The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-20
arnrD1rs 0 ovEnraoDUor1or.

Railway, have temporarily caused q slight
scarcity Of money and raised the rates OF inter
est on short loans. As . counteracting meas
urc, the Government will commence, next FRI
day, the disbursement Of tho $50. 900. 900 pay
able Jan. l, for the redemption OF its Q per cont
bonds maturing that day, and will thus restore
20 the market moro than IL has abstracted from
n. The incident serves, none tho less, to lemon
citrate tho Inconvenience, and even possible dan
ger to which our Independent Treasury system
makes the country liable. and the moro pressing
aocessity for reforming it than there is for re-
forming the currency.
The meeting Of American cotton growers
which is TO be held, to morrow. at Memphis,
Tonn., has for its main purpose tho devising OF
measures for restricting the production OF cot.
ton in this country. and, thereby, securing for
che staple a higher price. Tho aggregate crop
which, before the war. was rarely rs much as
100000 bales Of 450 pounds each. will, this
year, II is estimated. exceed 10000. 900 bales Of
800 pounds each. and, in consequence, the price,
which formerly varied between 8 and 10 cents n
pound. has fallen below 5 cents. Obviously, IL
q reduction of say one.half in the quantity
grown would double tho price. the reduction
would not din inish the gross return to the
planters, and n lesser reduction might even raise
the price sufficiently to increase It. The prob
Fem is, how to bring about harmonious and
united action In the matter, and, considering
abe large number Of individuals interested, and
the wide area OF territory over which they are
distributed, 1t is not easy to solve It.
The American cotton growers arc not the only
sufferers from q too great an expansion Of their
Industry. The wheat growers of England. long
ago, had to retreat before the competition of
chose Of this country. and these in turn had to
submit to an enormous reduction of price result
ing from tho increase both Of their own harvests
and Of those of Argentina. Australia and India.
This year, luckily for them. the partial failure
of the crops Of competing countries has helped
Ehem out of their straits, but unless, as is pro-
posed for the cotton growers, they restrict their
production, they may. next year, be again Of.
1iicted with low prices. Indian corn 10 another
product, which. under tho weight Of an over
supply sinks in price until IL 10 worth more for
fuel than 1t 10 for food. Cattle raising, in like
manner. Is only Just beginning to recover from
the depression caused by too many people going
dnto the business. Bituminous coal mining has
been undertaken on SO extensive ascale that 1t
has ceased to be profitable to the majority Of the
operators engaged in 1t, and tho mining Of an
thracite Is preserved from the Same fate only By
Its being limited to a comparatively mall field,
which enables its output to be easily controlled.
Iron making, glass making, paper making,
whiskey distilling. rope and Irvine spinning, cot
ton manufacturing. and dozens Of smaller indus
tries have all gone through periods of depres-
sion from overstocked markets, and some arc
still in the midst of ono. Tho construc-
zion of the new fashioned. many storied
Office buildings in this city has deprived
the older buildings of their tenants, and our
labor unions protect themselves against an over
supply of competing labor only by stringent
rules. and by procuring the enactment Of laws
prohibiting the importation of aliens and Chi
nose. Among lawyers, physicians and other
professional men there is the same oversupply
- q. ~. IL - =
stead Of diminishing. In general, the increment
of accumulated wealth so exceeds, at present,
the demand for the use Of it In new enterprises.
that the rates Of interest are lower than they
ever were before, and 1t Is difficult to find en-
ployment for capital on any terms.
The extensive ness of tho evil complained Of
arresistibly leads to the conclusion that It pro-
ceeds from no less extensive q cause. Indeed, II 10
the outcropping of the same universal vital force
which gives birth to all living things and main.
tains them in existence. As the earth teens
with animals, plants and insects, and the ocean
with fishes, so the mass Of human beings are in.
cessantly ~exerting themselves to aid the powers
of nature and render them moro and more pro-
Life. Within the memory of men now living
tho area OF cultivated soil, and with 1t tho sup
ply OF agricultural produce. has been immensely
Hidened: ingenious machinery has multiplied
ahe productivity of mechanical labor, and the
population OF the earth has grown with the
growth Of tho means of subsistence. Going
back to historical times we find that, with
occasional intervals Of retrogression, the
human race has constantly spread from in
habited countries to others less well peopled.
AS the Aryans Of the Asiatic table land swooped
down upon Hindostan, and as the Cloths and the
Huns overran Europe, so Europe has colonized
both America and Asia, and Is now busy doing
the same for Africa, besides still sending to this
a.oN,- --,, -
surplus population. The march of intellect has
been no less aggressive. especially during the
last 500 years. The printing press, the steam
engine, the railroad. the telegraph, and count
less improvements in chemistry, mechanics and
manufacturing processes have made the increase
I'm numbers Of the worlds population tenfold
more fruitful than 1t would have been without
them. and have falsifed the otherwise sound
conclusion Of Nautilus. that tho supply of food
would not keep pace with its consumption.
This Is the reason why efforts TO restrict pro.
duction have, In general, succeeded only when
they have been made on q small scale and for
abort periods. 80 long as the Dutch owned all
the producing islands of Asia they
could keep up the price of tho commodity by
burning the surplus crop. Eventually, how.
over. the stimulus thus given to production else.
where had its legitimate effect and the nutmeg
monopoly came to an end. The price OF anthra.
cite coal. as has been said. has been ~lattorly
maintained by q combination of the anthracite
miners. but a like combination, twenty
years ago. went to pieces. and the present
one 10 not safe from a similar fate.
The iron combination failed a year ago,
and SO. within a fow years. havo those
of the rope makers, the glass makers. the
wall paper makers. the whiskey distillerS. and
several others. The petroleum monopoly has
fourished. not by restricting production but by
augmenting it as much as possible. and counter
acting the tendency to a depression In price thus
resulting by charging the number of consum,
ers. AS a whole, experience teaches that 1t is
as difficult to conane human enterprise within
bounds as 1t is to sweep back the ocean, or to
arrest, with u dam. the flowing Of q river. The
waves yield for a moment, but then return, and
the stream mounts up behind any barrier that
may be built In its bed until IL oyerHowS IL.