The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-15
" THE SUM- MONDAY. JUNE f5,,p 1903.

no limit TO the n8turaI reSOuIcee VI Jul
country and to the material results OF the
industry, energy and inventiveness OF our
people. This Is the fundamental factor
underlying at all times all discussion OF
the financial situation In the United states.
Looking more closely at things Immediately
before us, labor matters are undoubtedly
In much better shape than they were. There
are no great strikes in progress Affecting
any vital industry. The bright spot IN
the world Of labor is the dawring apprecia-
ton on the part Of some OF the captains
there that the interest OF the employed
cannot be ASSOCIATED with those OF
their employers The declaration by the
president of the Brotherhood OF railway
Trainmen the other day, which met with
such hearty welcome by the members OF
the order, that il labor unions were to hold
their own they must find some other means
OF settling disputes in their own ranks
than by leaving their employers shops;
the refusal Of the skilled workmen IN the
building trades in this city to continue
union relations with unskilled laborers;
the revelation Of the corruption pervad-
ing the walking delegate system; the recog-
milton by the most Influential labor leaders
Of the fact that railway and industrial
corporations will stop by the wholesale
the execution OF plans Of improvement
and new construction unless the labor
unions are less exacting in their demands,
are all signs pointing to better things in
the labor situation. The crop outlook
Is certainly encouraging. After all the
damage by food and rain, record crop
Of winter wheat is promised and is now
within less than month of harvest. Tho
acreage Of spring wheat has fallen of
little, but a crop as large as last year is
indcated and though its present high
condition will doubtless be impaired be-
fore the fall, the prospect of railway ton
mage because OF 1t is good. 1t is too early
to talk much about corn: but, although
the complaining season is backward and
the weather for the crop has 80 far been
quite unpropitious. nothing has happened
Of a nature that cannot be repaired later
on. The great decline in market quota
tions and the large market sacrifices that
have been made must also be remem-
bered.
On the other side of the balance, however.
must be placed many considerations whose
weight it would be foolish to ignore. One
OF them is the fear, which is very general
among what may be called the larger in
terests in the financial community, of the
economic and financial disturbances which
may be caused by the forthcoming Presi-
dental election. Described in plain terms,
the battle will be struggle between classes.
The chief topics discussed will be the vari-
GUS methods Of restraining corpora
tions. The tariff question will almost
certainly cut a prominent figure in the
contest, and one of the great battle cries
Of the Democratic party will be that Mr..
Roosevelt is making more or less Quixotic
assault upon the trusts and has neglected
the real means OF suppressing the supposed
monopolistic combinations by revision OF
the Dingley schedules. What tariff agta-
ton Of this character will mean in the bust
ness world it is needless to point out. More
important than this is the opinion, which
now seems universal in high quarters. that
q period Of business contraction and of COM
mercial liquidation is at hand. 1t is idle
for any one to say that the fall in values
that has recently occurred in Wall Street
affects Wall Street alone. Such events
are almost invariably indicia of lessening
business profits, abandonment OF business
plans and gradual curtailment by banks
and other money lenders Of financial BUSH
ness accommodation. 1t is admitted by
every competent observer that in many
industrial lines production has now over
taken consumption in the United States.
and that, as has recently been so emphat-
ically pointed out editorially in THE Sun.
unless we can export far greater quantity
OF our manufactures than we have been
recently doing, the surplus products of our
mills and factories must be taken care OF
by our own markets, and the usual results
consequent thereon can be seen. The rich
men and others who have become involved
in syndicate underwriting schemes that have
turned out unsuccessfully have to a great
extent, doubtless, obtained the cash ncces-
gary to take care Of their commitments,
but they find that their present position is
that they have parted with their cash and
their good dividend paying stocks and have
on their hands great mass Of new and I'M
salabe securities. This means that the
stock market will not witness in future the
splunging" buying by these men that it
has seen in the past. The market has had
a very sharp upturn, 30 that most of the
decline produced by the acute demoraliza-
ton OF the last three weeks has been re-
covered, the full normal rally from the slow
point" having. indeed, occurred, and the
short interest in the market has to very
considerable degree retired, What the
course Of the market will be, therefore, in
the immediate future seems a question upon
which views will probably differ
DANIEL F. KELLOGG