The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-08-10

persistent, refusing TO yield to every
quackery device and clearly indicating
that relief can come only by pretty
thorough readjustment of conditions.
That country of such immense natural
and developed resources as ours should
suffer such calamity is proof that even
10 commercial matters violation of ma
tural laws is followed by distress.
The reaction from forced growth comes
at time when the country is blessed
with bountiful harvest. There is an
abundance Of all the necessaries of life;
We are troubled with no fatal epidemic
aor are we threatened with any disaster
by flood or field" 1t is simply the
prostration resulting from past excuses
10 business ventures. The opportunity Of
fered few to acquire sudden wealth
through artificial restraints upon COM
mercs has given US false idea OF bust
ness methods and made US impatient Of
the comparatively slow acquisitions of
legitimate enterprise. The desire to
grow rich has been nerved to the limit of
recklessness until we have practically be-
come gamblers in our methods and glad
ly stood the hazard of the die" Steady
industry gave way to speculation and
those who grew wealthy did SO at the ex-
pense of others. The immutable law OF
nature that the ratio Of effort to result IS
constant, was lost sight OF. Now that the
equation is reduced, that truth confronts
us. But with blind persistence we re-
fuse to recognize it and cry out for the
good old times that we may haze later
harvest of death.
We cannot all be wealthy, because con-
ditions of wealth are relative. Any
scheme of legislation to enrich all must
fail, and can only result in enlarglng the
| fortune of a few at the expense of many.
Wealth is a product of labor and the ag-
gregate cannot be increased by the direct
application of laws. The rewards of
labor may be diverted by law, but its prod
uct cannot be increased except by in
crease of industry. 1t seems strange that
in the latter part of the 10Th century one
of the most intelligent nations of the
world should blindly adopt the theory
that wealth can be created by legal en-
actment or that prosperity will follow
restrictions placed upon commercial in
! tercourse. Stranger still, that when the
inevitable result follows period of de-
| ception and, hence, temporary prosperity,
We cannot trace the relation of cause
and effect
| first succumbed to the pernicious sys-
| TEN of business to which we had become
addicted, we look for some cause in the
monetary condition OF the country and
| find it 10 the Sherman law. So narrow
| has our horizon grown through persist
emily cutting across lots to attain wealth!
When Lord Bulwer sought to show the
defect in Randall Leslies character which,
developed, should lead to his ruin, he had
him choose the path across lots to the
i old mansion house instead of along the
broad road where his progress was safe
AMI his arrival certain. Leslie saw the
error when his bright prospects vanished
and the time for reformation had passed.
We refuse to perceive that our plight is
| due to plunging, but attribute it to the
| fear that plunging is 10 be interdicted-,
but assert that we would come out all
right If permitted to plunge little more.
| It's, perhaps, true that to the Sherman
law IS due, TO some extent, the loss of
confidence IN the financial policy of the
| country which caused the expectation of
gold. But the Sherman law is a child
o. the same parent which begat the pro-
tective system. 1t was simply more di-
| rect way OF creating market for the
product of particular industry an at
tempt by legislation to enhance the value
Of a product which should have been per-
mitted to find its real value in the mar
kets of the world. The repeal of the
OLiSi iAiuh ia" 10 uOGilllp lIOlS tudl ii
blow given to the policy of protection
which is the source of our present diff
culties. But it should be followed by
striking at the main root of the difficulty.
1t is no time to -falter. There will be
periodical disasters In which rJtten in
situations fostered by the tariff will be
swept away taking with them many which
are sound, if the present tariff system is
recognized as the commercial policy of
the country. At the end of each of these,
our condition will be far worse than if
business was conducted on a safe basis.
The business of the country is not 60
ing to be restored with as rapid a sweep
as marked the tide of destruction. A
bubble collapses suddenly, bnt it re-
quires time to build so as to deserve con-
fidence
The people knew instlnctively, that
institutions of apparently such majes-
tic proportions were insubstantial, and
for this reason had no confidence in their
stability. Their instincts have not led
them astray IN many instances. 1t is
possible to learn lessons of wisdom from
the ordeal through which we have passed,
but 1t Is not Que such to take advantage
OF the situation for partisan purposes.
HE threatened coming of the cholera
is bad enough, but it is comparatively
mild atfilctlon compared with the col