The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-25
LOGIC OF TEN CENT OATS.
FARMERS ARE STUDYING THE TARIFF,
But the ProtectiOnist Fighters Are Strongly
Intrenched-The Past Year I'm the Finan-
ciaI worId-A GI nee at the Future
a Unique Trade Circular.


a cursory retrospect OF the past may throw light
on commercial and financial prospects Tor the
year to come.
Early in 1889 the opinion was hazarded that
existing speculations and consequent corners
in breadstuffs would prove mischieYous; that
| the wheat supplies of Russia and other coun-
tries had been underestimated; that cheap corn
and provisions would reduce wheat consump-
ton, and break down in prices result. IL
also appeared 10 us that the barbarous inter
state commerce Law was working grave injury
to business on the commercial exchanges, and
benefited nothing materially except Few OF
the trunk railway lines.
''In the financial world il was foreshadowed
that the ebb in real estate speculation already
felt in California would gradually extend east
ward; that reckless investments In western
farm mortgages must result disastrously TO
eastern savings banks and small investors.
| Overbuilding of railways at the West, freight
wars and stock manipulatlOns betokened a
serious decline in values, possibly the BANK
ruptcy of some important lines like Atchlson
and Missouri Pacific. Increasing anti-railway
sentiment and hostile legislation were cited as
hardly calculated TO mend matters. The col
lapse of the copper syndicate, higher rates OF
interest and drain OF gold TO the banks OF En-
gland and France, combined with cloudy po-
litical horizon, seemed likely to enhance the
financial uneasiness
"An outbreak against the trusts, which were
absorbing the chief speculative interest, made
it evident that public sentiment was bent on
breaking them down, and, if possible, legislat-
ing them out of existence.
"We submit to a eonfding public that our
representations so far would average up favor
ably with those of the weather department.
'By midsummer business had become stag
nant, aud bank vaults groaned with idle money.
We tried to still the troubled waters with an
aspiration that before another mantle of snow
fell some OF them would find it difficult TO set
tie with their depositors.
"On the glorious Fourth Jay and Russell had
arrived at the conclusion that nothing but
bountiful crops could save the country from
annihIlation. AS usual, Providence smiled
upon them. and the harvest proved prOpitiOus.
At their beck, statisticians, commercial agen-
cies, and the subsidized press sang the siren
song, That boom once more it comes Ger me
like dream. A beautiful stock OF chromOs
was temptingy displayed in the show windows
of Wall street, but 10, the bridegroom cometh
not A funeral pail had fallen on the street.
why is this thus? inquired William X. OF
Cornelius, while Chauncey looked wise and Sc
renely smiled. We are altogether too pre-
viOus,' expostulated George with Jay. We are
all confounded FOOLS growled the speculative
deacon. Let's get in out Of the wet chlmed
! the bankers chorus, for the cloud overhead
| had suddenly burst, and the air was hlled with
! a conglomeratiOn of sugar trusts, oil and cotton
seed, lead and gas. Zom OF our preweries
| must have plOwn up screamed YawcOb
Schneider, the foreign syndicate promoter.
/ What shall we do to be saved? wrote the
| good Shepard in startling headlines over the
| columns of his Daily PiUtOcrGt. a fine har-
vest for me- chuckled RUSSELL as he carved
| 20-Der-cent. pound of flesh oil some hungry
| brokers' spareribs.
WELL the tornado has passed. The Office
boys are sweeping out the odorferous litter of
| corruption and water. Addison gravely
denies all responsibility for this mischief, and
it is possible after all that improved railway
traffic and increased bank exchanges alone do
| not constitute business prosperity. Thirty
| millions of farmers have harvested an un-
| remunerative crop. Their purchasing power
! has declined. Some branches or trade have I'M
/ proved. Many others languish. Failures Tor
| the year are about 1000 against lOOOO last
! year; liabilities much heavier.
"We recovered from the depression Of 1873
| to 1873 under altogether different conditions.
| The short European grain crops OF 1879 to 1850
were followed by immense exports at unusually
| good prices. Farmers prospered, merchants
/ accumulated profits and sought investments in
railway securities, thus initiating an era of
| prosperity and initiation which has continued
! for nearly ten years. Arguing from past ex-
perence, many shrewd fnanciers predict that
| a period of depression Is now about due. They
| declare that credit has been too widely eX-
| tended the world over; that the savings Of
| prosperous labor have been piled up in many
cases where urgent call for deposits could not
| be met They note that business methods are
| in a transition state; that everything tends to
/ vast combinations of capital, which, though
highly lucrative and frequently beneficial to
| the public may, when applied to the control
/ of the necessares of life, prove bane.
THE doctrines of the Bellamy bible are gain
| ing ground. State control of railways, tele-
graphs and mines is seriously urged. Farmers
| are regarding the tariff question outside party
| lines. The logic OF ten-cent oats and fifteen
! cent corn is more potent than endless wrang-
| lings of stump orators. The great unrest has
reached the granger, but he must excuse us for
stating that il Slas Hodge of Podgeville antlci-
pates a walkover in his fight with Messrs.
| Gould, Sage, Vanderbilt, Stanford. Huntington,
| etc, his reasoning is somewhat fallacious. He
will be halted at the caucus, the polls the legis
| lature in congress, the white house and the
supreme court. Unless he is thoroughly trained
| for an all around fight, and is greedy of punish
ment, he might well return behind his
| dunghil and throw up the sponge. He may
| drive tariff advocates out of Iowa at the point
| of the pitchfork. but he will find them strongly
| intreuched In Pennsylvania. He need waste
| no time on a silver problem utterly beyond his
| comprehension, nor insist in adding an idiotic
| tax to the mortgage under which he already
/ staggers. His entire energies are required to
/ remove the tariff from raw products, and there
| by reduce his necessary living expenses. But
| he goes about his work awkwardly like
| Texas steer, first blindly pOking his horns one
way then another, but the herd having fairly
| started in one direction is apt TO develop a
Uis inertia that will cause prudent men to stand
/ out of their path. Consequently Benjamin,
/ Levi. Jeremiah and other prophets OF the
present dispensaton, discerning change in
| the popular taste, whenever hObnobbing with
! hawbucks, are now prone to put little sugar
| in their'n.'
"For a permanent rise in breadstuffs, provi-
sions. or cotton there is little prospect now or
| in the future barring the calamity of crop fail
| ure or foreign wars. Our consolation is that,
| being so near cost of production, prices can't
| 90 much lower. Financial conditions are ap-
parenty improving, yet there scents constant
! anprehension lest some Grant Ward or Ohio
| life and trust swindle may upset everything.
| At times the situation assumes a positive ludi-
! crOus aspect Just at present banks modestly
! request the use of government FUNDS at per
| cent, farmers assert their claim TO the Doodle
| at per cent Tanner demands il free gratis,
| for his pensions while the nabobs, who really
own il all, claim that their grip on il cannot be
| shaken of. So if we need money we must
| start a bank, buy farm and mortgage il, or
| swear we saved the country though the
truth may be that most OF us jumped the
| bounty
"But we are all anxiously waiting to learn
| what the ponderous brains of congress will
evolve Meanwhile, between drinks, members
are preparing doses of tafy for the grangers
and breathing slaughter against the trusts Do
they reflect that if combinations are so lucra-
! tive, individuals will be found sufficiently rich
to reorganze the wrecks? Have not the Roths-
childs and Barings run their private corners with
impunity for years? Therefore the present
warfare on trusts monopolies and railway COM
binatiOns must eventually, and OF necessity,
attack the individual. Wealth will be re-
stricted, say to 5000, 600, the principle that
a little popgun of a million or so is compara-