Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-09-04

covered. He ventures this outlay, as
Stunning that the price will continue
in the future as much as it has been in
the past, unless some special factor en-
terS in. But under a regime of falling
prices his calculation always fails, for
the proceeds Of the product do not suf-
Gce 10 cover the costs and leave a profit
If the downward tendency is strong. not
only does the business man fail of his
profit, but he may be gradually impair
ing his capital by having to market
goods al less that their actual cost. IF
he has had 10 borrow part Of his capital.
as most business me do, the shrinking
OF the value OF his establishment wipes
cut his own investment of capital. ana
!, falls into the nav Of the t.nder
Failing prices. therefore. decrease the
chance of success n business by in.1o.
Gucins an UNLOCKED for clement which
upsets all the well-laid plans of mer-
chant or manufacturer. The CONNER
cial death rate is highersthan ii ought 70
be. Just as the bankruptcy rate dur
ing the panic year Of 1888 rose from
per cent of all enterprises 10 10 per
cent, so an era of falling prices. taken as
Whole, shows too high a per centage
Of failures. This means a. collapse Of
industrial machinery, the smashing OF
enterprises. The result is that just so
many more new enterprises must be
started in order to keep up production.
A part OF our energy. therefore. is used
up in creating enterprises that ought
10 be devoted TO running enterprises.
Tie collapse Of business is a serious
thing. In 1898 there was as much ara
bic land. as many farms. shops. mills.
furnaces and railroads. as many tools.
machines. engines and dynamos. as
much muscle. skill talent and ambition
as ths' year before. Ye. there was an
industrial paralysis leading a great fall
ing on in protection. On all sides were
seen unemployed labor. idle machinery.
smOke;eSS chimneys, rusting slde-tracks
and empty stores. What was tbs trou-
b.? Nothing more or less than The
fact that many OF the enterprises by
which the productive powers c. the ma
ton are put in motion had COLLAPSED
Now. the paralysis we saw thsn on a
vast scale is something that inevitably
eo5S with falling prices. The prolong-
ed tall in prices IS nothing less than a
chronic commercial crisis, and so we
SHALL find it yielding the same results.
The QUESTION of honest dollars. there
fore. is not merely a debtors question.
Ii concerns every man who is producing
anything. The only people who benefit by
an approaching standard are those who
hold money or claims for money. The
people who are injured are not simply
debtors, but every man who is produc-
ing goods and trying TO sell them for
money. In this gigantic struggle it
IS impossible that the workingman
should be altered by the fact that he re-
ceiveS payment for his product at the
time ne produces in the form of wages.
Much has been made of the fact that
wages change more slowly than prices
Of commodities, implying that under
the gold standard the workingman gets
certain benef. during this interval.
But let us see what takes place. In 1898
two and half months after the bsgn-
ming OF the crisis, $4,000 men, willing
to work, most OF whom had families
to support, were thrown out CT employ
ment. There had been a sharp fall in
the prices Of everything we buy. Wages
had been very little affected. Labor
had received its share of the burden and
received it promptly, but 1t came not in
the form of falling wages, but in the
form Of a narrowing of a field of en-
ployment. Not lower wages, but dis
charge Is The first effect of falling prices
On the wOrkingman. After some time
tbs fierce competition Of the unemploy-
cd forces down wages. and labor is once
more set to work. The prosperity then,
that under the gold standard the work.
ingman is supposed to enjoy. from the
fact that his wages do not fall SO rapid
~ as prices, s but sawdust banquet.
Tbsre are still other far-reaching con-
sequences of cur falling prices. There
Is no patriotic American who has not
observed with anxiety the rise of vague
discomfort. the spreading disrust Of our
Institutions and the growing bittern SIS
between classes in tais country. On
tha one hand, with the dissolving Of
the bonds that knit group to group,
mOneyed IFOple evince a strange dispo-
siuOn 10 see a Marat or a Robespierre
On whoever dis2gTess with them, and %
lock upon the plain people as .ncipient
Jac0bns on the Other hand, the no
less significant willingness of many on
the o-hCv side TO acc pt the parallel, and
20 compare our c,mes with that just be-
f-re the French revolution. This Omin-
Gus tendency I once attributed TO the
natural evolution of our industrial sys-
.cm. Longer r lection, however con-
virces me hat no small part of 1t is due
70 the loss and irritation resulting from
@ slow sulilc1liCn by falling prices. II
a n.ischevious boy p.nches the calls Of
tetbles peacefully sleeping before thu
Or, they VII promptly begin to spit and
c.lU a eacl other. So with our prOduc-
erS. Argered by the failure Of business
calculations and By tbs unaccOuntable
fali IN the value of his products, each
has turned on the nearest group and
engaged in a struggle with It. Labor
CTS and capitalists, farmers and rail-
roads. have been jcs,led against each
other till thzre is a feeling of rancor
aroused that bids i'll for our future.
+. A. ROSS.