The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-05-23
NO CHECK TO PROSPERITY.
Indications Refute Every False
Prophecy of Disaster.

Jacob III. Schiff. August Belmont,
James J. Hill and others have recent
ly predicted that a business CONFUSION
of the 1873 and 1893 kind was close at
hand. As these persons are prominent
-Schiff and Belmont as bankers and
Hill as a railroader-their utterances
attracted some attention Several news
papers have been making inquiries
among business men in the leading
trade centers on this subject. and the
weight of opinion in all cases is that
no serious check TO the present pros
perity is in sight The New York Tri-
bune has been getting expressions from
Pittsburg. St Louis and Chicago, and
sums them up in this way "Pittsburg
expects some slackening, and Will well
come il. but scouts any real business
depression. Men high in the steel trade
say there can be no depression there
this year or next. st. Louis is enjoy
ing the greatest business prosperity
in its history, and prospects are for
more business this year than last one
of the great railroad equipment COM
panies reports orders on its books for
nearly 100000 cars. Chicago is rejoic-
ing over the Republican victory in the
recent municipal election. and reports
business in every line booming. and i
the Increase" The same sort OF a
story is told by the inquiries which
have been made in various trade CEN
tiers by other newspapers.
All the indications which have hith-
erto been trustworthy in such cases
point to continuation of the present
good times. If there is to be any In
corruption in the prosperity of 1907 or
i9OS, the premonitory signs OF 1t are
missing. In the Instances of the great
1919, 1897, 1857. 1873 and 1S93-com-
ing events cast their shadows before
In each Of these smash-ups the signs
were in the financial sky for year or
two ahead. But the things which pro-
duced those cataclysms are all lack
ing now. That flooding Of the Amer
lean market by foreign goods. which
took place just after the close Of the
war of 1S12-15, which was one of the
causes of the panic of 1919, has no
counterpart to-day. The land specu
lation which figured prominently in the
list of causes of the crash of 1887 and
also of that of 1851, is absent now.
If there has been any heavy discount
ing OF the future in the shape of rail
way building beyond the needs OF the
time, such as Frustrated Jay Cooke
and brought on the panic OF 1873, no.
body is able to see it, That attack on
the tariff along the whole line which
was sounded by Cleveland's election in
1892, and which helped to precipitate
the panic Of 1893, is missing-conspic
uously missing-at this moment. More
over, the defective currency-wildcat
bank bills in 1897 and 1857. the
fiuctuating greenbacks in 1873, and the
silver dilution of the circulation in
1S93-which were among the causes
Of these financial colIapses, are miss
ing in 1907. The Republicans cured
thVoC CfAio- Itol ~ tnC itouiAiittiOi III
OF 1875, which went into operation in
1879, and which brought all the coun-
try's currency UP TO the gold level,
and next by the act OF 1900. winch
headed off any silver debasement or the
circulation. and placed the gold stand
ard in the statutes.
The head of the United States Steel
Corporation, which is by far the larg-
est concern in that line of business in
the world, reported the other day that
were ahead of his corporation were
far in excess of those of last year, and
this surplus is increasing. The earn
ings of the Amalgamated Copper Com
pany were greater for the first quarter
of the calendar year 1907 than in any
like period in that company's history.
Notwithstanding the attacks which are
being made on the Standard Oil Com
pany by the national government and
by several of the states, it finds time to
do more business than it ever trans
acted in the past, and its chiefs say
that still greater activity is just ahead
of it. Similar reports come from all the
great productive industries. In the first
quarter of 1907 there were fewer COM
mercial failures than in the CORE
spending period of any year in quar-
ter of a century, showing that while
business is far more extensive than
ever, it is being conducted under better
conditions. Along to this morning the
governments income for the fiscal year
beginning on July L. 1906, exceeds It's
outgo by $53,000,00O, as compared with
S6,000,000 for the corresponding time
year ago. In every direction all the
business indicators rise up to eonfound
every false prophet of disaster.-St.
n lI<xl.<