The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-09-24

Ihuo very dubuillil, W tut pcptciiibcA
election, the state of Maine, Mr. Blaine's
own state, in campaign under his able
and skillful leadership, went over to
the fiat enemy, horse foot and dra-
goons, changing a majority of IA, 600
Tor sound money to a majority of H.,
900 in favor of the widest carnival Of
unreason that ever overwhelmed an in
telligent people. When the LIST of Janu-
airy came, no crowds thronged> the SUBJ
treasury corridors. Hardly greenback
was presented, and we got back to the
currency Of the world without move
ment or jar.
The Prosperity of 1897.
From that moment prosperity began !
not the eternal prosperity Of the New
Jerusalem, but an earthly prosperity,
enduring as long as human nature
would permit. New York Central was
liz and went to 1870; Northwest COM
mon rose from 60 to 81, the preferred
from 50 to 104; st. Paul from 20 to 70,
the preferred from &C to 100, and all
the rest of them in like proportion. OF
course the Greenback leaders explained
that this was all temporary because no
real prosperity could come without
greenbacks. Nevertheless the world
went ON. There was no lack of money,
because we had business which paid,
and whenever nation has business
which pays it can draw on the money
of the whole world.
How like this are the events of the
last IL months! Prior to the passage Of
the tariff act we had scenes like those
which preceded the first day Of 1879.
The offerers of the patent remedy stood
by and jeered. They Knocked at us when
our fear came, but when the due legis-
lation had been had and there was no
further change to be looked forward to,
when business had reached its sound
basis and there was reasonable chance
to calculate the future, there came a
repetition of the phenomena of 1879.
Stocks have gone up, not because
gamblers have played, but because mems
minds have changed and the whole ma
tion takes utterly different views of the
future. A stock which is worth 40
when everything seems on the down
slope easily becomes worth 80 when
people feel that we are on the up grade.
When you are going down into the
dark, nobody knows how far down you
may go, and when you go up into the
sunlight nobody can tell how far up
you may go. Fear increases the fall;
hope increases tho rise.
What makes prosperity, and what
makes hard times?
Way down at the base of things the
causes may be different each time and
perhaps incomprehensible, but on the
surface they are both only the results
of states of mind.
Nations Prosperity Defined.
What is prosperity for nationp
1t is to have all its people at work.
When all the people are at work, the
nation is adding to its wealth all that
is possible in it's day and generation.
New inventions might have made it
more, but for each year the labor of
each nation is the sum Of that years
creation of wealth.
What makes men work?
4AclI OWn LucItbl COuOlUlOu. Ill tlo
old savage state when the man made
up his mind to work he could go into
the forest, and, by the stream alone and
his wigwam, had fish and flesh and
fowl and blankets and scalps and other
necessaries Of life, but modern life is
not so simple. Civilization is compli-
Gated beyond all hope of unraveling.
For the most part, all you can do is to
let it unravel. 1t is knot which must
unite itself. No sword, even of Alexan-
der, can cut it.
All modern making of things requires
the union of many men. The prosperity
of modern society demands a simulta-
neous action Of all. When that comes,
everything comes. After great smash
like that Of 1898 or that Of 1878 there
is nothing to do but wait and let the
business Of the world settle itself, care
fully keeping meanwhile the medicine
men of finance, with their feathers and
rattles, out of the way Of the sick man.
When public confidence is profoundly
shaken, it must re-establish itself. 1t
has been shaken by causes, and those
causes must be removed.
Men and nations and the whole CIV
ilized part Of the race go from one ex-
treme to another. These alterations
seem as necessary as the ebb and flow
Of the tides of the ocean. When the
business Of the world gets inflated at
certain periods, it will go too far, and
then there must be settlement. It
must be settled who owns the property,
and until that is established nothing
else can be DONE Those who nominally
own property resist this. They hope
some miracle will help Then after set.
Element if any laws be deemed necessa-
ny they must be passed or there will be
further delay. Some false starts may be
taken, like that to which the Venezue-
Ian war cloud gave such chilling frost.
The Return OF Prosperity.
But, finally, when all things are
ready, something always happens which
develops the fact that confidence has re-
turned, and, 10, the whole world has
different aspect. Wheels begin to turn,
freight begins to move, commerce re-
sumes her full sway, one by one each
takes up its march and the