The National tribune., 1907-11-07
THE FINANCIAL SITUATION.

clearer than it was a week ago. People
less panicky. They recognize that there
are none of the conditions presen
(which aggravated so seriously previous
commercial crises.
| In 1872, for example, we had the
Fearful waste and disorganization of thu
war to aggravate to the highest degret
the commercial unrest. For four year:
over 100000 men on both sides hat
been Withdrawn from production ant
engaged in active destruction. The
South was practically ruined; its money
had become worthless; its farms rur
down; its labor demoralized; its rail
roads. with all their equipments, re-
duced to junk, and it's business institu-
| tions wrecked. On top of this was the
great depreciation of our currency
| which for years had been vibrating be-
tween values of 35 cents and 20 cents
in gold. A more detrimental currency
system could hardly be imagined. II
took years to straighten this out, and
the confusion was Intensified by great
party fighting the resumption of specie
payments and resisting the raising the
value of greenbacks to that of gold
Nothing but the wonderful vitality OF
our people, the development of the
country beyond the Mississippi and the
invention of the twine binder with high
prices for wheat would have carried us
thru that awful crisis as well as was
DONE
The panic of 1892 was aggravated in
tensified and prolonged by the lunacies
of free trade and free silver. The panic
was precipitated by Clevelands procla-
nation in favor of free trade and by the
election of Congress made up of men
who We're propounding and advocating
all manner of destructive economic the
ories. The instant that it was seen that
these men had obtained a majority IN
Congress and elected Free Trade Pres
ident every manufacturer in the coun-
try slowed down to the last point where
his factory could be kept running in Or
der to wait and see what competition
he had to expect from abroad. Every
merchant Cancelled his orders in antici-
patton that free trade would bring in
cheaper goods. Congress wasted nearly
a year in wrangling over a tariff bill.
and when it was passed and people be-
gan to breathe freer, and set their
houses in order for a resumption of ac-
tivity, Bryan dashed calamitously upon
the scene with his proposition to cut
the dollar in two and utterly subvert
the whole financial system of the coun-
try.
There could be no end Of the depres-
sion until another National election de-
cided that Mr.. Mckinley should be
President, and that the control of the
country's policies should be restored to
the hands of those who had hitherto
managed SO successfully. Instantly
every industry and every enterprise
walked up with new life, and the present
era of prosperity began.
None of the foregoing conditions are
present now to complicate and render
severe and prolonged the present finan-
cial troubles. Our money is absolutely
sound; there is no proposition to depre-
ciate or destroy confidence in it; the
crops. while not SO abundant as in some
bumper" years, are still very good, and
owing to the shortage abroad bring
prices which will make them realize
more money than the big crops of pre-
vious years; the railroads are having all
that they can do in moving these crops;
the farmers who sell them want just as
many goods as they ever did, and the
factories must run full time to supply
them. The whole trouble is that in the
generation of young men who have
come upon the business stage there are
many who have become intoxicated with
success, who have disregarded the les.
sons of the past, and pushed their en-
| terprises far beyond the means they
could command This has naturally
caused a halt and general settlement
Speculative values have been destroyed
as sharp frost destroys weeds and
tender vegetation. Real values remain
untouched. 1t is an unpleasant bu,
nevertheless necessary process, but il
will soon be finished. and the country
will emerge from it into new career
of prosperity greater, even, than tina,
which preceded it. Probably we shall
have rather dull times in the financial
world until after the 1st of January
BY that time weak and diseased con.
Germs, enterprises and banks will have
gone to the wall. their competition will
be removed from healthier and soundel
enterprises, and these will then &c
ahead with more energy and success
than ever.
The sovereign remedy for all these
troubles Is that men cannot stand still
Every man has only a certain number
of years in which to do his work, and
he is impatient of any check or halt
AS soon as he sees the clouds begin tC
roll by he is going to work again with
renewed vigor, and this, we are conf.
dent, will be markedly the case after
Jan. 1, 1908.
The rapid spread OF temperance ir
some form or another in the South i.
making itself felt in the Treasury De-
partment in the great decrease of worI
and revenues. The Commissioner O.