The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1897-07-24
The Real Character Of the Mckinley
Boom.

The Real Character of the Mckinley
Boom.
Democratic papers have been
roundly denounced for referring to
the distressed state Of the country
and Democrats have been yillified as
liars for stating its actual condition
by the opposition. This paper has
taken occasion but few times to re
fer to the Frustrated condition of
business. We have preferred paint
ing the unprecedented and unequal
ed local conditions in the most glow
ing colors Morgantown is prosper
GUS; more so than she ever was. But
no other town has 50 many peculiar
local conditions to combine to bring
about such a happy result.
The outside world is feeling the
stern pinch of poverty. Hunger,
want and nakedness have seized up
on thousands of people who never
before felt their miseries. Suicides,
murders and crimes innumerable are
being committed by people driven
desperate by the cries of starving
wives and children or seeking the
sheltering arms of jails as refuge
from the gnawing pangs of hunger.
Business men are gazing stonily in
to future, black with disaster, sur
rounded by the ruins of past which
speaks only of blasted hopes. The
voice of millions of sufferers is being
answered by the hollow assertions
of our present prosperity. To read
the average Republican newspaper
it would appear that our country
was blessed far beyond the eternal
realms of bliss.
But there are journals removed
from the sphere of politics which de
pict truly the awful state of affairs
Among these stand prominently by
right of merit and ability-Brad
street's-"A journal of Trade, Fl
nance and Economy 1t is not a
political paper but is published tc
afford business men correct informa
ton as to the state of trade. 1t is 6
fearless exponent of truth and its
words are heavy with the average
business mans conservatism. Il
cannot, even if it desired to, misrep
resent conditions. In its issue O
June 26 we find vigorous denial o.
the spurious statements of many
party organs: The article is Ions
one and we can give only few shor
extracts but we think that thes,
will prove an eye opener to the aver
age reader. The article begins
1T is time that the general public
were informed of the hollowness o
the representations, or, rather, mis-
representations, in many of the dai
ly papers, and in portion of thu
technical press, concerning wha
may be best described as the stat,
of trade.
"There appears to have been
practical conspiracy to convince thu
! average man who looks to the pres
for the truth that veriteble boon
in business is under way.
There would be no special rea
son for calling attention to this a
the present time were it not for tn,
fact that so many of the newspaper
, of the first rank have been deceived
into publishing extended reports Q
this character"
The article then explains that sac
counts of conditions have gone 8
far in the last two or three weeks a
', to substitute the probabilities re
garding trade in the next six month
, for the actual situation of to-day,
, and declares it to be "time that
i mirror was held up before actua
} conditions, so that all may see"
The editor thinks "there is evi
. dence throughout the country of
. tendency to.improve, though this ma
: hardly be looked for in all lines a
, compared with last spring." He ad
mits that ''the most favorable feat
ure of the business situation is it
, prospective improvement" and says
!, sThe prudent business men wi
have care in dealing with thos
whose stock-in-trade appears to b
not only s'the good times coming,
but the. responsiveness with whic
they try to make one believe th
.. boom is actually here"
|, The writer whose words we quot
is not calamity bowler, nor yet
. "silver lunatic." He is not endea'
oring to discredit the Republica
administration for the non-arrival {
prosperity. He is simply contra
Z. dieting the falsehoods of Republica
ID editors who in their eagerness
a. prop up their party are raising falls
\ hopes and misleading business ope
ators. If Mr.. Mckinley cannot d,
liver the prosperity he contracte
r for with those who voted for hin
8 the least his party organs can do
.r to cease the scandalous work I
It leading investors into traps in tt
manner described in Bradstreet's.
The article from which we hay
quoted goes on to say that ''as a r
suit of detailed investigation at fift
of the more important cities in tt
United States east of Colorado
through wholesale merchants an
manufacturers in leading lines, Brat
streets is in a position to state thu
: there is no boom and been none in az
special commercial or industrial lir
a this year or any preceding year stint
Il the panic of 1898; and this is I'll
o more significant when it is explaint
d that trade conditions during the fir
l. half of June are not with some exec
Il tions, as favorable as they were tv
= months or two and half months b
ii fore" The writer thinks this ''shou
s. interest the boom producers, al
5. those reporters who review trade
N they want it instead of as it is" III
i writer states, upon the autho
!. ity of WHOLESALE merchants and MAJ
y ufacturers in leading lines" that viii
v - Ii,