The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-16
THE PROSPERITY WAVE.


spOndent of the Philadelphia Press the
opinion is rapidly gaining ground in
/ that city that the crest of the wave of
/ prosperity has passed. and that the
country is at the beginning of period
of depression. There does not appear
to be very good ground for this opin-
ion. 1t seems to be the result rather
| of a feeling of depression growing out
/ Of the coal strike and other labor trou-
bles, and of the difficulty in getting
money 70 carry on stock speculations
on the scale that they have been con-
Quoted during the last year or two.
| The tight money market has continued
longer than it was expected it would,
and there has been a very general fall
in the prices of stocks. 1t is not be
heved, however, that there has been
any decline in the intrinsic value of
stocks. Shrewd buyers have been say
ing for months that stocks were too
high, and that there would have to be
a decline. No doubt this belief has
been shared by bankers, and they have
put up the interest rate in order to
check speculation. When stock specu-
lators encounter difficulties in getting
money for gambling in stocks they be-
gin to give> expression to gloomy
views as to the condition of the coun-
try.
There has no doubt been a great
many labor troubles of one kind and
another during the last year. Only
those which assume large proportions
are mentioned in the public prints
This unrest of labor, however, is I'M
doubtedly due largely to the combina-
lions which capital is all the while
making, and from which immense for
tunes are made. In the recent strike
in New Orleans. for instance, it was
openly said by the strikers that there
had been recently put upon the street
car system of that city many millions
of additional bonds and stock, and that
too, without any improvements that
increased the earning value of the
property. They felt that the interest
on these additional securities was to be
made by increasing the burdens of la
Dor. They felt that if the owners of
the property were making so much by
their financiering they ought to share
their prosperity with their employees.
That feeling is apparent all over the
country, and it is at the bottom of the
unrest of labor.
If it could be demonstrated that the
coal operators were not making more
than fair profit on their investments
it is doubtful IL it would be difficult to
to bring about a settlement of the
coal strike. 1t is asserted that the coal
roads, which are the principal coal OPP
orators, get enormous rates of freight
on coal The statement is made that
while the rates on other kinds of
freight have been reduced more than
% per cent. within the last ten years
they have been reduced only a little
more than z per cent. on anthracite
coal. There is no doubt that capital
is largely responsible for the unrest of
labor
The thought is thrown out in con-
nection with the opinion that the crest
of prosperity has passed, that the ac-
ton of the Democracy of New York in
putting the plank in its platform IA
Voring government ownership of the
Pennsylvania coal mines is having a
very depressing effect upon the public
mind, because it seems to foreshadow
tfoublous times in the near future. 1t
is difficult to see why that should fore
shadow troublous times. The discus
sion of government ownership of rail-
roads and telegraph lines was in pro-
gress before the present wave of pros
perity came, and it is pretty certain
that the suggestion that the govern
ment acquire the anthracite coal mines
will have nothing to do with causing
it to pass.
1t is stated that there are men in
New York who are turning their stocks
into cash in expectation of hard times.
1t is doubtful if there is any truth in
that statement. Such statements are
made for stock jobbing purposes. With
good crops and all the industries run
ming at their full capacity, there is no
reason for saying that hard times are
to be expected in the near future.