The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-08-28
MORNING. AUGUST

anticipated, a doubt is cast upon the
reality of the progress which has been
made. Something awakens the clement
of caution in the race or nation, and
thereupon, rapidly and steadily, conf
dence disappears. Men feel that it is
necessary to take an exact observation &c
the situation before resuming strenuous
efforts. When that hour arrives there is
no possibility Of retreat or of change
The race or the nation has determined
to examine into it's condition and the
result is apparent disaster, misfotune
defeat, destruction of industries, and
a general paralysis OF business and OF
labor. There is general liquidation OF
human affairs Each man discovers
what he is really worth, and the nation
finds precisely what it's absolute wants
and needs are II the period OF prosper
ity could be expressed in a single word
that word would be confidence and If the
period of adversely, as we call it, could
be expressed in a single word, that Word
would be distrust.
During the period of progress; during
the period of increased endeavoI, when
all capital is employed and every man is
at work confidence reigns supreme. Every
man believes in his own success and III
the success of his neighbor. Consequent
ly he is free to take goods and property
who sell property, are ready to take the
checks and instruments by which proper
ty is transferred When the period of
doubt sets in, values become uncertain,
because it is felt that a readJustment
must be had. Checks and evidences of
transfer .are scrntinized with care, be-
cause men who were wealthy yesterday
may be poor today.
So also, production ceases, because the
producer has great doubts whether the
production of his mill or his workshop
will be capable of SALE. and above all,
whether he will gather in the proper pay
ment. How far this element of distrust
may go depends upon the seriousness
of the previous initiation of values and
after a time, when men find precisely
how they are situated themselves, and
how their neighbors are placed, there be-
gins slowly to revive the confidence
which distinguished the former period,
in small measure at first, and after
wards in larger measure, until finally we
reach another PERIOD whence confidence
reigns and productiveness is at it's ut
most.
Now, this alteration between extreme
production and production reduced to its
lowest terms, is something which the
philanthropist may regard with horror;
but which the man who has observed the
history of the world is obliged to regard
with tolerance While these fluctuations
occur often in the history of the human
race, each one occurs from its own Sc
parate and special cause. In former
times they used to be more especially
confined to each particular country and
were not simultaneous; but modern
times have bound the earth together; so
that it is impossible for even the greatest
nation to disregard the other nations of
the earth The railroad has diminished
distance and the telegraph has obliterat-
ed time The ocean steamers plying
between the different hemispheres
the trains of cars which sweep across the
continents, have made business a far
different thing from what it was in the
earlier ages.
Without undertaking to give the par
ticulars Of the change, it is enough to
say that the world which in the days of
Magellan it required three years to cir
cumnayigate can be circumnavigated
today in period of two months. This
binding together of the whole world by
obliteration of time and distance has
bound together the business. of the world
and hence these periodic changes occur
in greater or less measure throughout
the world, not always exactly simultane-
GUS, but always more or less sympathetic.
Nevertheless, in each particular nation
the cause is peculiar to itself. Each
nation produces it's own means of tenn
porary prosperity, also its own causes for
temporary depression. The fact that
these depressions are merely simultane
GUS does not in any way initiate against
the suggestions just made. Ii anyone
desires to notice the connection between
the different countries he has only to go
back to the crisis which occurred in the
year 1890 It was found that there was
a great scarcity of money In the United
States, so great that under the influence
O f universal clamor more than forty
~ cu of
the United States Treasury among the
people of the United States. 7 do not
think at the time that anyone here fully
comprehended the cause, although some
wise men had an inkling of it; but there
was felt to be constant. drain of cur
rency, which was taking from us not only
the money which we previously had in
circulation, but the large sum which /
have mentioned from the Treasury of
the United States. When the course of
events reached it's end it was discovered
that the great money centre of the
world, London, the capital of England,
had been severely drained by most ire
mendous set Of enterprises in distant
nation of South America. The effect of
that tremendous call upon the money
centre of Europe, which resulted in the
shaking down of the house which was
the synonym, especially in the United
States of America, of credit, of enter
prise, ana OF solldlty, -Gne mousse OF
Barring Bros. drew upon the resources
Of the United States with vigor that
no one would have dared to prophecy
year before. But the United States at
that time was sound in every way, and
had not yielded to any disposition to in
flation: consequently the storm was
weathered and we continued upon our
career of prosperity and Of labor. The
country was prosperous because ev--
erybody was at work because, capital