The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-06

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 All the crops having passed through the various vicissitudes Into safety affords the most tangible encouragement to the stock market to be found anywhere. There is genuine substance in an agri- cultural output having a money value of at least $7,000, 900 900. Corn, wheat cot ton, hay, cattle.and all the other things | that grow on the farm and find their Way into the markets of the world represent created new wealth on which there is very large margin of profit on produc- ton. The farmers of the United States particularly those west of the Alleghenies and south of the Ohio have enjoyed 12 years of unbroken prosperity and they f are today the wealthiest class in the world. They have not been hurt to any extent by the panic which has afflicted securities and the industrial and mer- 1 cantile lines. They have only felt tho hard times in a sort of seneimental way ana would not know that there had been any depression if they hadn't read 1t in the newspapers. They are eomforta be and their future for at least another year is assured They have money to burn; and better yet money in great chunks to invest in the commodities Which make up the necessities and lux uries of life. It is to them that mer- chants and manufacturers look for the initial market which is to bring about restoration of good times. Already they are feeling the impulse of buying in that quarter and for the first time since the panic of last October wholesalers. job bers, manufacturers and retailers realize that change for the better is beginning They were entirely unconvinced by pros perity clubs, fake and otherwise, be- cause they knew that in most cases mani- festos and demonstrations in that quar- artificial nr at hpc ture. Now they are feeling a touch of the real thing and they are quite able to distinguish the difference. The prin- cipal disturbing element for consdera- tion is the tariff and if the majority of the people should decide the time inop- perfume for radical revision expectations of a great boom beginning late this year or early next year may be realized. Should the decision be the other way and a democratic President and Congress be elected for harsh tariff work the return of good times may be delayed few months. Nothing political can stop the onward march, however.
 For, behind and under the general broad situation there is going on hourly, daily and yearly a wonderful and revolu- tionary gold imitation which Is continu- ally making for higher prices. This is
 
 check for any protiacted period. There is no probability for a let-up in the steady depreciation of gold and as the buying power of the dollar diminishes, quotations must rise. This is as inexora- ble as the laws of nature. It is always to bear this great Fundamental fact in mind in trying to forecast the future of prices.
 The combination which planned the t,,I1 arfya af l.. xryar1f ah h6ttf 1t in broad and comprehensive man ner. They had their machinery at work in every direction. It Is a fact not gen orally known that their money was be- hind the organization of prosperity clubs and the distribution of tons of whoop 'em up literature which has been finding its way Into the newspapers periodically for six months. A great lump sum is said to have been paid a leading New York newspaper for filling its papers day after day with italic paragraphs calling atten- ton to the income value of a long list of stocks and bonds.
 This latter feature of the campaign is recognized everywhere as having been wonderfully influential and to have done a great deal towards inspiring confidence among investors. It must be admitted that money expended in that way is legitimate and serves useful and patriot i u tive movement in stocks 1t is a decided novelty, however.
 There have been no sensational devel opments In the A. o. Brown & Company insolvency matter this week. The board of governors are going ahead with their investigation of the affairs of the bank rupt concern and may not be through for some days. Members of the firm continue to offer a brave front and say | that their downfall was due to a con spiracy in which the stock exchange was a party. It is narrated among tho insiders that on the morning of the day of the failure Louis Ginter Young, one of the partners, took s7,o00,000 in tobacco bonds to the Hanover bank and asked Tor A loan of s3, 5OO000 which was refused. This alleged fact is spoken of as strong evidence of an aggressive willingness to put A. o. Brown & Company out of bus mess.
 In connection with A. O. Brown &sCom- pany,s affairs, a supposedly Inside story is told of the way it came to be 'stung' in that Santo Domingo mining scheme three or four years ago in which they sunk nearly $1000,00O It is said that the property was passed upon and approved by experts upon whose finding the nl- yestment was made but that after the cash had been passed over 1t was dis covered that the land actually secured lay 40 miles from that which had been ex- perted. Rather than have the Net oe- come known that they had been buncoed, the firm voluntarily paid back every dollar invested by subscribers outside of the firm. All of which goes to show that there are easy marks in Wall street as well as elsewhere and that the smart est are not proof against swindling.