Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-08-13
Signs of Prosneritv.


1t is not worth while to attempt to
disguise the fact that there is now and
has been for several years a depression
in financial and commercial affairs in
this country. There is nothing to be
made by exsggeratior as to our pros
perity or adversely. Our condition is
the result of several years of compare
tive crop failures. The merchants
have not made money; the manufac-
tuTeTs have not made money; the
brokers have not made money; the
farmers have not made money; no class
in current business has made money.
Farmers have had hard times, and
they imagine that they are exceptions
to the rule. This is mistake. Far
meTs are not the exception. There are
no exceptions. Whenever the general
business Of this country suffers, every
body suffers in the proportion that
they are interested. There are rich
people, of course, who can take care of
themselves. They can go to Europe
or they can stay at home; they can
move to the watering places and spend
their money there. But, after all, as
compared with the industrial classes of
the country they are small proportion
of the whole.
But to what source shall the people
look for relief from the present unfor-
tunate condition of affairs? The crops.
For three years we have had crop
failures. The capital upon which the
business is based has been diminished.
There are people who imagine that
this is because there is not enough
money. That is to say, not enough of
the circulating medium. This is a
mistake. There is money enough,
there is gold enough; there is silver
enough; there is paper currency enough
if it can only be kept in circulation.
1t has not been in circulation simply
because the business of the country
has not called for it. There is more
money locked up at this time in the
United States than there is in cireula-
ton. Greenbacks are in safety de-
posits. Gold is boarded in vaults, and
everything that represents currency is
hidden away because Of q distrust,
which is general.
What is to remove this distrust2 1t
is not worth while to talk to people
and say that there is no trouble in this
country; that everything is prosperous
and lovely. They take no stock in that
kind of talk. They look beyond
theories. They penetrate to the found
ations. What are they? They are to
be discovered in the agricultural dis
tricts. We must lOok for real prosper
ity to the products of the soil. In
travelling through this country anybody
with an eye open can discover what
the prospects are.
Riding upon any railroad through
Kansas or any other part of the west it
is easy to see that the wheat fields, the
oat fields, the rye fields and the barley
delds hsye been extraordinarily pro-
ductiVe. Another gEest crop is the
corn. This is growing and it is in a
healthy condition. 1t is as far adj
vanced as it usually is at this season
and is healthy. The corn is now pro.
tecting its roots. The ground is still
saturated and just at present there
never was in this section of the country
a more favorable prospect for an
abundant corn crop than there is
today. 1t is hardly probable that
there esn DC any failure in this diree-
lion.
We may conclude, therefore, that we
shall have in 1891 tbs most productive
harvest that has been gathered in this
country for many years