The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-07-10

DR.. See Diagnoses the Symptoms of the Malady
and Takes the Public Into His Confidence.

To the Editor or the InulanaDolis Journal
Tho Sherman aot will be repealed. Is
should never have been passed, though it
served q valuable purpose in heading off
the free-coinsge scheme which the Demo-
Gratis had resolved upon to put President
Harrison in q hole; but Its repeal Will not
materially affect the business interests of
the country. because it's existence has had
the least possible to do with causing the
present condition of things. Other things
being as they are. this condition would
have come all the same without the
Sherman act. Local applications or q dose
of neutralizing cordial may furnish tenn
porary relief from q spell of sick headache.
but q p permanent cure, can be effected only
by less fat pork aud general high living.
The trend OF business. for a decade or
more. has as enthusiastically forebOdrd the
present financial condition as breathing
the malaria of swalnp lands foretells a
spell OF 8gue. There 10 remaining IN our
business methods hardly the Sem blance of
the natural and legitimate. From the
great octopus, which controls the co8l-oil
output or the whOle country to the busl-
ness OF tho corner grocery, everything IS
dOnsthrOugh combines. No matte whether
the cost to the consumer OF the thousand
and one things necessary 60 our comfort
be more or less than IL would otherwise be.
the utter destruction of individuallsm is
fatal to Independence and prosperity. and
must as certainly result IN q commercial
arrangement as breathing malaria must
end In ague. twenty grains OF quinlne may
furnish temporary relief from the ague.
bur only a course of oathnrtIcs and emetics.
with getting away from the malarial
district. can effect q cure. We are
just now undergoing the indispensable
"treatment" for our too long living In
an unwhOiesome commercial atmosphere.
and such remedies as repeating this law or
that are only tenn porizinR. We must get
away from the commercial malaria, which
Is the real cause of our Distress. That
sugar costs q cent OF two more or less be-
cause of the sugar trust. or that fares and
freights are higher or lower on account of
the absorption OF all railroads into "a dozen
or SO "sy stems" to be managed by n few
kings" or that wages in productive IN
dustries are forced up by tho labor COM
bines. cuts a very small figure in the re-
suits OF these artificial aud abnormal intlu-
ences. The damaging feature is the NAL
ad justmeut they cause In the forces which
enter into the life of q people. The GoulGs
and the NsnderbiItB became railroad kings
by displacing. by cruel methods. hundreds
OF men Who were making comfortable liv-
Ings In managing, TO the interest OF the
public. their little roads. Just rs the union
portion to the average wages OF the
million by driving away by brute
force the hundreus who are
compelled to seek food else at
WuhtctcE price tucJ Can Got LOT nell
and he even conpels HIS tellow-unionists
to stop work at the pleasure o. IA few OF the
guild. These bardships fail at Iirst on the
few. but In the end they Affect the entire
body social, as unwhOlesOme food. which
at hrst affects only one or two organs of
the body, soon causes u general giving way
OF the whole system. 10 these unnatural
and Artificial agencies the present conGI-
ton of our economic life is more traceable. q
thousand told. than TO tho Sherman bill or
any other State or national legislation, OK
cep t &c be the legislation IN both the state
and Nation which has fostered and pro.
whole.
The Journal has repeatedly given the
true philosophy of the late outflow of gold.
We have bought more than We have sold,
and this gold was necessary to balance the
books. Why we have been so unwiee 10
the question TO discuss now. and it should
be discussed from a political point of view.
but not necessarily from u party stand
point. The farmer who bas to 90 dow in
his pocket on the first of January to
square the account of the years
business maj discover that IL is
owing wholly TO the failure OF one OF moro
OF bic croDs. Ii that Is all, he need not
lose much sleep. The next years crops
will probably even all things mp: but IT he
finds IL Ia Oecause too much piano. or too
mucD inery. or luxury has creDt into famI-
ly expenses. and too much idleness has
gone baud In hand with too much extraya-
Rance, ne has occasion to 20 into the re-
trenchment and reform business ar once,
and he has no occasion TO growl about the
Sherman act. or any other act. In our in
quiry for the cause of this balance against
US Will We not discover that in
several of tho items OF our OK ports we have
fallen behind, either because of a partial
failure OF crODe, rs the hog crop. Tor in
stance. or because of the low prices abroad.
caused by unusually large crops or other
agencies In competing fields. as. for in.
stance. our wheat crop and cotton crop.
No Sherman act, or any other act. Is to
blame Tor this. and no possible legislation
could have prevented 1t.
But the shipping of q few millions of
gold one way or the other. TO baiance an
occasional d ference on the face OF orr
commercial edser. caused by excep-
tional influences. Is hardly deserving no.
tice. How 10 Ii with regard to our home
methodist Looking into this. we discover
what must sooner or later cause trouble. lt
will be easily remem bered by some In and
about Indianapolis that twenty years ago
tue prevailing. industry" OF Indianapolis
was the laying out of additions" and the
selling of corner lots at fabulous prices,
and immense fortunes we're made In q tries
by men aud women who lived from hand
to mouth all their preceding days. Preach
ers ara printers entered the swim with
bankers and merchants. and oil went To
the bottom together. The blame as laid
at the door OF Congress, and so general Was
the conviction that Congress could and
should furnish relief. that one of the
preachers. who was caught In the whirI.
was sent TO Congress 10 flat" money
enough TO even things IN. Los Angeles and
Kansas City, and n thousand other CITIES
have had a like experience. No legislation
can possibly prevent such wildness. as no
whom the ague comes on account
OF II. Quinine. in the form of
repeating the sherman act, will not do 1t.
Nothing but letting the disease run its