The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-07-21
Expresses Himself Relative to
pull" and Graft.
World Is Smaller Now Than
1t Used to Be.
Telegraph and Rapid Transit
Reduced Its Size.

financial situation here, nor do | look
for any sort OF a business boom. The
country ought to be thankful if business
moves along in its present volume.
What is needed the country over is Il
great awakening, sort of revival in
its business methods in domestic and
foreign trade, and q different and higher
commercial standard or, moral tone.
This great awakening viii have to-
come before we are a world power"
This was the conclusion of Il state
ment by James }. I'M on the business
situation today at the beautiful home
of his son in the Berkshire Hills, half
way between Lenox and Stockbridge.
There is much TO say on the general
condition Of business" said Mr.. Hill.
There are many favorable elements in
the prospect and still more iInfavorabIe
features to be reckoned with in Che gen
eral estimate. We are i'll a period of
demsgoguery which reads pull and
pulP in turn promotes graft. There are,
too, quack political theories which clash
with sound business. We are nation
| of S0,000,0O0 people or more working
and developing rich natural resources.
| complain, however, that we are max
ing a poor job of it from a trade and
business point of view. The country is
richer by far thansEngahd or Germany,
and yet the fruits of trading are ex-
ceedingly small compared with what
they ought to be. It is all very well
to be contented to swap iackknives with
one another, but what is that but tax
ing money out Of one pocket and puts
ting it in another? Individual effort
| is restrained by political theorists and
demogogue leaders. ll
"We are dilly-dallying with South
American trade and are trying tosbuild
the Panama canal e What good will
come Of it? We have not the ships
and freight rates to the far East are
against it.. We have not the protecting
laws for a merchant marine /, myself.
have recognized that condition. and shall
certainly never again bdild II ship under
the American fag. Ships can be built
cheaper abroad and operated more sue
eessfully from commercial point of
view under a foreign flag
The Equitable disclosures Mr.. Hill re
CARDS as symptomatic of the period
Il will not pass Judgment on Equit-
able affairs" continued Mr.. HILL 81
will say this, however, that the insur-
ance business will shrink and shrink
to nothing unless there is Il complete
change; in other words, an awakening
in the methods of doing the insurance
business
.Iiaye you any remedy, any panacca
to suggest? Would federal supervision
do, for example?'
Federal supcrvision!" replied Mr.
Hill in disdain. Can the blind lead
the blind? Could any goodrcome out Of
it with the quack nostrums furnished
by the scores of political demagogues?
Only recently we have seen two scandals
which reached the cabinet of the nation,
and there were lava to punish. Have
there been any punishments? No the |
affairs have been smothered, but, thank
God, there is public opinion. That is
the great corrective and Il punitive
agent in this republic. Public opinion,
it. would seem, Furnishes in this country |
and not the law, for there is too much |
pull"
''But we are developing our resources
ourselves, selling and bartering with |
each other at home" was suggested. /
you do not catch the point replied
Mr. Hill. last year the south raised
a bumper crop of cotton-some say |
l3,000,000 bales and others more. The |
year before was a crop failure, when |
less than 100000 bales were raised
in the cotton belt Yet the crop gath. |
cred in the failure year netted the
southern planter Sl50000,000 more than
~ ~ 'iNf'iNibS WIZ - '"O'' 10y |
is that? Simply because we had not
developed our own markets. Asia, with
its millions of peoples ready TO take our
goods, particularly the cotton goods, is
Stunned and tabooed to such an extent |
that it is cooperating against boycott |
ting American wares
Cur crops are none too good this
year" continued Mr. Hill. Eve will
not raise any bumper crop of wheat.
think that if the west raises more than
GoO.o00,OO0 bushels it will be doing well.
What does Jones say? ] can rely on
him.
Mr.. Hill was told that Mr.. Jones.
the crop expert, had estimated the
wheat crop would be less than Co.,
100000 bushels Astp
Il don't think it will be as much as
that said, AHdflill.s6i However, if we |