The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-03

were able to buiId a new and hrmer
business
see no reason to doubt that this
panic viii follow different lines from
the ones that have preceded IL. And
"a the imitation has been worse IN
this case. IL Is 70 expect
that 50 viii the reaction be more pro-
Ionged.
The country has been on 2 financial
spree, q veritable orgy for these seven
years. 1t has been doing more bush
ness, more OF everything. than there
has been money To sustain or That
there has any need for. There was
too nhlch water in everything Bust
ness men plume themselves on their
practicalness. They are really tn.
most visionary people in the world
vastly more 50 than any other class.
The glare OF gold can bIind the clever
est eye and lead its owner with CON
ndent step into the deepest and
p~lainest quagmires and quicksands.
There is no occasion for dlstrust
but there is need hat We realize the
condition which we have brought upon
ourselves and adjust our plans ana ex-
penditures thereto. DESPITE all our
quack financial remedies 1t is likely
tina money viii be a little tight a year
hence than now and stlll a little
tight two years hence. And so on
till Mammon befuddles our heads
again and spins US off on another orgy.
What poor CritturS' we are with ali
our Boosted wisdom. The only utter
ly irrational creatures of the world i
man. He is the only one who nevt
grows wise by experience. Catch
wild creature in d trap one time n.
he will forever thereafter shun t
smell of iron. starving rather than al
proach it. Man Will allow his gree
TO lead him into the same trap agall-
and again as long as he lives, If II Is
bated with gold.
Panics are necessary and whole
some things. They are as necessary
to the body as read aches
and bilious attacks to the body DhYsl-
cal. But for them imprudence and in
diligence would grow till the whole
body was poisoned and only death
could be the issue.
The business boon that we have
lust passed through has had a most
d~emoralizing effect on u people. We
make more real progress in hard
times than we do in good times. For
in hard times we cultivate thrift and
economy and self-restraint. In good
times we give rem to just the opposite
qualities,
The recent good times are fast
demoralizing all classes of our people.
The rich and those Wlro hope to be
rich We're growing wildly extravagant.
The labCring class and the salarIed
classes are growing careless of their
work. Why should those who worked
for wage seek to be diligent and eff
ficient Ain their work when the de-
mand for labor work and skilled was
so mad that no discrimination was
made, the careless and inefficient re-
ceivin~ as much as the careful and eff
ficient.
| think that contraction on all lines
is inevitable. But conditions Will be
saner ano more wholesome. Values
will shrink and prices will decline.
People will earn less but then they
will not have to spend SO much for
living will cost less.
Will i. fair crop year in 1908 next
fall will in all likelihood see sotton at
s cents. But even at that the profit
will b. os large or larger than in man
ufactures or commercial affairs, pro-
vided of course that the cotton is
grown on an aconomy basis.
These may be disagreeable truth
but their Observation-Disclosures does not
detract from their truthfulness. Fore
warned is fOrearmed.
Business conducted on on s cent cot
ton basis is saner and safer and |
believe on the whole more solidly thah
on an unstable basis of all the way
up and down from that to Is cents.
And / mean business of all kinds and
not agricultural alone.
Lei out 1dIIllcIS anu III Oh Ia du-
just ourselves to an s cent cotton
basis. The mex fall we shall be in a
far better condition to demand a
higher price if obtainaDle. than if we
stumble forward crying and scram-
bling for a II cen one and spending
as if the mere cost of a thing no mat
ter how unWisely made must fix the
price of that thing.
Prosperity-solid. substantial pros
perity-is a great and good thing.
Fictitious. mushroom. prosperity is a
bad and dangerous thing. Our gait
in this line since 1900 has been too
rapid. We have crowded fully a gen.
Grafton of expansion into these seven
years. Aladdin's palace was built in
a night. 1t also vanished in a night.
We must not be surprised nor dis
heartened when we see the next few
years squeeze the water out of bust
turouslv pumping in. 1t will be the
kindeSt thing that the years can do
for us. On the solid matter eft-an
there will be a plenty left-We will
build stronger and firmer for a while
at least. or till another whimsey in
our noodles turns US one and all fools
again. The completion of the Pana-
ma canal and the bright gold lined
vistaS that it opens will in all proba-
bility mark the beginning of our next
delirium.
O. w. BLACKNALL,
Kit,-ell n.