The Minneapolis journal., 1903-10-17
Business Conditions.

nature to give rise to apprehensive
nervousness on the part OF q super
fetal observer were the reports OF
the past week respecting the number
Of men discharged by railroads east
and west and the prospective laying
off Of larger number in the near
future. The tendency towards less
ened Industrial effort resultant from
the evident necessity for curtailment
Of output to avoid overproduction,
found expression some weeks ago In
the throwing into idleness Of several
thousand men. Since then the same
conservative policy in form somewhat
modified, has been working into rail-
road management, and retrenchment
Is now the order of the day on sew,
eral great systems. It is not unlikely
that in all the larger cities there will
be idle men this winter, no very great
number perhaps, yet enough to afford
striking contrast with conditions
in the past several years during
which period labor has at times been
at high premium.
To the pessimist on the outlook for
bad signs, the discharging Of so many
| men will appear as very unfavorable,
and the effect is likely to be exag-
gerated and the gravity of the sit
uation magnifed if, as the year draws
on, the reports from week to week
show more men temporarily idle. No
general bad results are possible. The
country Is so fundamentally sound, so
rich and strong and so bountifully
blessed in every way that a moderate
recession in business can do little
| harm, and coming after long period
| Of high pressure will work out for
great good in the long run. We can
not always go ahead at top speed.
There must be a let-up, a period for
rest and recouping. Not as an 1ndi-
cation of bad times to come should
| the labor reports be taken, nor as
making up a factor necessarily alarm
ing, but rather as indicative. Of a re-
action that has set in, destined to
bring an easier tone in the price of a
great commodity, a weaker tendency
in one Of the great markets-the labor
market.
Whatever may be said of the bene-
fits to business men from the long
| continued period of expansion and
! general good business that followed
the election of Mckinley, it cannot be
denied that labor, in this same period,
has shared the advantages There
were times when, in the general rise
into greater prosperity, labor was slow
to receive recognition, but it came none
the less surely,a and there were times
when general commodity prices out
stripped the wage scale in the rise and
increased cost of living put labor tenn
porarily at a disadvantage, but this,
too, adjusted itself. Labor, generally
speaking, has been we'll employed, and
by all comparisons well paid, as was
right and just. But labor has not
been satisfied, and recently, more
noticeably within the past few months,
has been making demands, in%son1e in
stances very unreasonable, and the
point to note in this connection is that
the aggressiveness, or arrogance OF
labor agitators reached it's height at
the very time when the general busi-
! ness of the country, having passed ex-
treme high point, was turning over
the crest into comparative moderation
Many demands were made up on en-
ployers, and thru inability on theil
part to grant them or unwillingness, il
that be the filter word, much improve
ment work has been held up. Ir
t these controversies the strikers have
, usually lost. Labor, like anything
else, is a supply and demand PROPOSE
ton in its finality. Many organiza
+ tions have found that this is not {
r good time to enforce new Demands
. that the labor market is not so strong
as formerly, that concessions forced
, last year cannot be forced now under
changing business and labor condi
9 tons, and that a new demand is les
I certain to be obtained by concerted ac
, ton calculated to cripple an industry
:. as witness the unfortunate strike O.
9 the Minneapolis, -four mill employees
y an untinely effort doomed to failur,
q almost before it began. -......t
+ Yet all this is not bad. If changin,
conditions result in more stable labo
market great many enterprises lyin,
4 dormant will be revived, and plan
>, long delayed by labor uncertainty car
q ried out. This applies especially tt
; building plans held up the countr.
over. @-- . ~. = s.
The favorable condition Of tn
:. money market is still feature. TIL
. banks of the east are in the stronges
= position for years and while the f1ov
!, Of money westward is certain to in
= crease from now on, there is not tn
= slightest indication as yet of stringenc
: to come. The railroads are still max
ings good showings, especially the west
ern roads. In the mercantile trad
there is increased tendency on the par
:, Of buyers to hold off and collection
:. are reported somewhat slower Like
: wise the value Of business in north
western centers is moderate, and il
:, bank clearings Minneapolis hold
! about UP to last year, but shows n
- gains. This is due to the late crops
Wheat and flax are both very late an
: the movement is light, but later on a.
- increase is certain. Late crops ca
have no other effect than to max
{, business suffer by comparison with las
Z year when the movement at this tim
y was heavier in all cereals and doubl
so In wheat, but this is a. conditio