Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-11-14
reflex condition sooner or later is
thought TO be inevitable.
MISUNDERSTANDING 4
MORE BuslNEss...moRE EXPENSE.

situation in the New York sun, ether
phases OF this era are discussed n a
practical way. Two points that viii
enlist attention are those referring to
the increased expense of doing business
With expanding trade, thus curtailing
profits. and the increased cost Of living
to those who have fixed incomes and
do not share in increased dividends. In
The cold weather of the week, which
was general over the country, was
splendid for business. Trade in every
part of the land 10 great and magnifi-
cent Yet the summary of the reports
to the comptroller of the currency of
the condition of national banks on Sept.
80 shows that While the loans of these
institutions increased 1881 ,S56,2I5 during
the twelve months previous, their cash
on hand was but $9,135.I1s more. There
is something here that looks at first
glance as il our grand business was
largely an extension Of credit and that
the credit had been extended too freely
But perhaps any such reflection is q
needless borrowing of trouble. One OBJ
servation must hold, however, and that
is that along With the increased bust
ness in which we are all reveling, have
come increased expenses, and that more
than one railroad company. industrial
corporation and private firm has found
within the year the ratio Of these ex-
penses to gross receipts unpleasantly
charging, The heavy expenditures
Ia, inh oil 4. hn l,a.a n |,
esaary of late for equipment and better
ments have served to temporarily adj
vance the price of railway stocks, be-
cause the money for the purpose vas
raised for the most part, by the issue of
shares to old stockholders at lower
prices than the prevailing market valu-
alton; and so the outstanding shares
participating in the distribution be-
came more valuable than before it. But
the fact should not be lost sight OF that
many Of these improvements are of the
same nature 8 repairs to house in or
der to make IL possible to live In it. Mr..
Carnegie's remark on this point the oth-
err day may prove as famous as his his
toric apothegm that steel was either
king or pauper. Railroads nowadays
need bigger engines larger and better
freight cars. easier grades and q great
many other things which are now abso-
lutely essential to railroad life; and the
expenditure of money for these ends
merely means that the lack of foresight
OF former directors of the roads which
wa, of course inevitable, must be made
good.
One can not have his cake and eat it.
An economic state of affairs in which
everybody is doing large business nat
urally tends, after a certain duration, to-
g. condition in which the profits of ones
intrench upon ones own. ana
finally everybody discovers, often about
the same time. that profits generally
have disappeared. Our great boom has
not been q blessing to persons with fixed
incomes. nor, in its later development to
the majority OF wage earners. 1ts prog
ress has been marked, as all such move
ments must be marked, by a steady fall
in the value of money, or, what ia say
ing the same thing by steady rise In
the value of things that money buys.
and orphans and all similar
living upon the income of
trust funds have had hard time of ii
In the last few years, If their sole sup
Invested during the period. 1t is a fact
that is Well in the mind of every house
holder and head OF family that such
has been the advance In the price of all
that living expenses are
now very much greater than formerly;
indeed, the official record shows that
they are higher at this hour than at any
time within decade. The weight Of all
this falls heaviest upon the man whose
income does not increase with the In
creased price which he must pay for his
and the net result is his
poverty. Nature, however,
is busy with her corrective and she APP
plies solaee, at last that ia both sweet
and terrible. The distress of the man
with fixed income Giminislles his pow
er of consumption. Next the artisan
and the laborer whose wages have risen
in the period OF prosperity
find that the rise after all does not make
up TO them the additional sums that
they are forced TO expend. The farmer
Who has been made suddenly rich by mis-
great grain crops sold at high prices
owing TO blighted harvesta in foreign
countries discovers that that condition
of affairs was exceptional and that crop
failures can fall to his lot as we'll as to
that of others. The great profits of
speculation cease and the rich and we'll
TODD curtail their purchases of Injuries.
So consumption gradually lessons thru
out the community until in the natural
course of events. it falls to a point as
unduly low as il previously rose to u
point extrayagantly high. A general in
5pectioi1 of business enterprise occurs
which destroys many proud fortune,
and usually results in as unwise With |
holding of credit as 1t Was preceded by
IN improper extension of it. Money
Uses in value and then in the general
which prevails the man with
4 fixed income finds that he is as COM |
oaratively rich as, when matters were
reversed a few years before, he was
poor. So the balance of
production and consumption continually |
Uses and fails. Its swing is .soow, but |
t is ceaseless and supreme. Tears and
oenury accompany it as well as riches |
ana smiles
IOWA OPINIONS AND NOTES.
The Keokuk Gate City believes mo
court OF inquiry is necessary to deter
mine the causes of democratic defeat by |