Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-10-21
Red on PROSPERITY.
Says Ii Ks PenduIuua-Lilxe swing Re-
tween Despair aad Hope.

the New York World. which purchased
his views and then for q consideration
permitted one or more newspapers OUT
| aide of New York to share in this jour
nalistic scoup and claim such scoup as
| their own, that prosperity comes by
shance, that it is the pendulum-like
swing in human nature between the
depths of dependency and the heights
of hopefulness, swing that is period
Ical, that goes on forever. and that no
human power can prevent. that breaks
har dtimes and brings good, leads to
the heights of prosperity, then panic,
collapse and the sloughs of industrial
stagnation, to be followed by revival
with the rhythmical swing OF this PEN
dulum of sentiment, and so on forever.
Thus did Mr.. Reed reason, and as he rec
ognized that we had passed through q
period of depression drastic enough to
satisfy the most exacting he judged that
/ the pendulum of human sentiment that
had so long swung toward dependency
must swing back again towards hope
fulness, and that therefore period of
prosperity is at hand.
This swing of the pendulum being
due, he declared no human power could
prevent. Man might by legislation
check its swing or by catering to the
demand of public sentiment hasten it.
| but stop the swing. never. And so Mr..
Reed led us to the conclusion that the
depression OF 1S93-1s97 would have
come whether Mr.. Cleveland or Mr.. Har-
rison had been elected in 1892, whether
we had had high tariff or low tariff,
tinkering with our financial system or
no tinkering, would have come because
we had enjoyed prosperity in 1s91-'s2,
and because hard times follow prosper
| ity with unerring certainty.
AS a matter of fact. change in the
sentiment of the business world from
hopefulness to dependency ever
brings, or rather accompanies, hard
does not come with periodical regular
fly, like the swing of pendulum. 1t
comes only when prices are falling; it
| never comes when prices are rising,
and it is dear money that brings falling
| prices. So it is that when man thinkers
with the currency laws so as to make
money scarce and dear, or when the
supply of money depending upon the
| product of the gold or silver mines
or both falls short, that men, seeing the
| profits of industry undermined by de-
| probation in the value of the products
of labor, lose incentive to enterprise,
curtail production and we have indus
trial stagnation. Reverse such condi-
tions working for scarcer and dearer
money, that is, let it happen that the
I
| through increased production of the
| precious metals, as happened under the
discoveries of gold in California and
| Australia, or let the currency of the
world be expanded by increased issues
of paper money, as happened during
| the Napoleonic wars when England
went on to paper basis, ceased to make
demand for gold for her domestic
trade for upwards of 90 years, and thus
left more gold for the use of the rest of
the world, and, money being cheap
ened, prices will rise. there will be
hopefulness because industry will hold
out the promise of large profits, and
there will be industrial activity in the
place of stagnation.
Further, there are causes affecting
the world at large, but affecting it in
| juriously, that bring us national pros
| perity in greater or less degree now
and again. We refer to crop failures
abroad, which put our people in the
way of getting better prices for their
products, and hence higher remunera-
ton for their labor. And this ever en-
courages men to increase production,
makes demand for labor, and thus paves
the way for the coming Of prosperity.
This it is that brings a measure of
hopefulness to the wheat grower to-
day, and If our agricultural classes were
interested in nothing but wheat, then
would assuredly come agricultural re-
yival, followed by an increased demand
for manufactured products, and, hence,
manufacturing revival. But, as this is
far from true, as the corn crop will be
In all probability short of last years
by 500,000,000 bushels, so that the crop
though fetching, perhaps, three or four
cents more a bushel than year ago will
probably bring considerably less money
to the farmer than last years crop, as
the oats crop is also apparently under
last years, so that the advance in price
will be, in good part, if not all, neutral
lied, and as with the coming of the new
cotton crop on the market the price of
cotton has suffered decline that makes
1t exceedingly questionable whether or
no the planter viii realize more money
for his cotton crop this year than last,
there is grave reason to doubt the COM
ing of revival. And so far there has
been no appreciate revival in Industrial
lines, boom in stocks, indeed, which
is top heavy, and threatens to fall crush
ing those who cannot stand from under,
but no boom, no great demand, no
marked increase in prices for the prod
ucts of labor, a fact which no number of
mendacious newspaper reports can hide
from manufacturers and merchants.
The fact is, the foundation for pros
perity, an increased number of dollars
in our farmers pockets, which would
make It possible for them to increase
their purchases of manufactured goods,
and thus lead to general activity and
prosperity has not been laid, and there
is no certainty that it viii be laid, that
is, no certainty that our farmers will
get more money for their crops of this
year than they got for their crops OF
last. And If they do not, Of course they
will have no more dollars TO spend, and
of course there can come from them,
and, for that matter, from no one else,
any increased demand for manufac-
tured products. Therefore. Mr.. Reed
may be disappointed I'm the change of
Il.