The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-01
THE FINANCIAL SITUATION.
II 1, perh.ps true Of human nature ger

way Of looking at things The sentiment
! of the moment is rarely one OF moderat ion
pose and judicial balance. In the long
run. of course correct judgments are
formed. but these Judgments seem to he
the result Of series of swings of opinion
backward and forward. rather than all even
march toward the right conclusion. We
are all Of IFS apt to be either optimists
beyond hope Of control, or pessmists con-
WINGED absolutely that the sun will never
shine again. Just at present our stock
market is in the deep valley Of despair.
Nine months ago there was no top to prices
| in the popular imagination to-day the
oracles in the Wall Street commission
houses declare that the bottom has dropped
| out of the market. On the former occasion
| the great body of professional spectators
were buving stocks at from $50 to $lOO a
share above present figures. alleging as
the substantial reason Of their action that
stocks were scarce and that, In spite of the
high prices offered, sellers were few. To-
day, despite the enormous decline in prices
that has taken place, the same speculators
are selling stocks short with equal reck-
lessness. on the ground that there is no buy
ing power in the market Perhaps a useful
serNNe may I've eIlt'I ny ebek'F'
now that the professional spectators are
possibly as wrong in one instance IA they
were in the other and that their funda-
mental propositions. ~ just stated may
not he trustworthy guides either to actual
values or to the course Of market quotations.
At any rate, such words Of caution may
be ventured, if by anybody. by those critics
Of market conditions who did their b"st to
q, ,t,h
seized our people last summer and for
many months before, and who rested their
views then amid tho ieers of to-,nv's
gloomy bears in Wall Street. upon the
sure has ia of natural law. II may be we'll
too. for those who have INTEREST," at stake
to obtain some reasonable estimate Of tho
probable amount Of money that was made
specuIativeIy by those who were talking
5000 share for everything" few months
ago and that has thus far been accumulated
by the same operators by means Of their
prophecies of bankruptcy and ruin for all
of the industrial companies. most Of the
railroad corporations and good share
Of the Leading capitalists Of the country.
EHpiat ion Of the financial sins and i'm
pr,ldences Of the last few wears must I've
made. But let II be remembered tina,
good share of this penance has been al
ready accomplished. that when a declining
movement in prices starts in any market
II does not proceed by leaps and bounds
to it's goal, passing over in a few weeks
or months the entire distance to he
traversed, and. finally. that now that the
froth of specula ion has subsidized and pr,,-
dence Ia the order Of the day. American
industry and American agricultural pros
perity, American business enterprise and
American inventiveness are still unspoiled
and outpouring and that they will con-
tnue to yield profits and rain gold whether
Wall Street says yea or nay. Perhaps
the chief thing that ought to he borne in
mind by students of finance and business
in this country al this time. whatever con-
victions they may entertain as to the ult-
mate course Of stock market values, is the
prodigious and ever increasing volume
Of general consumption in our land caused
by the growth Of our population. Between
the rising and setting of each days sun
almost score Of large passenger steamers
come into our ports bearing thousands
upon thousands Of immigrants. Some OF
these immigrants donot remain here perma-
nently, butmost OF them do. and their chill
dren invariably do. Immigration and the
normal increase Of the population by birth
will people this country with ion. oG0 900
Of inhabitants in very short time. These
people must he fed. must be clothed. must
provide employment in turn for other
people and. in strict accordance eventually
with the eternal law of supply and demand,
however greatly labor unions aud other
artificial means endeavor to check it, must
offer their services to the agriculurist
and to the mill owner. Hence all the great
property interests having in charge
the function of supplying public necessities
must come more and more to assume a
and an even flow Of revenue
that they did not know in former years.
Our great railroad systems notably the
myriad lines OF the Pennsylvania company
can never be duplicated; and with a de-
veopment Of the country as indicated
they must in the very nature Of things
acquire the same sort Of value as that of
a corner lot upon a prominent avenue in
a great city. In the same way 1t has seemed
TO many thoughtful observers az II it were
more than probable that. always barring
crop disasters, no great agricultural de-
preston will again Ike seen in our country;
and general crop disasters over SO wide an
extent Of territory as comprised in the
United States. while Theoretically possible
are practically impossible. The belief is
that the worlds consumption of food stuffs
which has, up to the present time. been
below the production Of these articles,
has now caught up with production and
that the days are gone never 10 return
when the American farmer will burn his
grain because it is cheaper than fuel We
have raised in the last Ave seasons. sue
record crops of wheat corn and
of all kinds OF grain, And yet so great
has been the general consumption of these
products that to-day the worlds stock
of them is only little larger than the
smallest ever known. Again. the large
number of timorous folk who feel that a
panic is about due" should be cheercd |
by this. that if there is one thing that the
history of political economy proves it is
that as civilization goes on pancs become
less frequent and that the harm to COM |
mercial and industrial business that follows |
in their train becomes less and less acute
and severe. Disasters Of this kind that
are heralded by such vocferation and |
as we're Witnessed upon |
the Stock Exchange last week seldom
happen. Perhaps the redoubtable Mr.