The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1884-12-18
Fictitious values.

We must get down to something
near a real busi, ere long The trou-
bles We have been slowly and painful
ly passiu. through for now nearly
three years are only the sure result.
of the strained and abnormal valua-
ton We have been placing upon mon
ey and property y man pays taSc.
upon, and arran4cs hi, style Of liy-
ing and expenditure, upon II fortune
which he regard, n, worth one hun
drcd thousand dollar~. After awhile
something comes along which throw,
the valuation back upon it, reality.
| The false is swept away. and the true
set up usually before the victim has
had time to grasp the situation he is
drawn into, the vortex and the
| bankrupt court, hive another casc.
This false valuation has many evils
attending il, n. well ~ many symp-
toms. We are now paying from forty
five to siXty-tiyc dollars for any thing
like respectable business suit Of
clothes Time was once when We
could have the very best tweed ca,sl-
mcrc> and diagonal, ut from twenty
to thirty. our lsnd4 are no more
productive to-day than they were
then. our mechanics get nu better
wages and there IN no more demand
than then for anything We hav"
to srH. These strained values
are alwaNr arbitrarily liked and they
= represent only the cupidilN "f the
seller and the siupidii, of the buyer.
Between them com" the ndroit hard
faced sprculutor, and manipulntors,
the men OF "corncr,' and comblna-
tions Men now with the tax re
moved from cigars pay five cents for
very common weed, ten and fifteen
cent. for "a very pH--abIG cigar only,
and foi good ono they pay twenty
five cent, Il. usual. Before these tsl.c
values prevailed = good cigar wa-
sold for penny, and five cruts gave
very excellent weed indeed. one
cannot now get seat in ANY rr-pccl-
theatre for less than n dollar. and u
reserved seat taxes him Il dollar and a
hs'f while one sf the star, IN opera
or tragedy doe, not hesitate to make
him put up live dollar, These are
uon-"s-cntHl., it Is true, but they cA-
hibit in a clear and forcible way the
unhealthy DRIFT of things Here in II
Ilsnd where all the prime necessities Of
life are layi-hly raised whore farmers
can scarcely gather the crops they
make on account Of the eY-
cessiyc Weld, we pay from twenty
i've to forty dollars tor
board which should be had Al
from ten to twenty dollars. A seat in
theatre should cost twenty-five cents
aud ride in a hack ten cents These
prices, if the balances were accurately
adjusted, would bc municrnt
The tcndrncic, of the times are to
lsyishncs. and extravaganza, and there
- hV i'hN'h' oNh'' " lbH'''N 80 Wv
present adjustment of prices. II is
well remembered that few years .
since cattle were fifty to scvcnty-ti |
per cent higher than they now ARE, .
and Yet we pay the same to-day for /
steak that We did then. Sugar is sell
in. in Galveston At Dix cents, and here
the best we can do il nine cents.
These things are all right or would
be if all else wa. prcdicated on the
same basis.
We draw the following lesson from
the above, that while speculation
thrivcs and tsttens upon these I'M
healthy prices iIduccd, bycxtraragnnt
and false valuation the legitimate and
honest interests OF society suffer in
the exact ratio Il at the dishonest are
benefited. Nothing will tend to the
restoration of healthy balance SO
much as an cqllitably arranged and
properly adjusted tariil schedule.
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