The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-10-11
THE CAUSE OF PROSPER ITY.
What a Prominent Republican Say
About It.

In The Review Of Reviews for Octo-
Der the Hon. Thomas L. James, form :
erly postmaster general and now presi-
dent of New York national bank, es-
says an explanation Of the causes which
have led to the present prosperous con-
dition of business A Republican and
gold man, Mr.. James does not, like
many Of his fellows, undertake to claim
for Republicanism and the gold stand
ard the sole credit for existing condi-
tions, but, with an obviou. purpose to
tell the story fairly and explain it ra-
tionally, he shows the real influences
which have been making for better
times We quote freely.
In order clearly to understand the
rise and development of influences that
produced the depressing conditions cul-
minating between 1898 and 1896, it is
necessary to go back to the time of the
resumption of specie payments in 1879.
This country Immediately after the
government resumed payment of its OBJ
legations in coin entered an era of pros
perity which las been compared with
the one that now prevails, and yet the
conditions characterizing it were en-
tirely different. We had then, in COM
parison with ourp possessions today, little
capital, and vet We undertook to open
up the wheat belts of the west, to com
plete the Northern Pacific railway, to
construct thousands of miles of new
railroad in unsettled regions, so that in
the course of three or four years we ex-
pended at least $500, 900, 900 in build
ing new railroads. Much of this money
was borrowed in Europe, and the rail
roads when built did not at first begin
to earn their interest charges, and some
of them with difficulty paid their run
ming expenses. They were kept in op-
Grafton in many cases by borrowing
more money to pay the interest upon
bonds and at last became heavily bur-
dened with mortgages and underlying
mortgages, ultimately involving reor-
ganization and heavy loss. All Of this
money we had to pay back, and the
effect of those enormous payments was
severely felt between 1885 and 1894.
These new railroads, however, did a
great service for the country, since they
opened up the agricultural lands to the
farmer and made possible the amazing
crops which were grown in 1891 and
1892. For about ten years, or say from
the spring of 1884 until near the close
of Mr.. Clevelands administration, the
people Of this country, both in their
corporate and their indiviG ual relations,
we're engaged in paying debts. The
farmers did that and were thereby
compelled to practice the utmost
economy, many of them finding
even the most stringent self-denial
inadequate, so that they were forced
to submit to foreclosure. But stock
holders in the railroad corpora
.ions were also 0sufering,. and there
came FIR many Of them the same ezper-
ience that the farmers met with. The
owners Of the bonds exacted their inter
est or took possession of the property
just as the owners cf the farm mortga-
ges exacted theirs or foreclosed. We
lived in time Of forced and great econ
omy. Many men esteemed very rich
were compelled to draw upon their prin-
cipal in order to maintain in some meas
ure their customary manner Of life, and
the wage-earners were either drawing
upon their savings or else Tece compell-
ed to live upon half pay so to speak
some of them upon credit. During Mr..
Cleveland's second administration we
were really getting into heathful con-
dition. We were paying our debts, re-
organizing our bankrupt railroads on
sound and economical bases, living
with rigid economy, iquidating obliga
tions long past due, and were at last IN
condition that required only some
tonic or stimulus in ORDER to regain
prosperity and industrial activity
He goes on to show how check to
this wholesome progress was caused by
the financial collapse of the Argentine
republic and .he resulting failure of
Barring Brothers. The Bank of Eng
land interposed its resources. Zone Of
the ablest Of the fnanciers Of New York,
when he read that report, said: The
Bank of England has prevented
panic; but failure like this will shriVel
credits, benumb business everywhere,
and its disastrous influence will be felt
in every nation of the world for the
next two or three years. The predlc-
ton was justified in every respect. "
Mr.. James recognizes the bad effect of
the suspension of the free coinage Of
silver in India which followed. 1T
was everywhere recognized as a remedy
for certain evils from which Great
Britain and her colonies were suffering,
but it was aremedy so heroic that its
immediate effect was harmful, at least
to some lines of trade" Other reasons
for the depression and the panic OF
1898 are given, butitis is the revival which
is our theme. As to the causes of the
revival Mr.. James barely mentions the
defeat of free silver and the passage Of
the Dingley tariff law. He then pro-
ceeds:
bat there is sanother influence which
may be esteemed among the greatest
of any that have caused these last
years of the century to give industrial
prosperity, content, happiness, and
wide distribution of wealth to our peo-
PIE. That influence was created by the
recent amazing development ofthe gold
mines of the world. Undoubtedly the
action of congress in repeating the
Sherman law induced capital to turn its
attention to the American gold mines.
But the same impulse existed all over
the world. The discovery Of cheap
chemical methods of abstracting gold
from lows grade ore was as momentous
almost as that of Bessemer, to which
much Of the industrial activity of the
last half of the nineteenth century can