The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-10
[.nroAY or sMALI RETAINING.

" ~. redemption by the Government OF It's mo
-. pacific Railway bonds, In addition TO Its
". nension payments and other expendt-
~ The total AMOUNT OF the capital already
W er.,h,ovn upon the market for reinvestmont
Wv 4. roughly estimated as not far from
nS 40 ooo. and there are still many millions
~ % comc from the past due Government
-, ubich have been held back, to enable
- ~. ladders TO deduct them from the personal
D-..,sssment which will be fixed to-day. All
~. ,ooney will not DO left lying idle, and its
- in seeking rcmunerativc, as well as
w. ,mployment for it. find tho supply OF So
-. offered small and the competition for
them keen.
c.. ilLintormcd critics see In tho prevailing
,..,h NJ OPPORTUNITIES for the profitable in.
.,,msnt OF capital evidence OF a lack OF inven-
DISEASES and Of enterprise among our citizens.
- Affect TO regard n willingness to accept 3la
! c,nt. pcr annum for the use OF money as q
-. a, degeneracy and of Incidence. This Ia
- unjust and unreasonable. There comes. in
-. oourse of nature, an ebb in every tide and o
,,, In avery breeze. That we built In this coun-
- Last year. only 1900 miles Of railroad. that
=, factories are running on short time, and
.s,, our mine owners are reducing their output,
80 neither an absence Of intelligence nor an
,h.epoe OF energy. but only the necessity Of
~.itinr for new industrial Developments. We
S.ve all the railroads, factories and mines that
=. mead and 1t would DO folly to add to them.
A. soon as other methods Of ministering to
human wants are required. capital will be en-
,,oyed In them, but, in the meantime, 1t must do
the best 1t can with those that exist.
The eagerness of mankind to engage in tho
,roduction Of any commodity for which there is
a demand. leads frequently. as we know. to o
mpply In excess of that demand. which 10
checked only by a struggle for existence among
The producers, ending in the survival Of those Of
tbem who are the best fitted to survive. The
less fitted have to seek other fields Of activity or
perish. Either way, the competition is reduced
within the limits which enable those who con-
tinue in the industry to gain their living by it,
and prevents additions to their number. The
excluded ones are not excluded by reason Of
their lacking the will to continue their effort:
they succumb to a force too mighty for them to
resist. We may pity but we cannot blame them.
%. when q capitalist finds that the demand for
fresh capital is o~versupplied, he can obtain en-
ployment for that which he possesses only by
aowding out such of his competitors as will give
way to him. and IL he cannot do this, he must
walt until other demands spring up.
It is not to be denied, that this process Of natu-
yl selection. ending in the survival Of the fttest
10 survive, and in the retirement, IL not the de-
s%truction. of the less at, is painful both to those
Who suffer from 1t and to those who witness
their suffering. Among these painful examples
ve have in this city one which appeals most
strongly to the sympathy Of benevolent minds.
It is that of the slow decay. from the competition
Of the great department stores, Of the small
-. ,Iin- ,,,;rn, L. r,kt,h thN,eanla af man
and women are engaged. and on which they de-
pend for their livelihood. One after another Of
these people has been compelled to withdraw
before the advance of his powerful rivals. and
has either gone into actual bankruptcy or has
lost a great part. II not tho whole, Of his capital.
The mischief thus occasioned is not confined
to its immediate victims. but extends over a
wider area. The untortunates have first to dis
miss their own employees and then they have
10 seek employment themselves, thus swelling
the already swollen ranks Of the unemployed.
They have less income to spend, and, therefore,
those who have been dependent upon their ex-
penditures find their occupation gone. A more
conspicuous consequence is the number of shops
which are deprived Of their old tenants and for
which their landlords are unable to obtain new
ones. This is tho renting season. and a walk
through almost any quarter of the city will
ehow bills ITO Let" by the dozen. not only on
dwelling houses and lofts. but on apparently well
located stores on the ground floor. Some have
Just been vacated, but many hRve been empty
for months, and q few for more than q year. In
stead OF tenants seeking for quarters, the land
lords are seeking tenants, and have little pros
pect Of finding them.
Due allowance, indeed. must DO made for the
large number of new buildings. which nave re-
Gently been erected, containing conveniences
which older buildings lack. The owners Of the
new buildings make great efforts. by offering low
rents and special inducements. to fill them with
tenants. and SO far as they succeed, they create
Is many vacancies as they supply. Still. the
TACT remains, that the number of small shop
keepers is decreasing. and that their decrease Is
due to the transfer of their business to largo
and better equipped rivals, who. from the mag
nltude OF their transactions, can sell goods at
lower prices and yet make q satisfactory profit
on them. Even IL the small shopkeepers do not
thus lose all their trade they lose so much OF it
that what remains does not suffice TO pay their
expenses and leave q sufficient margin for their
own labor. Therefore, they give up the struggle.
Here, again, shortsighted observers make q
mistake. They treat the disappearance of the
small retailer as an unmitigated calamity, and
would have 1t prevented by legislation. They
fAil to consider that what the objects of their
compassion lose. the rest of the community
gains in the lower prices 1t pays for commodi-
Ties. and that. at all events. the process SO much
oeplored is the effect Of natural forces which
cannot be successfully resisted. AS the great
factory has taken the place of the numerous
scattered hand looms, which once supplied all
tne cloth that was worn; as one huge steam-
snip transports a cargo which formerly would
nave been divided up among a dozen small
ships; as trains of forty, fifty and sixty railroad
cars carry a freight that would have loaded
hundreds OF wagons drawn by horses; and as in
all departments Of industry aggregations of
machinery and men are tenfold moro
productive than the same machinery and
men would be, II they were employed In the sep
efate looms and FORCES and yards where our an
oeStors worked; so the great retail and depart
meht store distributes to the consumer moro
emciently and cheaply than a hundred little
SHOPS OF the SAM aggregate capacity. the
products of modern industry. Legislation
against the substitution OF these improved
agencies OF distribution. II 1t could be success.
tui' would be as unwise as legislation against
Tue improved agencies of production with which
everybody is content. and that 1t would be fu-
tne' all experience shows. The impulse of the