The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-04-24
Another IL Months of Extraor-
binary Prosperity Is Promised
by Reports Coming to the De-
partments at Washington.
BUSINESS ACTIVITY.
Good Demand for Labor and
Fair Prices for Money.
All Anxiety Has Been Removed
Even I'm Wall Street.

Washil. gton, April 24.-Concurrent
reports which have come into the
treasury, department of agriculture,
and census office all indicate that the
United States is to enjoy at least one
more year of extraordinary prosperity
By this it is not meant that there is
any indication of a turn in the tide
after the present year. 1t is impossi-
BILE to forecast longer than that.
The indications are as stated, now
ever, that there are to be business ac-
tivity, good demand for labor, fair
prices for money, and extraordinary
prosperity for the people at large the
country over Some weeks ago there
was grave anxiety among fnanc1ers IN
New York, and this was reflected by
government officials in Washington.
The stock market is poor barome-
ter of real business conditions, Dut at
the Same time the disturbance in the
money market was 50 general that
many people began to believe the
country was on the verge, not of
panic but of receding wave, with a
contracted demand, consequent over
production, and ultimate hard times.
The lamentations of the commercial
Jeremiahs seem to have been based
| upon nothing more tangible than de-
preston in the price of stocks most
of which were not worth much in the
first place, coupled with inability of
several big railroads to make new
lOdHS dl pTOIlldDle prices TOT the d.
legged improvements, the actual max
ing of which no one could guarantee.
Reports All Favorable.
Now reports are all coming in the
I bother way. The prospect is for good
business and good crops, and in all
likelihood the year 1907 will be added
to the list of fruitful years in the his
tory of America which began shortly
after the Inauguration of Mckinley
ten years ago, and which have con
IN with n
the slightest Indication of a turn of
the tide.
About this time of year it is natural
to expect alarming stories as to dam
age to fruit, wheat, and pretty much
everything else. All the peaches are
killed off every spring but they are in
the market just the same in the sum-
mer- Winter wheat generally has too
much snow or too little, blowing is
retarded by colo, weather, or early ce-
reals are burned up by heat. Miscel-
laneous calamity stories of this kind
as applied to crops orchards and live
stock interests. are good enough to in
huence futures for a day or two, but
they do not come in contact with the
government estimates. =
Thus far indications are that there
will be an enormous crop this year of
almost everything. The reports thus
far made to the department of agri-
culture are almost universally encour-
aging. There has been an increase in
though the summer may bring out
totally different conditions, the far
mers, live stock men, and promoters of
dairy and poultry products have a
right to look forward to a prosperous
year.
Farmers in Prosperous State
The farmers generally have paid off
their mortgages. Now they have mon
ey in banks and some of them are
even making loans on city property
entirely reversing the old relations be-
tween city and country. They are in
a position to stand a temporary set
back. 1t would take two or three
years of steady bad crops to put the
farmers in the condition they were in
twelve or fourteen years ago.
The situation in the farming COM
munity has been reflected in general
business. Reports from all interior
cities are alike. They show that the
various furries in the stock market
resulting in a general reign of almost
panic prices for speculation in securi-
ties. have not affected general busi-
ness conditions in the slightest degree.
The banks of Cincinnati, st. Louis,
Milwaukee. and ST. Paul send in re-
ports which are similar to those re-
ceived by the great financial institu-
lions of Chicago.
There is, plenty of money for legiti-
mate business and always has been,
run up to the highest notch in Wall
street. The banks in the Mississippi
valley and throughout the south have
been lending money at profit on gilt
edged commercial paper, on cotton
sugar, wheat, corn. hogs and cattle.
There has been no furry up or down
in business. The even range of con-
tinued prosperity has been extraordi-
nary.
Transportation Lines Inadequate.
Up to the present time business has
not expanded as much as it might
have done If it had had more facilities
The railroads have been unable to
handle freight offered to them. Retail
merchants have been unable to secure
supplies from their jobbers in time to
meet the constantly increasing de-
mand. and farm ers during the fall and
winter have been unable to market
their crops as rapidly as they would
have liked to do. 1t has been hard to
get coal out on the prairie, and it has
been almost as hard to get wheat from
the prairies to the sea board
There has been a general inability
in every line of business to do as much
as the demand would have justified
Stores in cities have proved to be too
small for the increased volume of
business, many firms have been unable
to secure enough delivery wagons,