Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1894-08-02
BETTER TIMES MAY CONE NOW.
The Great Strike Of 1877 Was Fol
lowed by General Revival
of business.
Matthew Marshalfin the New York sn,

| Matthew MarshalIn the New York Sun.
As the Chicago strike came upon
the business world like thunder
storm, SO like thunder storm, it
has cleared up the business atmos-
phere, and its collapse has accom- :
! pllshed something toward reyiving
the energies of the business world.
Just such a stimulus was supplied
in 1877 by the railroad strike ofthat
year and the riots that accompanied
| it. They led at once to an advance
in the stock market, and little
later to a general revival in all
Branches of industry. That veteran
operator, Willia,l H. Travers, inter-
preted them as omens of greater ills
to come, and sold stock for fall.
His younger and more sagacious
rival, James r. keene, did the exact
opposite. He bought as freely as
Mr.. Travers sold, and even more
so. The result was that MIR. Tray
ers lost heavily while Mr.. Keene
gained many millions, and those
who initiated him likewise made
money. 1t does not follow from
this that those who sell now will
lose as Mr.. Travers did, or that
those who buy, like Mr.. Keene,
will profit by rise in the market as
he did, for the situation of affairs
now is not precisely similar to what
it was then. For example, although
our crop prospects are as good as
they were in 1877, those of Europe
are much better, and the prices of
our cotton and breadstuffs are not
likely to advance as they did in
1877. Still, there are other favor.
able elements to be taken into &C.
count, and, in any event, since
things cannot be worse than they
are, they probably will improve.
The strike frenzy is only one of
the forms in which human nature
manifests susceptibility of being car.
ried away by surges of passion OR of
sentiment, Business men are sub-
jet to the same sort of influence.
They have their periods of head
long speculation which culminate,
as they did in Great Britain in 1890
and here in 1898, in It crash, and
then they sink into period Of de-
preston such as that which is now
prevailing. When this depression
has lasted long enough for them to
recover their spirits they begin their
former course again, proceeding
cautiously at first, and then more
and more boldly, until finally they
get to going at full speed and an.
other crash ensues. So it has been
since the beginning of the world,
and so it will be till its end. The
question is whether dependency
has yet lasted its full term and is
ready to give away to cheerfulness.
If it has, the strike may be the i'm
mediate occasion for change, or
perhaps it may serve as a spanking
sometimes does with a fretful child,
to divert peoples minds and to cre-
ate in them healthy reaction
against a purely imaginary cause of
suffering. After having been for a
fortnight trembling for the safety of
railroad communication between
the west and the east, threatened
with the loss of food supplies, and
in daily terror of riots, arson, ,pillage
and murder, like those which were
seen atChicago andSacramento, most
of US feel as if we had got back to
life again, and that not only the
weeks of the strike, but the months
that preceded it, have been a bad
dream.