The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-18
A Useless Business Barometer.

A Useless Business Barometer.
What this country needs just at this
time is a new business barometer. either
this or else the old barometer STANDS
sadly in need of an overhaul1ng, 1or
surely the Indicator is wrong and the
reading runs contrary to all evidence.
That Wall street is the barometer OF
the country is a statement that has oeen
reiterated and hammered home to us by
the astute financiers of the east since
first the assertion emanated from the
.'Nestor Of the street." and II there Is
anywhere financial writer who has not,
dwelt at times with great force upon the
Importance Of this his name escapes US.
Wall street. we are told, always reflects
the whole country, anticipates the COM
Ing Of prosperity by advances In Stocks
moves responsive to, and ever In ad-
vance of changing conditions, and, by
declines and depression, foreshadoWs PAD
times that are to come, long before the;
storm breaks.
What wonder then if business men
who watch the current reports from New
Y X,
a vague nervousness, and wondering II
the confusion now existing In the great
speculative center really means that the
country is entering upon a period OF gen
eral depression.
There are times when everything ap-
parently is inclined to go wrong, times
! when all signs fail, when things go con-
of
they should go, and such time IS now
on in Wall street. Within the memory
of many old time followers of the stock
market there has scarcely been period
when the inconsistencies and vagaries of
the street has been so forcibly brought
out. If the dependency now ruling real
ly means a period of general business
depression to come then everything in
view on the outside is deceiving. IT out
side conditions are to be taken at their
worth then Wall street is hopelessly
wrong Here is center strewn with the
wrecks Of stranded companies, the ruins
of plans of organization and imitation,
more plans Indefinitely postponed, and
many new corporations laboring in the
general stress and close to receiverships
Confidence Is gone, and after months of
decline prices are still sinking lower
Where will it end? Russell Sage said
yesterday that the worst is over and an
other month will see the turn. Morgan
said this some time ago, and no sooner
was it current than prices sank again
and have been sinking since. That a
decline had to come as a result of the over
speculation of several years was expected,
but that it would run into depression SO
profound not expected. It is an
axiom of the street that earnings make
values, yet the. railroads are showing
good gains while their securities show
heavy losses. Everything is an argument
for further decline. That there can be
no recovery is made clear one day by the
fact that later on vast sums will be
needed to move the enormous crops OF
the west, while the money situation is
# bad. Congress will not meet until No.
vember, and while the president favors &
currency bill, the prospective speaker OF
the house has declared himself antag.
onistic, hence the big crops mean a money
stringency to come, and stocks go lower
The next day they are still lower, fol
are not the days crop reports somewha
less favorable, and does not this sugges
the possibility Of a lessened grain ton
mage for western railroads? Then Rock
efeller and Morgan are reported fighting
for supremacy and prices are lower again
How is the ordinary business man t.
figure it all out with reference to it's bear
ing upon general conditions. He might d,
better, perhaps not to attempt any anal
ysis of it, but to look away from it en-
tirely and direct his attention to the NOR
legitimate channels Of trade, Here h
will find much to encourage the belle
that long period of Continued good bust
reports he may learn that the country
on the whole, is doing the largest midsun
mer business in its history; that for tn
period the domestic commerce is aboy
the normal, while the foreign trade 70
the season is very heavy. Labor matters
so far from turning worse, are shown
tendency towards Improvement as illus
trated by the signing of 4 wage scale yes
terday by the bricklayers Of New Yorl
about $4,000 men. When 1877 railroad
earn in six-month period sss4,2OO, ot
more than in the corresponding perio
last year, there is pretty good evidenc
ri that the volume of traffic is not on de
cline, while for the western roads tt
period of heaviest traffic is to come. Thr
the leading industries, including iro
there are many favorable signs, and
come right home, there is the assurant
OF the mnlers that the outlook for activit
In the flour making industry is very fs
3 yorable for stocks Of flour in consumer
hands the country over are down to
low point not seen in over five years. tt
nunerous, indeed, to be recorded in deta
are the favorable signs that one may fl