St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-02
YOUR uNCLE IOREN.

: LOREN FLETCHER. congress sman-at
last-from the Fifth. replies to the re-
quest or the Mankato board that he will
vote for the repeal of the SHERMAN act,
but he dissents from the view stated Ill
their resolutions that that act Is the
chief cause Of the depression. He pro-
ceeds to elaborate at length the reasons
why he thinks il is due to the appre-
henSion of the manufacturing interests
of the changes the Democrats may
make in the tariff. This causes a want
of confidence in the future, curtailS
production and prevents new invest
mentS.
Mr.. FLETCHER is undoubtedly sim
cere. We are willing to grant him a
greater measure of sincerity than so old
and practiced a politician as he is can be
safely accorded. But this concession is
made at the expense of either his can
dor or his intelligence. or both. If he
were both candid and intelligent. he
would recognize and admit many causes.
all eliminating in the production Of the
present condition. He would not lay it
all to the character of the currency, be-
cause he would recall the panic in the
Argentines, where the paper cedulas
had inflated the currency, followed by
the crisis in Australia, where the cur
rency was gold, and ending here, where
the currency is mixed.
Then he would recall the period of
excessive initiation of prices, taking its
first form in the BOOM which gave to
his city and our own, with so many
others, short spell OF seemingly solid
prosperity, ending in painful collapse.
He would recall how this same speeu-
iatlve boom spirit. after exhausting
cities and towns and villages, ran into
mines for awhile and set people wild
with dreams of sudden wealth to be &C
auired by buying and selling great but
unknown possibilities hidden under
ground. Then IL attacked certain man
ufacturing industries, and formed COM
blnationS with a view to monopoliZe
product and thus command prices: and
stocks representing possibilities were
Heated and eagerly bought, and dishon-
est methods were used without stint to
promote them.
AHb OQL VI IL al CdIilO uHSOuUu UuSt-
ness methods and extrayagant social
habits. This easily created wealth bred
ostentation and display. The scale of
living expenses was largely increased.
Manufacturers caught the Infection and
spread out, enlarging shops and means
OF production. The infection spread to
all classes. Employees on wage felt
their fancied wants strainin2 at the linn
its of their incomes, and often breaking
beyond them. Prudence, thrift, econ
omy, restraint of outgo to income, be-
came obsolete virtues. Haste to be rich
by fortunate venture or worse took the
place OF Willingness to acquire it by
Slow and small accretionS. The day of
small economies was passed. Credit
expanded, and its tokens, notes, mort
cages, stocks and bonds were cOnsid-
cred to be money. We had left the solid
earth below US, and ne were floating in
balloons.
Then the balloon WAS Dunctured in
the Argentines. The Australian bubble
burst. The United States was being
forced by the SHERMAN act onto a silver
basis. Foreign investors. pressed by
their needs growing out of the Argen-
tines and Australian collapse, or getting
fearful of the solvency of their Ameri-
can holdings, sent their securities home
for sale. An insane tariff policy di-
verted millions from the channels of
trade. The Reading exposure showed
the scope of the speculative mania. Cord
age belied its statements of prosperity
by trying to float an enormous loan to
-defray operating expenses. The spark
of distrust spread like wildfire. Con-
fidence fed before it. The panic was
on us.
AS succinctly as space permits of their
presentation, these are the main causes
OF the depression which Mr.. FLETCHER
is intelligent enough to know, but not
candid enough to own. Probable tariff
changes have had something to Go with
it, but by themselves they would have
caused no more disturbance than would
a summer days breeze OH the placid
waters of Lake Minnetonka.