON the liberal scale of few years ago
There is no general stoppage of industrial
and commercial activity, as was the cast
after the collapse of 1878. Values are be-
ing readjusted, but the process goes on
gradually, without shock or jar. The sur
plus bIoChs VI ihSaO1iouo ploOuCSlS VIII
after awhile be disposed of, and production
will rscommence on a healthy basis, The
financial condition of the country. taken as
whole, is sound, despite the croakings of
'bear" spectators interested in fall in
stocks, and pessimists who lived through
1880 without discovering that that year waG
better than any Of its predecessors. The
cause of the present depression is doubtless
the tendency, which is general ono in all
producing countries, to produce more than
can be consumed. The fact that this depres.
sion is greatest in the iron, steel, cotton anG
sarthenwaie Industries, which have been
most carefully guarded from foreign COM
petition by excessive tariff rates, is sug'
ges5iye 1t is suggestive of the truth that
a high tariff is of no benefit either to the
capitalist and manufacturer whom il
Temps to excessive manufacturing and i'll
consequent losses, or to the worisirgmap,
whom its tempts into occupations which are
not permanent, nor in the long run profita,
BILE to him. The depressed condition of
these industries at present you'd evidently
be impossible, even at present Pricss, if
their raw materials were not subjected to
onerous and absurd tariff charges. Cheap
er material would permit profitable manu-
lfacture at low prices, ani wnat is of7Ihe
FIRST importance, would enable rs 10 cpm
Z, the markets &c o. In coanssiss g1iepy