Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1904-10-05
REBUKE FOR CALAMITY HOWLERS

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few blatant orators to create lack of
confidence in the public mind by say
ing the country is going to the bad
that great industries are shutting
down; that the railways are retrench-
ing. instead of improving roadbed and
equipment; that no new factories
are being constructed; that thousands
Of working people are idle and that
Republican prosperity is a myth.
These statements are so palpably false
or so greatly exaggerated that intel.
ligent persons are not misled by them.
but there is danger that when the
canards are reiterated by the calamity
howlers few people who do not keep
closely in touch with industrial and
commercial conditions may be led to
believe them.
Any man or newspaper that deliber-
ately Attempts to create distrust in the
financial or commercial world is little
less than criminal. Some states have
punitory laws framed for the purpose
Of sending to prison persons who cir
culate untruthful rumors about banks
and trust companies. II the man
who causes a run on bank BY spread.
ing false report is criminal, is not
the man or newspaper that attempts to
make political capital by destroying
public confidence also a criminal?
And, by the same reasoning, is not
the party that permits or indorses the
utterances of the calamity howler and
spreader of false rumors an enemy of
the law?
Suppose the Democratic party won q
victory at the polls through destroy.
ing confidence in commercial and in
,dustrial circles. would the administra-
tion Of that party have the confidence
of the people? Would not capital.
which is always timid in the face of
uncertainty. begin to hide? And when
capital is distrustful what happens?
Industries lag or close. trade Of the re.
tail merchant falls of, the jobber and
wholesaler suffer, railway traffic
aiminishes, hundreds of thousands Of
wage earners are thrown out Of work.
distress becomes general. soup houses
are opened and cities are compelled to
be gin charitable works for the idle.
No political party that countenances
the creation of distrust is worthy of
the peoples confidence. 1t will be a
sorry day for the country when the
howlors succeed in reversing
those beneficent policies which the Re-
publican party has put into effect and
which have resulted in an era of the
greatest prosperity any nation has
ever known.
That industries and business of all
kinds continue to prosper there can be
no doubt. The few strikes in the
building and other trades are not indi-
cative of depressed conditions. Wage
earners do not strike in times of panic
or waning prosperity. Strikes are
generally for higher wages. and no
toiler expects an increase in wages
when work is scarce and thousands of
his fellows are idle.
There is ample evidence that pros
porous times are still with us. A
z lance at the newspapers. Democratic
as we'll as Republican shows that mil
lions of dollars are being expended in
building new factories and enlarging
old ones. in constructing new trolley
lines and improving the roadbed and
of steam railways.
More persons are employed now than
ever before. AS proof of this state
ment. take for instance. the railways.
whose traffic always is a reflex of
business conditions generally. The
number of employees on the pay rolls
of the railways in the United States
on June 30. 1908. was 1.312.573. or
6S9 per 100 miles of line. These
figures, compared with those of 1909.
show an increase of l23,2 or 40 per