The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-31

mulate capital, and then to renew the enterprises which had to be abandoned for lack of it. In the first place we have a solid currency with no sugges- ton now of a departure from the gold standard, In 1893, the pressure for free silver was on, and the threat of nation- al repudiation had much to do with the delay in the return to prosperous times. Our. government finances now are in excellent condition and We have a large surplus. Our farming 5commun- ities in the west to-day are not under the weight of mortgages and of deDt which distressed them in 1893 and 1873, They are prosperous and wealthy.
 Railroad Solder Than in 1893.
 Again, the railroads, which make up large part of the wealth of this country, are on a much solder foun- dation than they were in 1893. Then many of them had to be taken into the hands of receivers and immens amounts expended by means of re- ceivers' certificates, displacing and de- stroying the value of vested securities in order to put roads m safe and income earning condition. The rail roads to-day are in a better physlca condition than they have ever been f. their history. But few of them havi recently been built into new territory in which business has to be created by introducing a new population.
 Balance of Trade With Us.
 Again, the\ balance of trade is witt us We were able to settle for tho hundred millions of gold that we with drew from Europe in order to meet thu demand for money in the markets 1T New York by the excess of our exports over our imports in the single montf of october.
 All these things point to the prob ability of a restoration of confidence and, after a proper liquidation and al industrial depression of some months to resumption of business on a nor nal basis,
 Modern Business System. Modern business is conducted on { system of credit which in norma times increases the facility witl which the work of manufacture, pro duction and sale can be carried on { thousand fold beyond the limit of ear Her days, and enables a total of many billions to rest on a very small pei centage of actual money passed Every manufacturer. ever. merchant lis. under modern conditions, depend ent, in the successful conduct of hi business, upon bank credits extended at regular seasons. The, banks them selves in turn acquire the means O | granting these credits largely from tn money of their depositors And h loaning from their deposits the bank rely on the improbability that nor, 1 than a certain part of the deposits vii l be called for at any one time A lacl l of public confidence in the banks ere ates a common desire among deposit | ors to withdraw their money Th I fright which seizes the creditor-th depositor-and leads him to hoard hi money spreads like wildfire and is a 4 unreasoning and unreasonable as th spirit of a mob A run on the ban ensues. The banks then call on thei ] debtors, and the tremendous structur ! depending upon credit tumbles. Mean time men who properly count them 4 selves as millionaires, who are homes conservative, solid business men, al 4n find themselves as helpless under sue a financial eataclysm as they would b in an earthquake.
 Reason Resumes Its Sway.
 Gradually, reason resumes its sway