The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-01

| ton Nature Is prodigaI and stingy at
intervals and in localities. Burning corn
In Kansas, rotting potatoes In the piner-
les of WisconKtn, and decayed oranges
in California, have all testified to this.
Even the wateEnelon adds It's testimony,
the grasshoppsf- eaten wheat fields Of the
Northwest add ltheirs. and the famine in
India its awful. evidence 1t is not even a
question of transportation, or Of human
fright Nature runs in circles and by
cycles, and human nature goes round and
round The most highly civilized people
become most frequently lost IN the COM
plex1ty of their own social problems.
Mr.. Hull ascribes all our Industrial de-
pressions to variations in the prices Of
iron, and proves it by taking the iron
/ making nations-Great Britain. Germany,
France. Belgium, and the United States
into an iron group drawing the historical
conclusion that this is the only group
that suffers from Industrial depressions.
But he might as we'll have put them into
| a textile group-cottons and linens and
| pAONSI COAtOlOSANOiJ IAAAI
only textile producing nations have pantcs
or industrial depressions. 1t is true there
is great difference between the ''depres-
stons" of the manufacturing nations and
the famines of the purely agricultural
ones-but famines can no more be wholly
averted than can depressions. And 1t is
IN the human heart to stand "tip-toe on
the misty mountains top" when the
jocund day of prosperity arrives, and to
cast about for new ventures, new &C.
complishments. and new worlds to con-
quer
In Scotland, we are Informed. by means
! of the iron warrant systematic same
as our elevator grain receipts-iron stocks
for as much as a year in advance have
been carried in times past But of late.
even Scottish stocks have been kept down
to six months anticipation. and capital
and productive capacity have not been
equal to resisting the temptation to sell
at good prices: With the enormous de-
mands of thel American market, aug
mented by promise of foreign demands,
but curtailed at times by the fright Of
American capital and the demands Of
American labor. so that alternative actiy-
tty and idleness confront the furnace men
we do not readily see how Mr.. Hull IS
going to persuade his countrymen in the
iron business to accumulate stocks in ad-
vance of the market
Perhaps money at; per cent might in
duce bankers to invest In iron
yard warrants OF certificates. But
we have as yet ne valiant surplus of
bank money at thatirate. Perhaps an iron
clearing house might accomplish some
what of the purpose, and the G lob sug-
gests that Mr.. Hull supplement his able
articles by active efforts In that direction
consulting first the kings of the business
and then the undergraduates The use
OF grain certificates has been a matter
of years Of education Perhaps iron GER
tincates would grow more rapidly In favor
though they might not necessarily be al
ways convertible into cash on a days
notice, as IS the case with wheat and
I'corn- But the records of iron prices are
obtaina Bile for a hundred years, and the
handlers of iron warrants as collateral
would have history to guide them in per
centages
/ If Mr. HuH's article and efforts should
succeed In. procuring something of this
sort, it would be worth While, for it would
holm +o mo Irs, ia 80 .
cles than iron and. steel But markets
| abroad will be the chief controlling ele-
| ment hereafter In that direction. To come
under the influence of European comoe-
tition for the worlds markets means re-
| duction to science In financing, In buying
and selling, in transportation, and in wage
lists And to all these things must the
masters of iron pay attention
The war in South Africa and the dis
turbances in China are just now of much
more Importance than ''controP' of furn-
ace output. One. more year of such a. bal
ance of tradesas that of 1899 will perhaps
yield us1S per cent bank funds, if the wars
| cease. And with that contamination fol-
AOWA4S UPON ela6 4leelS OF that ClrCUm-
stance, the iron kings will be able and
willing to follow out Mr. HulIs SUCCESS
ton, but not Until we shall have outdone
! all Europe on total furnace production.
! However sensitive barometer of the
times iron may be. 1t is not the whole
thing in industry. Food and clothing
have their less subtle but more compre
hensive influence, and the cotton mill
must likewise have its markets wfdened
or It's output controlled" for millions Of
new spindles are being erected in the
South. The -four mill is in same con-
voy of vessels, and the Northwest Miller
is now earnestly urging what the Globe
has sometimes advanced, that all our
| wheat should be ground in American mills
and shipped abroad as -four, even at a
| sacrifice of profit. Our iron and steel
| makers and their correlative industries
the makers of machinery. must also ex-
pect to sell abroad at cost price. and to
recoup themselves In the home market
For the abroad" sales keep the hands
busy In the dull seasons, and helm to
build up gold balances in our favor with
which to buy iron and steel warrants. cot
tons in the warehouse and flour upon
the docks. Our -four men have been wise
in their day and generation, to put -four
upon the docks at Glasgow at the same