, 1899-08-31
HE is "UP AGAINST If"
BRYAN'S WAY TO THE WHITE
HOUSE BARRED.
BestridinG the Demo-Pop Donkey, Free
Silver and Free Trade" His Path Is
So Obstructed by the Solid wall of
Substantial Prosperity.

Oue OF the HlOSt impressive dluohS
the many showings of prosperity with
which the American people are nova
days so frequently RECALLED after two
full years of restored protection, Is
that made in the news ecIumns of the
New York Sun of July 90. With its
characteristic enterprise and sagacity
the Sun, always keenly alive to matters
OF genuine public interest, has gath
cred from correspondents in various
business centers some very significant
facts as to the abnormal activity which
prevails among the railroads oil the
United States. No one needs to be told
that when the great inland t~ransporta-
ton systems are rushed with business
and s%training to Increase their facili-
ties to meet an increased demand,
everybody else must be extremely busy.
Railroad business is a sure index OF
general business.
From Chicago the report is that
every railroad entering that city today
needs more cars than 1t has or can get
to meet the demands of shippers. This
condition is not due to any great and
sudden increase in N particular traf-
fc, but is due to the steady growth of
all kinds of traffic. From all indica-
tions the year 1899 will eclipse all for
mer years in the volume of business
done by the railroads. Last year was
one of prosperity for the railroads, the
increase in traffic as compared with
that of several years previous being
considered almost phenomenal, but
there is almost as great an increase in
earnings so far this year over those OF
the corresponding period of last year as
was the case of 1895 over 1897. All the
railroads which build their own freight
cars have kept full forces at work in
the shops, but they could not turn out
cars fast enough to supply the demand,
and orders were placed with car manu-
featuring companies which will keep
most of them busy for the remainder Of
the year, II not longer.
Here is q %curiously suggestive fact
stated by an official of one of the big
Western railways:
More pianos were shipped over u
road from Chicago to the West and
Southwest in the last three months
than the entire number in the years
from 1893 to 1897. This is good proof
of the prosperity of the farmer, for a
piano is a luxury in which he does not
indulge as soon as he gets a few hun
dred dollars ahead. Our traffic in
farming machinery was never so large
as it has been this year and our crop
reports made it certain that the invest
ments in machinery were well made"
When the farmers buy pianos they
are ION Easy street" No-doubt of that.
Another railroad manager said: "If
we could borrow or hire from 5000 to
10, 900 box cars we could find immediate
use for all of them"
At Detroit an official declared hat in
twenty years his road has never seen
a condition like the present. Ordinar-
lily at this time of the year we are not
burdened with a surplus of business
n rather have difficulty in finding a
place to store our empty freight cars
than to employ all u energies to
find cars enough to carry the business
offered to us. We are certainly behind
on a visible supply of ears requisite to
carry the freight which we can get
without any solicitation"
Baltimore reports a scarcity of cars
with which to move the tremendous
business present and prospective. At
Buffalo the freight traffic is far in ex-
cess of the supply of cars. Thousands
of extra cars could be used, but they
are not to be found. At Philadelphia
a trunk line official testifies to a great
increase on all the lines of his road.
Speaking of the lines east of Pittsburg,
he said:
II am convinced hat the present
prosperity is lasting for, the reason
that the increase of business is not
confined to a particular locality. 1t is
general. For instance, on all the sta
tons of our road there is a substantial
betterment. Some of the offices report
an increase Of 7 per cent, others 10 per
cent, many from so t as per cent,
some 100 per cent, and one as high as
PIG per cent.
while, as these reports show, our
business is much in excess of that of
last year, We have not experienced
any great difficulty in getting cars to
handle the freight thus far, but there
will be a scarcity of cars in the latter
part of September or October. How
serious it will be l have no means of
telling at this time. AS a matter of
fact we have very largely increased
our equipment this year, and OF course,
that has aided us in handling the in
creased business, but in some kinds of
cars there has already been a scarcity
1t is now but twenty-nine months
since William Mckinley tool his seat
as president of the United States; only
a few days more than two years since
the Dingley tariff was enacted. Con-
trast, IL you can, present conditions
with those which existed tw~enty-nine
months after the Inauguration of
Grover Cleveland in 1893 and twenty
four months after the enactment of the
all-destroying Wilson-Gorman tariff
law. Ten billions of dollars would not
suffice to measure the increase in in
dividual, corporate and national wealth
which has taken place since the restora-
ton OF protection as the American
policy. Probably twenty billions would
fall below the mark.
Verify. is it. true, in the euphemistic
phraseology of the cartoon which ap-
pears on this page of the American