Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1897-09-25
COW TANNER AND PROSPERITY.


II Is only little while since the Dem |
ocrats of the county were haunting the
Republicans with the slowness of pros
perity In returning. Where now. they
said. are the signs of its coming? The
new tariff had hardly been signed and
Congress adjourned before the boom
was OH in such force as to he unde-
niable. The blindcst pcssimist in the
Democratic party had to admit II.
Then came the claim that the shortage
Of wheat abroad was the cause Of II
all. That was the burden of Mr..
Bryan's Iowa speech.
No doubt the shortage in the wheat
and rye crops of the other grain-ex-
porting countries has advanced the
price of wheat in this country. but the
great central fact In the case is that
there has been substantially the same
healthy advance In the prices of other
properties Of about the same sensitive
ness to the market. This proposition
was brought out with special force by
Governor Tanner In an Interview given
originally to the st. Louis GlObe.Demo
crat and reproduced in The Eagle to-
day.
At the time the Governor spoke the
advance In wheat had been 80 cents
per bushel. and he added:
but railroad stocks. manufacturing
stocks. and all other stocks of charac.
ter to feel the effects of prosperity have
increased all the way from 80 to 80 per
cent. on the former values ut the same
time that wheat has been making this
gain of 30 cents q bushel. Cattle. hogs,
corn. oats. redtop seed. all farm prod.
ucts, have gone up almost. If not quite,
In the proportion that stocks and wheat
have. Bonds and mortgages have en-.
HANGED. Taking the vast interests rep.
resented by stocks and bonds, you will
find that the increase I'm the total value
made during the past three months Is
S1.OOO,OOO.OOO. The advance on other
things. cattle. hogs. corn. and SO Op. has
amounted to more than $3OO,OOO,OOO.
There Is n grand total of ~. 300. OOO,O 900
added to the wealth of this country. 1t
has been done by the adoption Of u
wise and encouraging economic policy
which has restored the confidence of
our people.
There II no cxaggcration In these o..
Inmates, but minimize the increase Of
values to the very lowest notch and II
IL erroneous outside Of wheat. The
Governor estimates the latter crop nj
80. 100000 bushels, which II a liberal
estimate. ana 10 cents added to IT.
value II x16J.OOO,OOO. This II n large
amount. hut as compared with the tOtn
increase of values Il II small. The Gov
ernOr does not figure on real estate
which IL the slowcst kind Of property
to go either up or down. The effect has
not begun to he felt much In city lots
but It Is safe 10 say that the farmers
now hold their land at much higher fig
, urcs than they did last year. They now
J see daylight for farming. The improve
mcnt Is not peculiar to the wheat grow
crs. 1t Is felt In all the products raised
from Texas to Maine, and from Occai
to ocean.
, This interview was accustomed b!
what President Mckinley was reported
to have said on the subject Of prosper
| lily. lie thought the President had beer
misquoted. ana so he had. by takin,
Q part of u sentence ana leaving out tn
rest. With his eminent fairness tn
). President conceded that the shOrtag
of the foreign wheat crop was u factO
:. In our prosperity. but In the sam
breath he insisted that the statesman
ship the Republican Congress In,
shown In the read justment Of the tariff
ana the general restoration Of cont
dcnce, including the allnying Of all fea
of monetary disturbance, should he ri,
en- credit for the greater part OF II. I'll
misquOtatlOn was NIL the more repr,
hcnsible for being 80 obviously inter
ItiOnnl.
Mr.. Bryan ana his party will gai
I, nothing by trying to misrepresent III
: utteranccs of President Mckinley. q
= those Of any one else who states ma
tiers fairly. Such misrepresentation Onl
serves to cnll out other ana still MOI
cXpllcit statements, ns In this instance