Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-11-15
GINGER sNAPs-sy q. n. 7.
Grea, seoui We have 20, around

otcat oSotts we uAve kot etou"~
TO point where as = nation. un
humble thanks to John d. Rockcfci-
Ter and J. Pirfpont Morgan for res
euing Us from financial disaster.
These two greatest cxcmplafs Of the
.monopoiistie speculation frenzy which
has brought Us to the abyss OF hard
times and Is going to plunge many
of Us in-thesc are being obsequious-
iy thanked because they took advan-
,agc of panic they had largely help.
cd to produce. Took advantage Of Z
10 get control Of \ transcon'inental
railroad. \ big Trust company and
the only. remaining serious eompe,it-
or they had in the field Of steel man
about to bust salute you!
These two distinguished gamblers
who have got So far ahead Of the
game that they are able orcniy and
hraxrnly to load the dice with which
VIC risy. arc thanked for putting liz.
tic ex,ra currency on the market and
n ing decreased securities of sons
hoiv's hands. That gives somebody
little lower down chance to save
something out Of the pot he went in.
10. And So ON down the line until
the available currency thcv supplied
Is ihinncd out and lost among a COM
n,rativc few of the larger risk-tak-
i-g he'icrs. Bat who IL going to save
the multitude below that line? The
fellows who are taking Just little
r'i-rcc Of getting something for
nothing. Those who didn't see that
the dice were ioadcd-didn't sec that
somebody stood to lose when John
d. and Picrpont win! Those who
didn't sec that when the confidence.
kind of business had run its fcvcrsd
course there would be some wasted
and famishcd skeletons left bleaching
along the roadside.
Gambling in human necessities is
worse than ordinary card-playing be-
c,usc IL is Of much farther reaching
effect. II involves everybody wheth-
or thcv arc parties to the game or
not. II r:vcs artificial values to the
things they must needs have and so
-obs them of. their honest earnings.
And this inf,tion Of prices has been
-rrcrntcd business prosperity. But
for vcsr.past there has been \ stead
ilv growing rctrcnchmcnt Of living
expenses. As the effect Of this reacts
rpon production the demand Tor
workers declines. which produces q
further decline in consumption. ana
tins again n decline in production. A
mere Temporary currency stringcncy
would produce no such slumps IN
values as VIC arc now experiencing.
The amount of. business done does
not turn ON the amount OF currency
in use. Currency is comparatively q
small factor in the business world. a
scarcity OF currency alone would not
check the sale of cotton in the South
aud of cattle. and grain in the West.
nor cause :hc banks to refuse to their
customers extensions of maturing pa
ncr while suspcnding payment them
selves.
Those who are the victims of the
rcriodicity superstition express some
surprise that the present panic did
not wait till 1913, and SO make the
even twenty years which elapsed be-
tween former financial panics-or at
least between three out of four OF
them. The disposition to associate
the calendar with the ups and downs
of human experiences is perhaps lit
tie more absurd than to associate
them with the relations of the stars
and the phases of the moon. How
much we had written about the I'm de
steele a few years ago. Just as if ev.
ery day did not constitute the end OF
some century; or as If the eternal on
goinrs of cause and effect ever stop
bed to consult the calendar. Still one
would have supposed that with nearly
every line of manufacture in some
sort of a manufacturers combine, so
that the. output was limited to the de-
mand, or kept below it.. the climax
would have been somewhat deferred