The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-01-17
WHAT is

~ -N~SAAS ~ A'A~ ~N AO"PO
ity is clearly and intelligently discussed
at length by the New York Evening
Post, an Independent. The COMMON idea
prevailing everywhere is that big trade
means great prosperity. A manufact-
urer may make his tens millions, but it
Is out of the people. They pay for his
Accommodations. There may be a healthy
development or an increased, unsafe
development. Prosperity does not nee
cssarily mean enormous expectation Or
vast advances in socks. 1t does not
mean huge manufactures and Dig prof
ITS only intended for i few. The stock
market is not necessarily a test. The
Evening Post says of this varying mar
ikct that it some times f~oTeshadows
,atEer than reflects. and is sometimes
moved by cause peculiar to itself. The
fall in prices, after the climax of the
lstockjobbing craze, last May, was not
d witness to industrial relapse, but was
unnatuaral and dangerous position"
You meet a man who drearns by night
and thinks all day of profits, of trade,
of great. Astounding prosperity, and he
viii tell o that rising prices are sure
Iindices of a country's prosperity, but
90 rot always please. The New York
SaFer points out the sore spot, the
danger point. 1t says that the broker
with this confidently assumed "barom-
letter of The situation" is that it is I'M
Icertain-"that it cannot, in the nature
Of things, go on rising indefinitely, and
Ihrng abou consequences that will seri-
I1usly mar the prosperity which actually
IeXists. An excessive advance in stocks
must, in the modern order OF things,
make the community in which. it occurs
a. heavy borrower from other markets
(which may recall their loans at an
awkward moment. An excessive adj
vance in commodities will achieve the
same unfortunate results in a differ
Iant way; first. by shutting out produc-
Iers from foreign markets, and. finally.
IN extreme cases. by cutting off even
home consumers"
Do you take that in? Ponder it a
" Iile dIlu CedSc u " COCh-SuIc do W
your sign of confidence. Then again
prices go up but they do not ALWAYS
ISlve a guarantee that it is best for all
I~classes and conditions. When bread is
higher the poor are the sufferers. and
they constitute the great majority in
any country. A class nay flourish like
ia forest Of green bay trees and yet
half rations may be the allotment of
the millions Of people. The Evening
Post is solid and sound here. 1t says
with its precise perspIcacity:
"A rise in prices IS not a necessary
incident Of prospective: on the contrary.
low prices stand for and represent an
abundance of goods. and in this con-
lSistS the prosperity OF the masses of
mankind. For one thing. Americas ad-
vance in the export trade. which every
body recognizes as an important factor
lin the nations prospect y. has been won
by selling at relatively low prices. and
can be retained only by perseverance in
that policy. Moreover. there must come
la time when the high cost of living
Ipresses so seriously Oh the public as to
I'm erfere seriously with individual COM
fort"
So after all what is much mentioned
prosperity of which SO much is affirm
ed? Is it any true sisn-healthful in
Idicatio1 of a country's prosperity. If
the poor are poorer and the rich richer;
If clothing and foo are high and
lprices for labor are low. can there be
any such thing as prosperity, beyond
tine monied class who live in luxury
and extravaganza and know nothing of
The poor and their suffering? When
wool and woolens run up so high as tn
Invite rascality in substituting cotton
for wool and still selling the cotton for
the wool. at wool prices. can there be
amy real prosperity with the masses?
Encouragement of industry means de-
lcline Of prosperity A sound maxim
lby our New York contemporary. II
Wisely says t his:
1.-THE foundation of American pros
lperity is ability to produce at low cost
land to contrive cheapening processes,
and readiness to meet the wants OF