The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-10-14
SATURDAY. OCTOBER IA, 1899


There Is "A lesson I'm the recent advance
I'm the price of cotton which IS not to pc
overlooked. When cotton went down 10
FIVE cents a. pound the farmers became
alarmed and disheartened and all sorts
of measures 10 advance the price were
suggested. PLANT less cotton said some.
"OrTsnize great farmers trust so as 70
limit the supply and control the price
said others And still others talked OF
storage warehouses. But while the farm
ers and the friends of the farmers were
devising ways and means. suddenly cotton
iumped from FIVE to seven cents per
pound. and the prediction IS freely made
that the present crop Will sell at even
higher figures.
We would impress the fact that the
farmers did not organize. that the trust
was not formed. that the storage ware
houses were not opened, in short, that
none OF the schemes discussed was carried
into effect. Cotton advanced in price be-
cause the time for the advance had come
Some say that the advance is due TO the
fact that the crop il short. Others say
that the advance is due 10 the fact that
there are more cotton mills and greater
demand for raw cotton. Others still say
that the advance has come because every
other commodity has arisen in price and
that It was in keeping with generally
prosperous conditions that the price of
cotton should take d rise
It il not our purpose to go into any
minute discussion OF the subject. We
doubt not that each Of the causes assign
ed has had its influence. but the reason
which we assign. and the al-sufiicient
reason is that prosperity has come to the
whole country and the farmer is quite
naturally getting his share Of it. The adj
vance in cotton has come along in the
natural order Of things and in response
TO the natural laws Of trade.
This is true also of prosperity in gem
eral. A few years ago the stump speak
ers were saying that the way and the
only way 90 bring prosperity was through
legislation The Times contended that IL
was as absurd 10 talk OF legislatng pros
into a land suffering from drought. We
said that the thing 20 do was TO let the
natural laws of trade have their course
We said that II the government would
only hold its hands of and not interfere.
confidence would soon return and then
trade would take care Of itself. That is
the great lesson TO be learned from the
rise In the price Of cotton, the great les
son 10 be learned from the prosperity that
has come 10 the country at large. There
can be no such thing SIS artificial prosper
iiy, and that nation which sits down ana
waits to be made prosperous By legisla-
ton will go TO the dogs The govern
ment is the mere creature Of the people
and the creature cannot be more powerful
than the creator The people must make
themselves prosperous by their own en-
deavor. by Intelligent action and indus
try, and the less we have Of legislative
action in this direction the more prosper
Gus viii the people be.
II has always been a strange thing 10
us that sensible men could be deceived by
that sort OF party clap-trap. by the
stump speakers, who get up and tell them
TO put this OF that party in power. and
this party or that Will make the people
prosperous. Men who are deceived by
such nonsense put themselves on level
with the poor negroes who voted with
the Republican party soon after the war
undsr the belief that each one OF them
would receive from the government the
gift Of terty acres and a mule.