The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-03-23
TAUGHT BY ADVERSELY.
EDITOR GAzETTE:-We are no

learning the uses OF adversely.
Although the present hard times
naturally seem all unmixed evil,
close observation will reveal there
i'll object lessons of great value
and Importance. Human nature
! is so constituted that we can never
fully appreciate the blessing of
prosperity until from some cause
we are deprived of it. Business
men who felt and encouraged dis
satisfaction with profits two We: rs
ago did not realize then as they
do now that they were dong we'll.
The fact that they were prosper
Gus seems now to have been self
evident, yet this prosperity, as
well as the causes which provided
it, are entirely ignored. 1t Was
impossible that they should recog-
nize and value the causes of con-
ditlon, he existence of which they
denied. They learned no valua-
BILE lessons while they We're grow
ing rich; fair returns on invest
ments only brought interest, with
visions of larger operations and
greater profits. Man never looks
closely 10 the cause of his happi-
ness, but inquiries minutely why
he suffers PAIN. Therefore busi-
ness men are now actively engaged
looking fof causes that occasioned
the business depression that every
where prevails. The hard times
of the present alone have enabled
them 10 appreciate, retrospective
ly, the good times of the past.
Thirty years of prosperity failed
to teach them the lesson they will
facquire in four of adversely. Here
after they will be able to call to
mind the causes of past business
activity, because they now clearly
understand the reason Of present
depression. Business men are not
the only pupils being benefited in
this school of adversely. The idle
and unproductive millions of dol.
lars lying in the vaults of our great
commercial ceuters are speaking
to the capitalist in unmistakable
terms. He valued not conditions
favorable to the profitable invest
ment of his money while they
existed, but can fully appreciate
them when they have passed away.
He is made wiser if not better,
through his own reverses. He can
now understand that the activity
of money may be arrested; its in
vestment endangered; its capacity
for increase paralyzed. He can
fully realize that cash is not bust.
ness activity, but only her hand
maiden, subservient at all times TO
the laws governing her mistress;
that it can only measure values,
and facilitate transactions when
conditions over which 1t has no
control make exchanges desirable;
that it IS a convenience, but not a
necessity, and that no matter what
its volume, it can never necessitate
the building of a mill or the turn,
ing of spindle. But the greatest
benefit of these hard times will ac-
crue to him who needs it the most:
the bread winner. Being compell-
ed to labor more, he thinks less
than either the business man OF
capitalist. Like them, he failed to
diagnose his condition and sur
roundings Eating at his own ta-
BILE, he spurned the wholesome
food of the American laborer. and
sitting by his own fireside, he mur.
INJURED because his cottage did not
expand into a castle. A quarter
of century, with conditions most
favorable to his class of any known
since the world began. failed to
impress him with knowledge of
his happy lot, or win from him a
recognition of its beneiicent effects.
The iron hand of adversely is teach
ing him now. Glaring contrasts
must be observed even by the
most stupid men. Two pictures
are ever before him. One of care,
poverty and dependency, of en-
forced idleness and gaunt famine,
meets him at his own threshold,
and follows him wherever he goes;
| the other, brightly beaming with
) health, hope and happiness, stands
foremost in his memory of home as
it was but two short years ago. He
/, has more leisure for thought and
reflection. Necessity is forcing
him to reason. He cannot shut
his eyes to his own distress, or the
pitiful condition of his unhappy
family. He will now see that he
has but one comodity to seil-his
labor. When no one will buy that
he must starve. 1t matters not