The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-23


things must be shown: First. that the
alleged prosperity is still existant
while the campaign is on, and second,
| that it is general 1t will not be enough
| to make it appear that the iron and
| steel or the textile industry is doing
| WELL or that both of them and several
| others are f1ourishing. There are spe-
cial reasons why the manufacturing in
| dustry in general should be enjoying
something in the nature of a boom"
| But d boom" in certain industries
and prosperity all along the line are
| two very different things. The agrl-
| cultural classes constitute very nearly
! one-half the population of the country,
! and while their condition is now some
! what better than it was during the
| years Immediately preceding 1898, 1t is
| still a long way from being satisfactory.
| The Improvement in the prices Of farm
| products during the last two years Is
directly traceable to crop conditions
abroad, which were such as to create
an unusual demand for the products Of
the American farm. The circumstance
that we We're blessed with good crops
lust at time when our chief COM
petitors had poor ones, gave our farm
ers double advantage.
OF course. Mr.. Mckinley modestly
claims the credit for it, and his party
spellbinders stand ready to insist and
do insist that he is right. But even
under these abnormal conditions the
farmers benefits have been compare
lively small by reason Of the fact that
his prices are made in the worlds mar
kets and are governed, not by local
monetary conditions, but by the finan-
cial status of the world at large.
Hence. the increase Of the money sup
ply in this country has helped the far-
1ner very little, because to a consider
able extent we have drawn 1t from the
countries in which the market prices OF
our agricultural products are made.
There has not been day since the first
of January, 1897, when wheat should
have sold for less than a dollar and
twenty-five cents q bushel in Chicago,
or cotton for less than ten cents a
pound in New York. At the present
time wheat is sixty-seven or sixty
eight cents in Chicago, and the crop In
this countryis 10000, 900 bushels smaller
than it was last year. This affects other
cereals, and the outlook for the farmer
at this time is by no means encourage
ing. The cotton crop is also from
million to two million bales smaller
than last year, and, although the price
per pound is higher, the aggregate re-
ceipts of the cotton planters will De
less. The prices Of the things which
| The farmer buys have risen much more
than those of his own products, and his
profits are cut accordingly.
! But beyond all this it Is a conceded
! fact that the money market is getting
| decidedly shaky in all the great finan-
| cial centers. Last week Wall street was
| upon the verge Of a crash, which was
! only averted by the promise Of Score
tary Gage to buy bonds and put $2o,OO0,
600 more money into circulation. Thi:
| gave confidence to the street and easeC
UP the situation. Mere confidence,
| though, is an ephermeral thing. l
must have substantial basis or it can
not last The very suggestion of the
| necessity for such aid from the treasury
proves that business is outrunning the
| money supply, and it is far from certain
| that the prosperity of to-day will las
long enough to carry the republican
party safely through the campaign o
1900.