The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-08-09

striking argument by George II.
Hull to show that our disastrous finan-
cial pancs are principally due to ad-
vances in the price of pig iron, has at
tracted considerable attention in the
past few weeks and in spite of the
many theories set up in years past to
account for these periodical business
depressions. such is the force of Mr.
Hulrs reasoning that hardly any one
has ventured seriously to dispute his
conclusions. Most papers which do
not accept all that Mr.. Hull says agree.
like the New York Journal of Com
morce, that even if the advances in
iron prices are not the direct cause OF
hard times" they are at least warm
ing signals of danger ahead
The great importance of this argu-
ment and of it's practical acceptance
by financial thinkers, lies in the fact
that exactly such an advance in the
price of pig iron as Mr.. Hull fears has
just taken place, iron which was SELL
ing at SO a ton not long ago now SELL
ing at Sl2. If his view is correct, there
fore. we are on the verge of another
great business depression.
Mr.. Huh. who writes in the North
American Review. begins by showing
that the years Of financial panics since
1854 have invariably followed advances
in the iron prices.
RECENT ADVANCE IN PRICE
In the recent enormous advance in
the price of pig iron the people of the
United States have another opportun-
ity of studying the cause of such ad-
Vances and realizing the controlling
and disastrous effect they have upon
business of all kinds throughout the
entire country. 1t is well known that
this advance is not an unusual occur
renee. being only a repetition of what
took place in 1854 1864, 1872, 1880 and
1889. 1t was not disturbed finances or
loss of confidence which TUNED the
of prosperity in those years. 1t
was the advance of from 100 to 300
per cent. in the price of pig iron. The
loss of confidence and disturbed finan-
ces came months afterward and were
the effects Of the turn in the tide. Each
of these advances and it's results were
object lessons, from which we might
have. learned much if we had seized
the opportunity, while the cause and
it's effects were passing before us.
"The advance in 1859 is fact of the
present moment. 1t is here, the evil
dences of it are everywhere around us,
and If history repeats itself the events
which follow its elimination will be a
vivid and instructive picture"
He then draws attention to the al
most universal use of iron-in the pre-
raration of food and clothing, in build
ing, in a water, gas and other pipes, in
all forms of transportation, and, in
deed, in all the machinery of war and
peace. Its use, too, is growing rapidly;
Fifty years ago 100 pounds were
consumed annually in the United States
for each Of it's inhabitants; ten years
ago there were 800 pounds for each per-
son, and today we are consuming iron
at the rate of 400 pounds yearly for
each one of our 100000 inhabitants.
Whatever restricts the consumption
of iron limits to that extent the growth
of the people in wealth and prosperity"
The natural limit of prosperity comes
when every worker is employed, and
such a condition has none of the
causes of hard times in it. 1T is
the natural condition." says Mr.. Hull,
''of an industrious people; it is, in eff
feet, simply the whole people at work."
He continues: