The morning times., 1896-10-04
INDUSTRIAL bEpREss,oNs


business men, contcrhing the cause or
Cau,es OF the oeploria3le condition of in.
'.ustry at this time, ilsscannot iall to OBJ.
serve great diversity Or opinion and no
small amount of contradiction.
1t is to be regretted that. in our no
i'ticai campaigns, discussion concerning
industrial depressions such as this shouId
be confined so largely to local causes Its
worldwide character implies something
more fundamental than acts of Congress
or administrative policies; and If our lo
cal politics had the tendency to stimulate
inquiry as to the real cause and pature of
our distress-tO look a little beyond the
Capitol and the White House-we sbou.d
find some comfort in the fact that we
are not the exclusive sufferers or our
politicians the sole oppressors.
Nevertheless, a more extended ipouirv br
means OF popular literature. even to that
of the orthodox economists Themselves.
would reveal the fact that current theories
of commercial depressions are discourag-
iDgly vague. On the one hand they would
be considered as due to sucir n variety
of causes and as being so complex i'm tlieir
Daiure as to render analysis impossible. or
TO causes SO simple aud artificial as to
tiou to results. @
For summary description of a general
Industrial depression, such as we have
been suffering in recent years, we believe
we cannot do better than TO quote the one
given by Henry George Of the depres-
sion twenty years ago
From all parts Of the civilized world
come complaints of industrial depres-
sin Of InI
dleness: OF capital massed and wasting:
of pecuniary distrust among business men:
of want and suffering and anxiety among
the working classes. All the dull deaden-
ing pain, all the keen, maddening anguish
that to the great masses OF meu are in
volved the words, hard times arrlict
the world today. This state of things.
common to communities, differing SO
widely in situation, in political institu-
tions, in fiscal and financial systems, In
density of population, andin social organiza-
ton can hardly be accounted for the local
causes
To those who consider Mr.. George a mere
agitator, perhaps a description given by
Thomas Carlyle Of the distress in England
during an earlier industrial depression may
be more acceptable:
besCeuG p" ueIe you VIII INTO the lower
class, by what avenue you will. by factory
inquiries, by agricultural inquiries. by
revenue returns. by mining laborer commit
tees, by opening your own eyes and looking.
the same sorrowful result discloses itself.
You have to admit that the working body
of this rich English nation has sunk, or
is fast sinking, into a state to which, all
sides of it considered, there was never any
parallel Two millions of laborers sit In
enforced idleDess, in kind Of torrid en-
chantmcnt. In silence, for, alas. What
word is to be said. Au earth all lying
around crying, Come and till me. come
and reap me- yet here they sit enchanted.
The SUI shines and the earth calls, but
by the governing powers and impotencies
OF this Epgland they are forbidden to obey"
This last sentence from Carlyle shows
clearly that. in his opinion, the dependence
ofindustry upon land is more fundamentally
related to industrial depressions than any
question OF machinery, over production,
Under production, or any other assignable
condition due to mere temporary causes
developing locally and without any ap-
proach to regularity.
marked distinction between a general
Industrial depression aud local disturb
ances OF the kind mentioned is its dura ton
and almost regular recurrence in time.
Its generality among all nations COM
| mercially rated is another characteristic,
aud in these times it extends from nation
to nation, almost as rapidly as it formerly
spread from State to State in our own
country.
All these facts are within the memory
OF living men and are capable OF yerifica-
ton. What do they imply? 1t is not in
dubitable that the concurrence of such
facts throughout the commercial world
under widely variable conditions, points
to Some common cause?
In the attempt 10 find the cause, those
who consider 1t SO complex as to be in
scrutablc, are ruled out of court by their
own consent. We have no use for the
cause, except to remove 1t, and il 1t be
all pervasive and inclusive in its nature,
attaching itself to every characteristic OF
civilization, we might as well yield to
the inevitable and think about it as little
as possible
But II the chiec cause be comparatively
simple and sufficiently general to account
for the facts-even though it were as
sumed hypothetically-th believer In 1t
is entitled to a bearing at the bar of
science and public opinion. From this point
of view it follows that the man who sug-
gests defects in currency systems, if shown
to be of general character, and tending
in their nature to disturb business. has a
claim to our attention. But as this sub
ject is now uppermost in everyone's mind.
We shall not attempt here to add any
thing to the general discussion
Our object is to invite attention to d
theory of Industrial depressions based on
facts of observation, general in character.
equally applicable to all nations within the
scope of modern civilization, and tending
to produce similar conditions wherever
they are found to exist
This theory is n simply corolary to
Ricardo's law oS rent. That law is, as We
have shown in previous articles, that when
Industry is obliged TO descend from higher
to lower grades of land, rent rises on the
upper grades and the aggregate returns
to industry become smaller, things being
in due proportion. The corolary is, no
matter from what cause this descent of in
dustry TO Inferior. land takes place, the
same result will follow. Superior grades
Of land may be only partially cultivated,
hut If from any cause whatever industry
is induced to resort to inferior instead of
the superior land naturally available, a
smaller return must be the result.
Now, speculation in vacant land does
have the effect of forcing industry to
Inferior grades Of land, when there is no
natural necessity for 1t. Men may quibble
about the forcing of industry to inferior
land, but the fact that it goes there con-
stanuy, when better land is naturally
available, is all that is necessary to