Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-09-16
BIG BOOM IN TRADE.
WESTERN MERCHANTS BUY
HEAVILY OF GOODS.
rhis IL Made Necessary to Meet In
creased Demands OF FARMERS and
workingmen-PIcnty OF Money IL
Now Being Put in Circulation.


Special Washington correspondence:
Washington business itself Is per-
haps a little slow In feeling the effect
OF Increasing volume, but reports of
business Improvement continue to come
In from every direction and business
men from all parts of the country are In
the East buying theD fall stock. Some
Of them stop over in Washington en-
route with good news of activity, good
prices, mortgages being paid and
marked change In the views Of the
people.
you could not realize what a change
has come over the people, said one
gentleman who had just come from the
Pacific coast. Il came through that
great Northwestern country where the
free silver epidemic was raging at this
time last year and was absolutely as
tonished ut the change. The demand
for the free coinage Of silver has dis
appeared and thousands Of men who
advocated it year ago now admit that
they We're wrong. Tens Of thousands
are Indicating their qualification that
it failed and did not hear of any who
regretted his vote for Mckinley, sound
money and protection"
what has brought this change In so
short a timer
Improved business conditions, i'm
proved confidence, improved wages and
improved prices. They have all come
steadily since the election of Mckinley
and especially since 1t became known
that a protective tariff law would be
promptly passed, and they have come in
the face of steady fall in the value of
silver. This fact shows to even the
most unthinking that they were being
imposed upon last year by the state
ment that prosperity could only come
through the free and unlimited coinage
of silver and has thoroughly disguised
In so short time"
But the silverites say that the high
price or wheat Is due to the shortage
abroad and that the silver question has
nothing to do with It,"
lon the same theory 1t might be ar
gued that the low price was due to the
surplusage abroad and that the silver
question had nothing to do with that,
and that is just about the truth of it,
too. But it is not the advance of wheat
alone that convinces them that the
hand in and-with-silver theory was a
humbug. They find undoubted proof
of this In wool, which is n great staple
with them, as it Is in Ohio. Wool has
advanced 80 per cent In the past year,
and yet silver has fallen meantime.
And there is no excuse for the state
meRt that this advance is due to big
foreign demand. The wool of this coun-
try is consumed at home. This country
has been within the past few months
jammed full of wool and yet tie price
of our product has advanced 80 per cent
in the face Of this large supply and also
in me face of the fall in silver. How do
you account for this? Simply because
silver has nothing to do with 1t, but
protection, prosperity and home manu-
facture have everything. And the peo-
pie are seeing it and are seeing how
nearly they came to being made mon
keys of in last falls election
Busting Business from the West
Parties arriving here from New York
say that city is full of bustling, eager
merchants from the West. who have
come there under special excursion
arrangement made for the purpose OF
taking them to New York and bringing
them into closer business relationship
where practicable. The crowds of buy
ers who visited the headquarters of the
Merchants Association were even larg-
er than had been expected. 1t was
fonnd necessary to make use Of a sec
ond register for the names of the visit
ors and two lines were formed by those
who wished to record their arrival. The
number registered was twice as large
as that which registered on the first day
of the first excursion from the same ter
ritory. Many of the merchants brought
their wives and children under the re-
duced rate privilege granted by the
Joint Traffic railways. They came
mainly from the section bounded in the
west by the Mississippi, in the south by
the Ohio river and in the east by Buffa-
10 and Pittsburg. The indications are
go into the pockets of New York mer-
chants before the excursion is over.
They generally brought good reports
of the business condition, and their
presence and cheerful confidence prov
ed very encouraging to the mercantile
community and added to the weight of
evidence of return of prosperity.
ALBERT b. CARSON.
Bland AID Tillmau.