The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1903-11-19

steel mills find themselves with few
er future orders on their books than
at any time since '96, hence the dis
charge of men by the thousands and
the reduction In the price Of manu-
| featured steel in the hopes Of stimu-
lating demand. The struggle of one
class Of laborers to get all it can is
throwing another class out Of employ
ment. The newspapers tell the story,
men everywhere become cautious,
there is fear of the future, capital IS
not invested and just as soon as pres
ent contracts are filed, the laborer
who once forced another out of job
will, himself, be hunting work to do.
Bank figures show that during the
past twelve months of prosperous
times the deposits in savings banks
of Chicago increased SIS, 100000 or by
% per cent and it would seem that
the time had come when labor in that
city would be content to hold on to
what it had without risking any FUR
ther disturbance by struggle for
more, but the laborer is no different
from the merchant or the SPECTATOR
The more he gets the more he wants
Of retail stores and to over-specula-
ton and it will always lead to over
doing labor's demands.
There must come a time of liquid
alton to check the Spectator, to stop
the buying OF, the merchant and to
set the laborer hunting a. job else
there would be no limit to the ex-
cess of each of them. Indications all
warn us that this time has come.
Customs receipts for October fell Off
100000 indicating that $20,000,000
less of merchandise was imported
during that month than for October,
1902 The merchant is not buying
for the future. The bursting of bub-
bles and fall of values on Wall street
show us that the people have quit
specializing. Occasionally bank,
overloaded with loans to spectators,
fails, but the banks generally are in
fine condition. In a short time the
jobs will have been so greatly re-
duced that labor will be seeking
work and we will hear much less
about strikes. The far-seeing work.
man with a good job and an account
in savings bank is already glad to
hold on to what he has with no de-
sire to demand more for the future.
But the strange phase of it all is
the manifest serenity and apparent
joy with which so many employers
view the reaction that is coming. An
editor talks with many of them ana
naturally takes note of what he hears
more than does the average man.
Everywhere the business man seems
to be glad that the time is coming
when he will not be ground between
the upper milestone of high prices
for material and the neither milestone
Of increasing demands from employees.
He acts and talks as though he is
welcoming his freedom without any
apparent alarm at the consequent
loss to his business The fact of
the matter is that business generally,
while running at greatly increased
volume over two years ago, has been
actually netting smaller margins to
the capitalist because of increased
expenses. Hence it is that the bus,
mess man has no fear in returning to
a period of smaller business, smaller
expenses and less labor employed.
Anomalous as it may seem, he does
not dread the coming of presidential
year and the usual unsettling of bust
ness. The wage worker does not
dread it either since, as a rule, he Is
not so close to business conditions
as the employer, but what is joy for
the employer in this case is no en-
couragement for the laborer. The
time has arrived for all of us to stand
pat in our business, the investor is
already doing it.
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What to Do This Month.