The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-25
GREAT BUSINESS AHEAD.

GREAT BUSINESS AHEAD.
A recent issue of the Manufacturers
Record gives view of the business
outlook that is full of announcement.
With reference to the present small
consumption OF certain leading build
ing materials, for example. 1t says
that 1t must be made up in the not
distant future by q consumption very
much greater than the high point
reached a year ago. There Is to be no
let I'D In the increase Of population,
while there is no material decline in
the rate of destruction which is going
on of railroad rolling stock and road
bed. There is no decrease in the wear
and tear on wooden trestles and only
a temporary hating in the require
nents of the country which make for
cement and lumber.
With an increase of population or
100000 a year, with an enormous in
crease in consumptive requirements,
the activity of 1905-1906 and the early
part of 1907, great as 1t seemed at
the time, will soon be but a normal
condition. The volume of business.
considering the growth of the country,
that Of the period mentioned while the
abnormal or special periods OF activity
will run as far ahead OF that as that
was ahead of eight or ten years ago.
The Record declares that railroads
must be reconstructed and new lines
built at q cost of many thousands of
millions of dollars and that economic
conditions will force this even If the
Inh NO fhrnJ1Oh a.
ownership certificates. The railroads
must expand and practically double IN
mileage within the next ten or twelve
years and in fact a very large amount
Of II must be done within the next i've
or six years.
It sets forth also that city growth
has only fairly begun. that municipal
improvements on a large scale must
go forward, that good roads must be
built at the cost of hundreds Of mil
lions of dollars and every other line
of work needed by a population now
fully 100000 and soon to exceed
100, 900, 900, backed by resources un-
equalled elsewhere on the face Of the
earth. must go forward upon scale
commensurate with our natural ad-
vantages and the worlds wonderful
material progress.
The Record says that it behooves
the wideawake, farseeing business
man, to recognize these conditions and
to prepare for this coming activity.
Now when labor is cheap and abund-
ant, when building material is lower
than for several years, when iron is
down in price, when machine shops
can accept and fill orders within a
reasonable time. it declares it to be
pre-eminently the opportunity for the
farseeing man to prepare for the fu-
ture and for the hustling man or con-
Germ to secure business. This is a
great time for the business man who
wants to be ready to reap his full har-
vest with the next swing of the pendu-
lum from the present depression to
the high water mark of the future.
Nobody, declares the Record, need
imagine for one moment that this
country will not soon right itself and
no one need imagine that public
opinion will not be on the side of
property rights and the UNFOLDING
forces of the country, compelling leg
islators to join in constructive rather
than destructive work.
Such is the reasoning Of this leading
representative of the great manufac-
turing interests of the country and It
appears plausible. A great machinery
builder and handler Is quoted as say
ing: 81 have never found It profitable
to sell the United States short" ]. |
Pierpont Morgan is on record as hav-
ing said: THE pessimists may win for |
time. but in the long run the coun-
try will always beat them" The |
Manufacturers Record therefore con-
cludes:
This is the time for men who can
command capital and for municipal
and county authorities to carry for
ward their projected improvements
Hundreds of thousands of laborers are
out of employment, wages are low and
materials can be had at a much lower
cost than last year. Under such cir
cumstance men who expect to build
and can secure the needed money
ought to go ahead at once, while
states, cities, towns and counties which
have planned for public improve
ments should act Immediately. They
would thus secure the lower cost of
construction work and help to create
prosperity