Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1908-01-03

can farmer, who last year raised
crops valued at 81, 400, ,00O, 900,
much the highest figure on record.
His condition must be highly satis-
factory; for after seven or eight
years Of uninterrupted prosperity
he is now out OF debt and so we'll
situated financially as to be compar-
atIvely Indifferent regarding any
business recession IN the United
States. Should he fail to secure
good prices at home he is almost
certain of obtaining them abroad.
When it is fully appreciated that
according to the census about 35
per cent of our working population
is engaged IN agriculture, it will be
readily recognized that the farmer
ls still the back bone Of the country
in spite of the fact that the growth
of agriculture is hardly keeping
pace with population, and is still
producing less than one-half the
amount turned out by our manu-
facturers.
Our growth in manufacturing is
enormous, and IN 1907 our produces
must have considelab exceeded
$16, 900, 900, 900 IN value; but owing 3
to the extensive use Of machinery
only about 25 per cent of the coun-
try's hand labor is thus employed.
The manufacturing division of inA
dustry will, however, feel the panic
much more severely than agriculture.
General retrenchment necessarily
following financial disaster will re-
strict demand-not alone for lux
uries-but for many staple products
and lower prices must follow. 1t
is plain also that the purchasing
power of the public at the former
level mas been exhausted and costs
of production must be reduced to a
lower and more normal level in
order to cheaper the cost of living.
Labor may choose to resist this
tendency by holding up the rate Of
wages as long as possible, but nat
| ural law will assert itself in the end
and both commodities and wages
must accept their share in the in
evitable re-adjustments as capital
has already done. Industrial re-
action, therefore, has not yet run
its course.
There is but little doubt but that
financial depression has passed
through its most serious stages.
Liquidation has proceeded on an
enormous scale, and the shrlnkage
in values has been estimated at over
$3, 500, ,00n,0 900. In the better class
of securities depressing factors have
probably been over discounted, and
the tendency is now toward fair
recovery. 1t is not yet quite clear
that liquidation is complete, because
of the heavy mass of undigested se-
curities remaining. Some time will
elapse before the cleaning up pro.
cess is complete, and good many
new projects will have to be either
reorganized or entirely wound up.
The unsettled condition Of credit II
also disturbing element, although
this will disappear as confidence re
wives. It may also as well bt
recognized we are in for a period o.
dividend reductions, although thi
contingency has been largely dis
counted by previous declines. o.
lhe other hand, there is enough il
| The prosperity OF the farming classe
and The comparatively sound condi
: tion Of industry referred to above t
! warrant more hopeful views thaI
!. existed a month ago. In the effort
to rebuild confidence we must nc
= expect important recovery. Th
first step to take is to cease calcula
J. ing upon the old standards of value
> or from the old point of view an
TO candidly recognize that IN bus
Il nass yalues and volume muat /