The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-07-10

Omclal reinsurance rnat tarlH unkerlnB
Is not to be the last of administrative ex-
pedients, for the removal of business dis
trust and depression. There are other
grounds for commercial cheerfulness.
Business failures are lessening in number
and Importance. Commercial loans are
expanding; bank clearings are increasing,
and the transportation companies are
earning more money. The end of tariff
uncertainty is drawing near; the impor-
tant crops all over the country give prom
Use of abundant harvests; productive costs
in the great industries have been crowded
to the apparent minimum; there is less
reason to fear further important price
shrinkages; the storekeepers' shelves, as
a rule, hold no unwieldy accumulations of
stocks, and labor is becoming more gen.
eraEy employed. These are favorable con-
ditions for a sustained revival of bust
ness.-Philadelphia Record (Dem.).
Better Times in the West.
Mr.. Z. V. Smalley of st. Paul writes
to the New York Evening Post the results
of his observations on a recent trip of q
month from Chicago to Portland, Oregon.
He stopped at various points on the way,
liable information concerning the business
conditions, and his conclusion is that
trade is everywhere improving-not much,
but to an appreciable extent. The rail-
roads, he says, report a net gain in re-
ceipts from freight. but none worth men
tioning as yet from passenger earnings.
Bank deposits are increasing and collec-
tons are easier. People are paying q
little on their old debts carried along from
boom times. and there has been a great
deal of liquidation from foreclosure. All
the solid industries are doing fairly well.
Prices are low and profits small, but the
close economies practiced enable projec-
tors to come out little ahead.
Improved Trade Conditions.
The mercantile reports for the past
week leave no room for doubling the fact
that signs of marked improvement in bust
ness conditions are discernible on every
hand. The unexpected progress made by
the tariff bill in the Senate, with the pros
pect of an adjournment of Congress some
time in July, together with the optimistic
speeches of Secretary Gage, in which he
gave the country assurance of ultimate
relief from certain admitted defects in our
financial system, have all combined to
make the trade record Of the week a most
one. That the hopeful and
encouraging utterances Of the President
and his Secretary Of the Treasury had a
marked influence on trade conditions was
evidenced by the increased foreign de-
mand for American securities Chicago
Times Herald Qnd.).
Business Situation Better.
There is no longer room for question on
the proposition that conditions in the
world of business have improved. While
there may still be found isolated cases
where the return Of commercial activity
has not yet broken up the long spell of
such cases by their rarity are
but the exception to prove the rule. Bet
ter, perhaps, than the actual improve
ment, which can be reduced to figures by
comparison with the past, is the general
belief that business has not only improv-
ed, but that the improvement is bound to
continue. President Mckinley and Sec
rotary Gage touched the keynote of this
sentiment in their recent notable utter
ances. The far-reaching effect of these
speeches became evident when advices be-
gan pouring in from abroad to the effect
that American securities were in sfrong
demand. Foreign capital, keenly anxious
for the right moment to arrive, has seized
the opportunity and In a measure led the
way to a practical demonstration of reyiy-
ed confidence. The enhanced value OF all
securities quoted on the Stock Exchange
Is but barometrical indication of this
altered condition. Reports as shown BY
railroad earnings still bear witness to the
growing increase Of trade. Individual
lines of business, too, almost without ex-
ception, acknowledge the same state of
affairs. Not only Is this manifest in the
larger manufacturing industries, such as
clothing, hardware and boots and shoes.
but the more limited branches dependent
entirely on the general prosperity of the
commercial world report a gratifying in
crease in the volume of business on which
estimates are asked.-Chicago Post Qnd.).
A Good Exam pie for the People.
Among the solid facts on which expec-
tatons may be based are the fatterinp
crop prospect. President Hill of the Great
Northern Is quoted as predicting that the
wheat fields contributory to his lines will
furnish 0O,OOO,OOO bushels of grain this
season for transportation, and the man.
ayers of other lines contribute equally
favorable information. The jobbers sav
that the supply of manufactured goods
which may be counted among the neces-
saries of life Is generally exhausted
throughout the country, and that the peo-
pie must buy. and the mills must resume
onera tion IN meet the demand which nil,
bring into circulation the millions of dol
lars that have been boarded through the
hard times. II would be well II all peo-
ple, everywhere, would initiate the cheer
full and optimistic tone of the President
and the members OF his administration.
Let them withdraw their gaze from the
dark and gloomy aspect upon which II has
dwelt for several years past and hahituate
themselves to looking upon the bright side
of things. 1t IL well known that almost
any man In good health might be made ~