New Iberia enterprise and independent observer., 1907-06-15
THE ENTERPRISE
PROSPERITY AND HIGH PRICES


PROSPERITY AND HIGH PRICES
1t was announced a few days age
that there was to be another ad,
vance in the price of beef. Wheat
and flour are both moving upward
Every house wife knows how
great has been the increase in the
cost of living. Really the situat-
ion is getting to be serious And
whether You live or die it is all the
same, for it is as expensive to die
as it is to live. A few days ago we
were told that the price of single
graves i'll Pittsburg cemetery had
been advanced So over and above
the present price. Thus there
seems to be no way of escape
from the consequences of our over
done prosperity. When even
death gets to be luxury it seems
as though it were time to remind
people of the old fable Of the goose
that laid the golden egg. Our
governments, national, State and
local, are all yielding to the temp
tation towt4fd extravaganza, and as
result expenses aud taxes are
both increasing rapidly. The ass
sumption is that no burden
is too great for the people to bear.
1t seems to us that the conservative
people of the Countrywide bank
ers, the merchants, the real estate
men, and the members of CONNER
clal organlzatlons-ought all to
throw their influence on the side of
prudence, economy and thrift. 1t
is foolish and childish to act on
the theory that our prosperity is to
endure forever. OF course, they
cannot control prices generally,
though some of the men may show
a wise moderation even here. But
it should be possible to discourage
extravaganza on the part of indi-
viduals and governments, and to
impose some check on the specula-
tive spirit wherever it shows itself.
Iu other words, we all of US need
to learn to enjoy such blessing as
prosperity sanely and moderately
To try to get all that can possibly
be got of present conditions, and
t. get it all at once, is simply TO in
vite disaster. 1t must be confess
ed that IN this subject men have
learned little-that they act very
much as they have done since the
beginning of history. This is why
We have panics. When prosperity
comes men soon begin to over-buy,
to speculate, to strain their credit,
and then follows a lack of conf
dence, to be follwed in its turn by
panic and ruin. We are, we be-
lieve, far from that at the present
time. But, nevertheless, we
should understand that if we are to
continue to enjoy our prosperity
we must use it as sensible men.
The poorer people are, undoubted-
ly, feeling the pressure of exorbit-
ant prices and high taxes In In
dianapolis the cost of owning a
home is fast becoming prohibitive.
An investigation along this line
would, we feel sure, reveal many
interesting and unpleasant facts.
High taxes, the cost of street i'm
prove ements aud sewers, special as
sessments, and the cost of service
are all cooperating to drive the old
home owners into fats. This is
only one sign of the times. The
people themselves, as we'll as their
governments, are to blame, for we
are all the victims of the spirit of
extravaganza. There are many
things which the trade reports
aud the commercial journals do
not and can not show. Though
they can and do deal with the
question of credit, it is impossible
for them to know how many peo-
pie are beyond their means. We
fear that there are many such. So
it seems to us that word of eau
ton and warning is needed, and
that it should be helpful. For
thirty aud more years, or ever
since the panic of 1873, which
struck US so hard, Indianapolis has
been governed by conservative bus
mess influence. They should as
sert themselves at the present
time. We do not mean to say
that they are even now imperative.
But it may be that they can be
strengthened. He will serve the
o;ty host in thoSo dave ubo rras