Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-12-31
WARM WELCOME FOR TAFT
BOSTON MERCHANTS BANQUET
SECRETARY FIRST PUBLIC UTTERENCEs SINCE RETURN FROM
TOUR OF WORLD ARE SIGNIFICANT VIEW HIS cANDI-
q DAcY-D1scUssEs PANIC, GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP AND
20 CORPORATE CONTROL

BOSTON, Dec. 31.-seoretary
Taft last night delivered his first
public speech since his return from
his tour q the globe, at the an
nual banquet of the Boston .EIer-
chants association. IN view of the
prominence given to his presidential
campaign graf weight is given his
utterances Oh topics relating to fea-
tures OF natnnal policy. His Had-
dress was hea'tily received and Gov
-ering the main points is as follows:
During the list three months the
country has suffered a severe none
tary panic. Even yet the clearing
house certificates linger in your
bank exchanges rs emphatic eFi-
dence of its severity and of the ex-
treme measures which had to be
taken to avert greater disaster.
Doubtless many of my hearers have
not yet recovered from the intense
nervous strain and mental suffering
to which they have been subjected
since the middle of October. For
this reason | have selected for my
topic of tonight "'The Panic OF
1907; It's Causes, Its Probable Eff
feet and the Relation 10 1t of the
Politics of the National Admins.
tration."
What did cause the panic? Writ.
ers on such subjects who have giver
their lives and constant attention
to matters of this kind, who are abl'
to institute a comparison of lht
present panic with previous panfcs
and who are entirely familiar witt
the conditions preceding all g
them, substantially agree upon th'
cause. Panics and industrial depres
sion are the result of the character
istics of human nature, which man
ifest themselves in business AM
elsewhere. The world generally ha
a certain amount of 1oanable capita
available for new enterprises or tn
enlargement Of old ones. In period
of prosperity this capital, with tn
instrumentalities for enlarging
potentially by credits, is put int
new enterprises which are profltf
bic, and the increase in free capita
goes on almost in arithmetical pre-
gressions. After a time, however, {
operation, wages and the profit
the new enterprise grow smalle
The loanable capital gradual
changes its form into investment
less and less convertible. Much
that which might be capital is was
ed in unwise enterprises, in eXtraVf
gance in living, IN wars and abst
Lutte destruction of property, unit
the available free capital become
we'll nigh exhausted the world owe
and the progress of new enterprise
must await the saving OF NOR
Men continue to embark in new er
terprises, however the capital fai
them.
Lack of Loanable Capital
For eight or nine months pas
there were many indications thf
the loanable capital of the Wori
was near exhaustion. This resu
was brought about not only by tn
enormous expansion of busine'
plants and business investmel
which could not be readily conVer
ed, but also by the waste of caplti
in extravaganza of living and [
the Spanish war, the Boer war an
the Russian-Japanese war, and
such catastrophies as Baltimore al
San Francisco. 1t became imposs
BILE for the soundest railroads al
other enterprises to borrow none
for new construction or reconstru
tion. The condition was not comm
ed to this country, but extended u
world over and was made mantle
in the countries of Europe even b
fore it was felt here.
Secondly, the conclusion cam
be avoided that the revelations
irregularity. breaches of trust, sto
jobbing, over-issues of stock, viol
ton of laws and lack of rigid sta
or national supervision in the ma
agement of some of our largest
surance companies, railroad COZ
panies and financial corporatio
shocked investors and made the
withhold what little loanable ca
tai remained available. Such d