The McCook tribune., 1897-07-02

Judge CT business conditions the cOun-
try over. The same may be said to q
great extent, perhaps, of Marshall
Field, whose business lines bring him
n touch with every part of the United
States. Another Chicago house repre-
sented there does large business in
the manufacture of elevators, engines
and other products Of that class. Mr..
Pullman reaches through his sleeping
car system of course every part OF the
country, and is able TO accurately
diagnose business conditions and
judge of business activity or the re-
verse. mention these Chicago houses
not because they are more representa-
tive, but because I know Of them more
N detail in personal way. The rep
reSentativeS of other cities and other
lines of business have equal facilities
for judging of business conditions and
of the feelings of the business public
the country over.
II was gratified to find,' continued
Mr.. Gage, "a very satisfactory feeling
among those gentlemen, who thus
formed their opinions by their contact
with the business and commercial men
in all parts of the country. They re-
ported a better business condition and
better feeling than has been realized
for long time. BY this l mean not
ar extreme growth of activity, but
marked improvement, and one which
is accompanied by confidence on their
part, that it is the beginning of per-
manent Improvement. We have, Of
course, seen in the past spurts Of bust
ness improvement which were only
temporary, bat the feeling among
these gentlemen was that the improve
nlent which they observed is likely TO
be permanent and to continue to in
crease with such legislation as will
assure them regarding currency as
well as tariff
Your assurance, then, Mr.. Secre-
taTy, of action regarding financial mat
tiers following the tariff must have
been gratifying to them?"
Yes. A great many of them so ex-
pressed themselves to me. They all
recognize, 1 think, the Importance Of
having early action upon the tar y, so
that that question may be out of the
way, an1 manufacturers and merchants
may know what to depend upon, but
they do desire legislation after that
rpon the currency question, and ex-
pressed great satisfaction that they
have reason to believe that it will
come. The general impression among
them was that with the proper legis-
lation, which we have reason to be-
lieve will be had, the business i'm
Irovement which is now beginning to
be felt will continue to increase, and
that season of prosperity will fol-
low"
"Do you think that the free silver
sentiment is as strong as it was three
months ago?"
"Of course, the people with whom /
came i'll contact represent the cities
only, so that 1 could not judge so ac-
curately from what they personally
frcw; but it is quite apparent, not
Uuly from what l learn through them,
but from other sources. that the silver
sentiment is on the decline. Events
Of the past few months have been de-
c.dedly adverse to it, and must have
had depressing influence upon its adj
yocates and upon the theory itself.
Japan, for instance, to which they
called particular attention during the
campaign as a shining example Of free
silver prosperity, has adopted a gold
standard. So lave Peru aud Russia,
and the tendency among ether silver
using countries seems to be in that
direction. All these things, coupled
with the continuous fall in the price
OF silver, is not only showing people
the unwisdon of the proposition which
these leaders so strsnuously advocated,
hut are showing to those leaders hem
selves the imprcbability of inducing
the American people to again support
such a proposition.
G. H. WILLIAMS.