The sun., 1907-08-20
The Worm and the President.

we COnIcSS 10 nAVln& ndu tu0 cuton~
terry, nearly year since, to point out
TO Mr.. ROOSEVELT the measure Of his
success in destroying the credit OF rail-
roads, and we ventured at the time to set
forth some reasonable deductions az to
the probable results with which his
course would be crowned. These results
arc now measureably apparent, and it
may be presumed that Mr.. ROOSEVELT
dwells upon them with honest satisfac-
ton. Indeed, the prospect OF acute and
poignant developments in the immedi-
ate future is sufficiently alarming to
please even his exacting taste.
Tho railroads represent fourteen bill
lions of dollars Of money owned and in
vested by all classes of people, and we
intimated to Mr.. ROOSEVELT that the
stability o, so vast an interest could not
be successfully assailed without entailing
the grsvcst consequences to the general
welfare. The railroad interests and the
general welfare Of the nation are like
two pieces og wax which have been
melted together. They are as insepara-
ble "a they are indistinguishable.
We do not indulge the vanity for one
moment of supposing that Mr.. RoosE-
WELT ever deigned to read our humble
observations. Whether he did or not is
OF no sort of consequence, for the reason
that if he had read he would not have
understood. Not that We deny him the
necessary intelligence, but that it is Mr..
RoosEvELr's undertaking rule to under
stand nothing which implies an obstacle
to his destructive propensities.
We have seen how Mr.. RoosEvELTs s
obsession against the railroads has been
skilfully communicated to the people,
until they have become like the Russian
peasants who lsst year burned the ripen-
ing crops, thereby assuring their own
early starvation. There is no fate too
bad to be visited on the railroads. and
the people would burn them up were
they as infiamrnable az Russian wheat
and rye.
Unfortunately il la not possible for MIR.
ROOSEVELT so to direct his asperities a. to
confine their consequences to the railroads
alone. Everything else in the country
has to suffer at the same time and in a
like degree Credit is the basis OF all
trade and Credit is an indivisible entity,
which, when impaired in any essential
part, suffers az a whole. Mr.. RoosE-
have followed his lead, has destroyed
the credit Of the railroads. and the result
IA that the whole edifice of business
credit is shaken to its foundations; and
not only in our own country, but in every
financial centre in Europe.
The effects are already visible every
where. but as vet only partially. Such
an abounding and overfowing prosperity
as ours cannot be checked In a moment.
The force Of its own volume and move
ment carry 1t forward for a long time.
Indeed they sustain il for so long a
time that a majority OF people are
deceived and indulge the belief that
nothing can stop IL, that IL is impregna-
bio against any and all assaults But
natural laws are inexorable, and when
the sources of credit are sapped all
human enterprise must decline and
shrink until the cause of it's injury shall
have disappeared.
Thus il comes about that shrinkage
OF three billions Of dollars in the prices
Of securities on the Stock Exchange is
a very small and negligible considera-
tion compared with the shrinkage in
the oountry's industry which hurts the
whole Commonwealth The colossal
activity dependent upon the physical
expansion Of the railroads il at an end.
The dcinnnd for copper to use in the
electrical installation of railroads is
dgindling TO rothing, and copper has
accordingly fallen SO that many mines
and smelters have TO close down. The
railroads have no credit, they cannot
bry copper. just MS they cannot buy
iron and steel for their necessary better
ments. In all the railroad vicinage the
same thing is apparent. There is no
department of industry that does not
betray the canker. The locomotive
business, the cur and foundry concerns.
. the great repair shops and agencies of
supply, all. without exception, tell the
same story.
Presently the unemployed will be
heard from: and when the millions in
the savings banks are being drawn
dawn to take the place OF vanished
wages new hienace will be added to