New-York tribune., 1907-12-20
"HARD TIMES"
r. ". Se1oards Plea for RenescaI OF
Enterprise and Confidence.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: It has been said that commercial move
ment has four stages. First. activity secono'
imitation; third panic; fourth, stagnauon. we
have gone through them all and are now ianoea
and stranded in the last one. What next!
There a popular demand, not 10 soy
clamor. for investigation and correction of the
misdeeds of railway and industrial corporations
Newspapers periodicals. public bodies and state
and national governments turned their attention
to that work Many offences were unearthed,
MANY offenders discovered. Overcapitallzat1on,
unjust discrimination in rates favoritfsm, bad
bookkeeping and unlawful combinations were
exposed and duly turned over to the courts. The
work was pretty thoroughly accomplished The
unjust rates were stopTed, the combinations
ended. the overcapita1ization brought to sud
den halt Corporations now are not putting out
"watered" securities and If they should nobody
would buy them.
Presumably these results were accomplished
to the satisfaction of the public But what the
public are not so well satisfied with is the gen.
eral air of gloom and distrust that seems to hang
over the business community. the scarcity of
cash, the premium on currency, the dwindling
of trade, the shrinkage of values. the loss Of
faith in investments, the ruin of investors and
the apprehensions Of banks and their customers.
although the banks have been thoroughly over
hauled and are found to be, as a. whole re-
markably sound and solvent.
Denunciation is supposed to be pleasing to
the public 1t is easy Anybody can denounce.
Anybody can tear down. though few can build
up. After a while the public tires of it. The
muck heap is large, and doubtless more unsav-
ory stuff be found by turning It over and
over. But that is not all the public wants Men
cannot ride to business ship freight on
muck rakes. They want-and this is what they
originally set out to get-better facilities for
trade and transportation. more and better cars,
more and better lines and terminals better
methods of management. reliable corporations
and trustworthy officials. They want to see
business resume its normal channels, at rates
that are reasonable and profitable, not extrava-
gantly high abnormally low. In a word
they want to see more steps taken toward re-
newai of enterprise and restoration of conf
dence.
We are told that such a period of hard
times this is natural and inevitable in the
sequence of events. Perhaps It is. But there is
no excuse for the croakers who would prolong
and perpetuate 1t. Now that we have gone
through the worst and faced the hardest ii is
worth while to consider something on the other
side. Our government reports show that We
have shipped and sold abroad during the last
year more of our products and manufactures
than in any previous year of our history. The
gold that Europe has been pouring into cof
fers by the hundred million is only her pay
rent for the merchandise she has bought from
us In view Of these facts. it is worth while
to consider whether it is better to settle down
into "our winter of discomfort" or agree that
the time has at last arrived when we may
thank God and take courage"
FREDERICK ". SEWARD.
Montrose-on the Hudson. Dec. 10. 1907.