Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-01
WHY PRICES Go UP
Assistant Secretary Webster Davis
Talks on Prosperity.
RESULT OF THE new TARIFF Law
Famine in India Cannot Account
for improved Conditions.
A UNIV ERSAL REJOICING

Assistant Secretary Of the Interior Web
ster Davis is one of the busiest men in
Washington. He was found by a Star re-
porter today at his desk, which was loaded
with official documents ready for his COLI
sideration and signature. Greeting the re-
porter he said:
well, prosperity is indeed here. From
all parts of the country good news is COM
ing. Why, here are a dozen letters in the
morning mail from my dear old state OF
Missouri which tell of better times al
ready under President McKinleys admin
istration. You know during the last cam
paign We went all over that state and
told of the prosperity that would surely
come If Mckinley was elected President
and 1t makes us feel good to know that
our prophecies have come true.
Missouri is one of the best states in the
Union. In her natural resources she is
unsurpassed. In her bosom are countless
square miles of. splendid coal and iron,
lead and zinc. While on the surface of her
soil are spreading fields rivalirg in fertility
the famous valley of the Nile, and in these
fields are raised the finest wheat and corn
to be found anywhere. I used to know
a rugged old farmer, who lived in Mis-
souri,, who boosted of his tall corn. He
was asked one day by a village chap how
his corn was getting on. Why said Uncle
that l can't go through the field in the
daytime without taking a lantern with me-
And really that wasn't much exaggeration
for Missouri can raise taller corn than any
other state in the Union. And in these
Mckinley times that corn will bring a
splendid price. The wheat already has
reached the dollar mark where we said
1t would go last autumn. In fact, wheat is
now so high and silver SO low that bushel
of one will soon be worth a bushel of the
other.
Supply and Demand.
But some folks say that the price of
wheat is controlled by the law of supply
and demand. Indeed, say they, the reason
wheat is dollar a bushel is because of
the famine in India. Well If that is so
am sure we have not heard of a lead or
zinc famine In India, .end yet we learn
That IN MiSsC uri zinc las risen from the
pressed price of $40 per ton to s25 per ton.
And lead has risen from ST. per 1000
pounds to $50 per thousand pounds. And
all this is directly due to the late tariff
bill, because that bill shut out Mexican
ore. and is protection to American lead
and zinc producers. AS a result many
lead al zinc mines that were improbable
under the Wilson bill are now profitable
under the Dingley bill, and it will pay to
work them, and they are today furnishing
employment to thousands of workingmen
who year ago We're idle and hungry,
while their wives and children were in
rags. These men today will deny that
they ever intend to vote for free silver |
have not heard Of a glass famine in India
either. and yet the Crystal glass works al
Crystal City, Mo-, one of the largest in
situations of the kind in the country, is
now running in full blast, furnishing en-
ployment for more than a thousand men,
and yet during the last three years these
works were almost at a standstill, and
these Thousand men were idle.
Have you heard of a railw ay car famine
In India? You have not? Well that is
strange, for at Springfield, Mo-, in the
Memphis and Frisco shops over 600 men
have been put to work, making more cars
for increased traffic, and these men had
been idle for thee years, and now they
are getting work at full time, and at in
creased wages.