St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-20


ments in regard to the value of sunlight
worthy of careful consideration. He says "a
prolonged absence of sunlight is very seri-
GUS matter. Its effects upon the health are
direct and perceptible. We get no ozone,
| and we become dull and listless, as if we had
been sitting up all night. When thus out OF
tone and below par, we are con-
sequently deficient in that vital energy
which would otherwise enable US to shake
off any ordinary ailment Nor is this all.
Absence of sunlight for any considerable
period is almost invariably followed by cpl
demic outbreaks. When the sun is active,
filth of all kinds putrefes as it collects.
When there is no sunshine the filth collects,
accumulates in masses, and 1erments.
These fermented accumulations are source
of positive danger as soon as the sun re-
sumes its activity. Decomposition under
bright sun is comparatively harmless. Slow
decomposition in the dark is especially hostile
to health. We need no chemist to tell us all
this; but, at the same time, it is as well to
bear the chemistry Of common life in mind.
When the Astronomer Royal reports total
| absence of sunshine we ought to be especial
ly careful, and, it may be added, children
suffer more from the absence OF the sun S
rays than do adults. Adults have only to
keep alive; children have to keep alive and
to grow. which entails double amount of
chemical work. Now, if there be no sun
shine, We can best supplement its absence
by exercise. And yet strange enough, the
absence of sunshine is regarded by most
mothers as sufficient ground for keeping
| children within doors. 1t is, on the contra
ry, the very reason why they should be sent
out and kept out as much as possible''
THE decline in railway stocks began with
the assassination of Garfield in 1881. It is
estimated that the total depreciation in the
value of all quotable railroad securities from
July 1, 1881, to March 1, 1884, was 81, 1S5,
$40, ISL. The depreciation since March l,
must make the total over $1,000, 600, 600.
Such tremendous and continued decline
| in the face of large earnings and the fearful
losses occasioned by the collapse are natur-
ally matters of public wonder and dismay.
But the causes are not difficult to detect.
They are in fact Inherent in the present
American system of railroad building and
manipulation, which has been evolved nee
the war by scheming men, with all the mod
ern Improvements of land grants, construc-
ton companies, credit mobiliers, terminal
mpanies, floating debts, consultations,
pools, wars of rates, court orders and injunc-
| tions. One of the first steps taken has been
tn In craa co tho fao va1ua of ha stock tn r,
anfou MT representing capitalization of the
net income of the road. In other words, if
a road could earn reasonable dividends, say,
per cent. upon ten millions Of stock, adj
ditional shares were issued up to that figure,
no matter what the amount Of the original
bona fide cash subscription or the real cost of
the road. This was all very well as long as
there was no competition. But no company
| could long continue to earn dividends ON a
| large amount of fictitious stock when para
| lelled by new road built as cheaply as itself.
< X
A great deal of suffering and poverty and
crime has resulted from this system of rail-
road building, and the sharpers themselves
have, many Of them, been severely pinched
or altogether crushed. 1t is just retribu-
ton which is now falling upon the men who
devised this system. Since the first of March
| the depreciation in the Vanderbilt stocks
has been about $50, 100000, and the Gould
stocks have shrunk still more, and the Hunt
ington stocks but little less. If the liquida-
dation should go on until the vast millions
held by these men should vanish, or be dis
tributed back to the people from whom they
have been in large degree unjustly obtain
ed, by fraud and extortion, the country
might start again with the benefit of pain
full but not altogether Improbable exper-
fence.