St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-28
ENEMIES or BUSINESS.


country, the bankers of the cities asked
the newspapers TO suppress the reports
OF bank and business failures This
the papers as newspapers refused to do.
but yielded to the requests of the bank
ers SO far as to put the items of such
news on back page, and as obscurely
placed as possible.
Why was this? The bankers urged
that there was panicky feeling among
the people, and that this would only be
excited further by reading such reports.
They said that all that was needed was
| restoration of confidence; that these
news items impeded it and added to the
danger and injury. 1t was also sug-
gssted that the editorial tone of The
papers should be cheerful and hopeful.
In this the bankers only applied what
experience and common sense suggest
at all times. Start cry of fire in a
crowded hall and let every one go to
shrieking. and you have panic at once.
Let some one rise and bid them sit
down and be quiet, assuring them that
there IS no danger, and the effect is
magical. THERE'S contagiom OF ideas.
as well as of diseases. We see this III
the rapid spread of fashions of dress
In the spread of fads. as we'll as i'll the
swaying of crowds by some magnetic
and impassioned orator.
The panic ended. 1t was purely a
psychological one; scare that sent
money into hiding. 1t ended when the
| president called congress together. Its
effects lasted longer, but the scare
stopped then. Other causes joined in
prolonging complete recovery. The
main one is operating vet, and will
until the polls close on election night.
This is the persistent and uutruthful
declaration of Republican papers and
speakers that industry is dead. nothing
is doing, mills are Chased. chimnies are
smokeless. wages are reduced. there Is
no money to buy with. and so ON.
Mckinley walls it; Reed roars it;
Harrison preached it, and the little fry
LII the press and OIL the stump re-echO
it. L. is lie, and they know it. The
stores are thronged with shoppers; the
factories are running, and ON every
hand there is the evidence that the proc
ess of recuperation is we'll under way.
They know it; every QUE knows it; and
still this ceaseless, pestiferous wall for
mere party purposes.
No one claims that the good times are
fully here; Capital is still reluctant to
invest, and Production keeps her ships
close TO shore. Why? Solely because
OF the effect on the popular mind and
imagination of this incsssant wall of
calamity. The eroaks of the croakers
infect public sentiment in spite of
itself. Times must be hard because
these men say so and these papers
reiterate it. Men with money say: I'VE
will wait awhile; I'll. g re must be some-
thing 10 all this lamentation." People
buy less, nat because they haven't the
means or feel the need. but because
they feel that if times are really hard
they had better retrench.
The only enemies of business inter.
ests today are these petty scramblers
after political places who insist that tie
panic was due to Democratic success in
1872, and that it's results must continue
so long as that control continues. They
have the effrontery to appeal To bust
ness men to turn in and help their party
because the country was ruined when
they were turned out, and is threatened
with greater ruin unless they are put
into office. Where are the bankers
now? Why aren't they going, as they
did year ago. to the newspapers that
fill their daily columns with this doIor-
GUS whining. and telling them they are
hurting trade. impeding recovery, and
that they must stop it; that even the
emergencies of craftsmanship do not war;
rant this injury to business and the in
terests of the community? twill cease
the day after election, but the hurt it
has done and Is doing is incaculable..
AID this is the party that is asking a
vote OF confidence.