The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-12-06
BUSINESS.

! is very good and certain 10 grow better,
is evident enough TO whoever can, and
takes the pains TO, look below the surface.
That business is getting better in the
right way is also evident.
The experiences of the past two or
three years have bred habit of extreme
caution and conservatism in business
men; habit that was needed TO protect
them from the prevalent American over
confidence Bat the habit has operated
to keep the actual condition Of business
rather quiet. Men are less inclined than
ever before 20 talk about their affairs.
Merchants who are now doing a larger
and more profitable business than at any
time for 90 years only admit that there
has been a slight improvement.
This reluctance to inject anything Of
the " boom element into the present
situation is one of the most promising
features OF it. The country has been
den6ded of its merchandise stocks dur
ing the long period of depression and
distrust. Now, with the return Of con.
hdence, there is a strong aud healthy
demand for goods TO supply the impera-
tive needs Of the people. This demand
has been expec ell, but not anticipated
by produc ion in advance of it, The
revival Of business, therefore, finds re-
tail stocks at a very low ebb, the jobbers
and wholesalers unable to supply at a
very rapid rate, importers without goods
because of waiting for the new tariff,
and mills with no manufactured prod
uct TO deliver.
Prices have been forced down to a
very low level, but not below the re-
quirement OF the profil-paying business,
and the people are able to buy more for
less money than ever before in the his
tory Of the country. There is promise
of employment for such as can and
will work, at rates only little below
those that ruled before the panic of 1893.
There is prosperity in sight for tue
workingman, and that prospect makes
him freer buyer than he has been able
10 be for some time, or than he dared to
be If he was able.
As yet the new impulse to business
has been chiefly manifested in merchan-
disc lines, selling and making. Specu-
lation has not freed itself from the
weight of last year, and it is doubtful if
20 1nae 81. ln,.,r q. ohnrt
time ago THE News expressed this idea
at somewhat greater length, and some
of its broker friends thought it was too
radical. Yet one has only TO observe the
course of the stock market to arrive at
the conclusion that the days of the old
time whoop-la speculation are not re-
turning with very great rapidity, and
that the question of their return at any
time is one that cannot be monkeyed
with at all.
The week of the election stocks all
went up. The advance, which included
the whole list with about two exceptions,
was substantial, and there was a great
wave of hopefulness evident in all the
exchanges and on all the rialtos. The
very next week, however, the whole list
sagged back to the pre-elec ion point, If
not below it, and there has not since
been a week that showed any
thing like the buoyancy of that first
week. The stock market is tender and
sensitive, and gives little promise of
being otherwise at present There must
be great amount of strengthening of
railroad capital before their stock and
bonds will be clamored for in the old
way, and this strengthening does not
seem to come about easily.
1t is, however, no damage to the gen
eral business situation, at present, that
the stock market is not attracting the
money of investors. Ii is decided ad-
vantage, because IL tends to turn idle
money into legitimate business and
direct the attention of capitalists toward
avenues of profit that do not involve
gambling but do contribute powerfully
to the upbuilding OF the country.
II is evident that the business of the
country is in a very satisfactory condi-
-ttUn.
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