New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-11-30


Th,s hool embraces the best work Mr. David A.
Walls has yet done in the economic heia' AS
Commissioner Of Revenue, he profoundly ih-
eu.ncel q PEOPLE then densely Ignorant ON such
subjects. and brought about Important results
in part good, and in part not good let nus
reports remind one OF the maxim. Among the
blind the une-eycd is king, for in these days they
wonM not be considered accurate in statement,
ricl, in information. or reasoned with the aoily
which Mr. Wells has since displayed. They
fixed attention largely because an official OF the
United States advised policy essentially British,
as indeed he does now But the people have galned
so much education from twenty years OF DIS
cnssion and rich experience that his free trade
theories would be effectively answered by PRACTICAL
workingmen in almost every shop, while on other
subjects his teachings in this volume are OF interest
and value.
Unfortunately these papers, being prepared
for monthly publication, though since rewritten
contain some careless statements Ihus IL u
rravely asserted that telegraphic charges are siN
times less than in 1866. which REMINDS one VI
the politicians loss 900 per cent III aho'hoi
place. Mr.. Wells puts the production OF paper "V
/ 200 million tons and in $50 at 40 million
fons' both statements being 1000 times roo large
In ouoting a statement that the purchasing power
of money in $50 was 2G.44 per cent greater IMAM
in 1850 Mr. Wells makes il 2G.44 times greater.
The entire resources of this country IN leeo' ME-
Wells deliberately asserts, were inadequate "
harvest the crops OF wheat and corn now falSeu,
but in 1880 the crops actually harvested were
2cl3 million bushels wheat anu corn ior
80 million people, and this year they are ABOUT
$500 million bushels for 65 million people II
is a crayer mistake that he cites, in treating
w1,,,o io l-o1 HouVp viii
the purpo.c. and not consecutive record showing
the facts before and after the points compared
He would perhaps say that he sought no credit
as "a mere statistician" if inferior facilities
wond suffice intelligenty to gather important
facts But IL is the source Of a large share OF
his errors that he has not at all the statstlcal
disposition to get before the eye the entire BODY
of fact. 10 be considered, nor the historical I'M
partialty TO submit full record rather than
hits of fact selected TO fit theory Dsclalmlng
controversial purpose. Mr.. Wells is unfortunately
unable 10 escape the controversial method.
II is a radical defect, for instance, that MIR.
Wells has selected tho starting point ana OASIS
for most of his comparisons period of exceptional
activity speculative excitement, initiation of prices,
and such unwholesomc disturbance o! economic re-
lstions that il was Immediately followed by the
manic of 1873 OF all the last forty years there
is but one other 1864. which could with less ali-
ness or proprety be chosen as starting IN re-
view designed 10 show the extent and causes oil
recent economic disturbances. Nor is the reason
concealed by Mr. Weiss disclaimer Of contF"-
versisl purpose One of his chief objects evil
IDENTIFY was TO contTovert the notion that dlsuse oil
silver begun in s73. had caused industrial pros
tration His argument would have been FAR more
convincing II he had frankly compared the condl-
tons prior 70 the Franco-German War ana tnf
American imitation of 1872, or even prior 10 the
War Of Rebellion, with those of recent date
II has been long downhill movement ever since
1878 IN Mr.. Weiss view, with only temporary
interruption in one country or another. Special
activity here, for a year or two after sIecle re-
sumption. was partly caused by exceptional fail
IRE Of crops abroad What Mr. Wells means by
depression is not satisfactorily shown by tie
quotations from various papers and reports which
iii pages ll-l0 inclusive. Curiously enough, we
are invited 10 consider the causes of depression
which. in any ordinary sense Of the word, II uti
matolv appcars has not existed at all Production
has not been depressed, but has enormously IN
creased, and consumption os well, and also The
volume Of trade. The number and proportion OF
laborers employed has increased and also their
wages and also the purchasing power of each dol
lar they receive.
What Mr. Wells recounts as causes of depression
are one and all, steps in the worlds wonderful
progress toward better things. The Suez Canal
displaced much British shipping formerly sent
around the Cape but cbeapened products and
multiplied trade. The telegraph has broken up
dependence upon English warehouses and markets,
but has insured the world against combinations
to control those markets. Ocean transportation
is amazingly reduced in cost and also rail trans
portation but thereby happiness is brought nearer
TO all workers The steam engines constructed,
four-ffths Of them since 500, equal in power the
labor Of one thousand million men. three times
the working population Of the earth. But they
have lesscned human labor and satisfied human
desires. The displacement of labor. large in cot
ton mills and coal mines, amounting 10 so per
cent in boot and sbCe shops, and to % per cent IN
-four mills has but lessened the other work which
mankind must DO in order to get IT'S former sup
plies of cottOns coal. shoes and bread. Natural
gas, dsplacing 0, 900 900 tons Of coal, has mad.
less work necessary 10 produce glass and iron and
salt Adam Smith thought the world had moved
when, instead Of a pin in day, man could
make $500 pins daily; now one man can make
$500 coo better pins in a day, which does not
add TO human want. So marvellous have been
the inventions within the last quarter Of a
century mentioned on page ca that it seems 10
Mr.. Wells as if all prior human life on this planet
had been but getting ready TO use the tools which
for these twenty-five years the race has been
using All these steps cause displacement of
labor and some destruction Of fixed capital, but
so does the planting of every crop, and even the
clearing of every forest, and no volume by an able
writer can be needed at this late day TO teach us
that they make demand for more labor than they
displace, and create more capital than they de-
strOy, and are not in any sense causes Of depres-
sion.
Over-production, however. may result. IL the
phrase be understood in Mr.. Weiss sense-produc.
ton in excess Of demand at prices remunerativc
to the producer Ignorance or lack of progress
may have causcd starvation In some dsnartrno,,,.