The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1897-04-10
THEN AND NOW.


But few short months ago the
Oregonian was warning its readers
against the danger of 4 continuance OF
the free trade" policy Of tue demo-
cratic party, and was continually as
sertiug that the cause OF all past
troubles, financially and commercially,
was the imbecility of the Cleveland ad-
ministration in dealing with the tariff
question. Then the cause Of the de-
preston in business the PAST four years
was the result of inadequate protection
to American Industries, and the only
method by which prosperity could be
restored was by the re-eDactment of
the protective policy. Now its ideas
have undergone a radical change. In
an editorial last Saturday it said:
prosperity is not to be restored in
the lump, by any magic. We shall
have prosperity, but 1t will be based
on more careful industry, and mere
closely calculated economies, than
heretofore.
ga great change has been taking
place, and it was inevitable. Things
could not go on as they were. There
was false standard of prosperity. The
tides of change, ebb and flow. There
had been a boom period, and for the
last four or five years we have been
passing through the inevitable reaction
from it. We have been having the
experience of every country on the
face of the globe, in declining prices
with increasing age. This has always
been the law of human history.
Stop and consider.
"Man7'not yet past middle life re-
member the era of small. and careful
transactions, of close margins, of SIM
pie living and economical manage
ment. even among the richest ana
most prosperous of their early day.
These conditions underwent grudual
change. Every one can recall the pro-
cess for himself. The old maXims and
warnings against debt began to lose
their influence when it was seen that
the deeper a man went into debt, the
more rapidly he appeared to be accumu-
lating fortune. Values, in mems
minds, multiplied on a magical scale.
Great mum bers who hitherto had never
thought of the possibility of becoming
rich found themselves carried forward
on this wave, first to independence,
and then, as they supposed, to wealth;
and for years together uniform pros
perity, built up on this class of sup
ports was maintained. 1en did busi-
ness to the top limit, not only of their
means, but of what they could borrow.
Their credit was so good that they
were accustomed to debt, and they re-
lied upon their ability to borrow con-
tinuously. But their property, in
many instances, had no productive
value; they were in no condition to
stand shrinkage In their business.
There was an end, as there must be in
all such cases, to advancing prices.
In the nature of things, there must be
a su nmit above which there are no
others; and, when that summit is
reached, the man who has just now
bought and cannot sell except at a
sacrifice, tumbles, and carries greater
or less mum Der with him. Speculation
in real estate dies, and if it has fur
nished buyers, they disappear, and
prices fall off with the demand. Moro
than this, the necessity to sell carries
prices below just level-often IS far
below it as they were formerly above
it. What is trne in real estate is true
in road-buildin& in the manufacture
and operation of machinery, and in all
lines of development. There is point
from which any of them can be ex-
tended no further, and when that point
is reached, the collapse is at hand"
What the Oregonian says of the
cause of hard times, though rather at
variance with its former statements,
is undoubtedly true, and was unques-
tionably the cause of much depression
for the past four years; but there were
other causes that were equally potent.
In addition to over speculation, the
Americans had built up their prosper
ity for thirty years or more largely on
borrowed capital, and when their obli-
cations became due, they found it I'M
possible to realize on their invest
ments, the value of which was con-
tinually shrinking. This shrinkage
was the result of contraction of the
currency, for the country's volume of
circulating medium had not kept pace
with its increased debts or its business,
so when the debtor was called upon to
repay what he had borrowed, the price
of the property on which he had bor-
rowed, had so decreased, through the
scarcity of money and consequent in
crease in the price there of, that he
could not realize first cost upon his
securities.
Further on in the same article the
Oregonian contradicts its former state
ments as to the cure for existing dull
times-that increased tariffs would
bring about prosperity-and comes to
this reasonable statement of the situa
ton:
'Now, as to restoration Of prosper
ity.' This must be slow and natural
growth. 1t must be founded on good
management and calculated industry.
1t is not to be brought about through
local, state or national government, or
through all OF them together. There
are no resources in waiting for bust
ness to pick up. The basis of all pub
lie activity and growing prosperity is
the personal energy of individuals.
This may take and should take as far
as possible the direction of organized
effort, under the spur and guidance of
public spirit, for creation of industries
and extension of trade"
----
RIGHT IN THEORY.
The Labor Exchange has established |
q l,ra pcb in Tha Dallac opd will ora |