The advocate., 1897-09-22
SHADOWS OF COMING EVENTS.

their shadows befOre"-is fOrcibly Illus
trated in last weeks business review Of
r. G. Dun & Co., which says that the
probability of an early business collapse
has taken possession Of many business
minds, and that that is about the only
thing which impedes the movement Of
prosperity's tide. We quote:
"The replenishment of stocks cannot
be half finished, though some who could
see no sign Of improvement few weeks
ago are now finding IL so vast and rapid
that they fear reaction. But consumers
as we'll as dealers have also to supply
themselves after years of enforced econ
Omy, and while their power to purchase
Is increasing every day, and also their
actual buying at RETAIL reasons for APP
prehensiOn are not urgent. When the
tide changes after four years Of depres-
sion it does not fall again after four
weeks. The wheat market has declined
over cents on account Of crop reports
which promise larger prosperity, and
corn and cotton are both a. little lower
for like reasons. Yet estimates Of the
highest financial authorities regarding
requirement from this country are not
smaller, but larger than before, while
better prospects in Argentine, Australia
and India hold out no promise Of large
European supplies, or of any until win
ter is about over"
Thus early is it necessary to bolster
the boom that was worked up with won
derful energy since the last new leaves
appeared. There was nothing to justify
the boom except the anxiety Of manu-
facturers to replenish their stocks as
soon as possible after the rates of duty
to be established by the new tariff law
should become fixed.
The rise in prices of farm produce and
the large wheat crop of last year, are
due to temporary conditions, and are
not permanent factor in the prosperity
problem; for as soon as"crOp conditions
became normal again in other grain
producing countries, demand from those
quarters will diminish and prices in this
country will decline. Farmers are reap
ing the harvest now and that helps to
keep business lively for the time being;
but there is nothing in the situation to
induce a general rise in the wage scale,
ond every cent of increase on flour and
meat and clothing and other articles of
necessity is that much additional bur
den on the shoulders Of the poor.
The men and women who work for
other people constitute much the larger
proportion Of the people, and their
means for procuring subsistence, except
the few that have found employment
lately, have not been improved by rea-
son of higher prices for what the farm
ers sell.
The railrOad-building era in this cOun
try is passed. New enterprise will prob
ably follow lines mapped out by the
speculating classes, where what labor is
required will be mostly Of the skilled
grades. Miners, as we have seen lately,
are composed largely of illiterate aliens,
and no advance is made in their wages
which amounts to a permanent gain in
the ability of the men to increase their
of family supplies
Briefly, far-seeing business men see
there is nothing in existing conditions
to justify faith in permanent general
and they stand in dread Of
the reaction which they feel sure is to
take place. And these are the shadows
of coming events.