The morning journal-courier., 1908-05-06
Wednesday,, May c. 1908.
"LET US ALONE"


 Out of tho west has come new young Lochinvar and he bears aloft not the familiar warning Excelsior" but a new and musical cry: Let Us Alone" He Is the representative of the Nation al Prosperity Association, which sprang into existence at st. Louis as a result of an address made to the traffic club of that city by B. r. Yoakum, chair man of the executive committee of the Rock Island Railroad company, in the course of which he laid down the doc. Urine that what the country needs most is revival of business confidence, This he would bring about. first by crying things up instead of crying everything down. and second by asking to be left alone. The latter course he finds essen tial to the natural recovery from legls- lative beatings which have left the commercial interests of the nation worn and wasted.
 That the National Prosperity Asso- tion means business is shown by its getting quickly into touch with the commercial bodies of the country. The New York Chamber of Commerce has already been asked 10 cooperate with its vast influence In awakening people to the fact, that what was largely a psychological fall down can be in part at least met by a psychological asser- tion of undiminished commercial ca pacity In spite of the pesslmistic atti- tude of banking circles, business has begun to show an improvement The experience of the Pennsylvania railroad In easily floating It's new loan, and the prompt sale of New York city bonds have screwed up the courage of the in- vestors of the country and stimulated the appetite of folks for business ex- change, It is the judgment of such men as MT. Yoakum that the path of op- timism is the one path that leads men out of the wilderness of doubt and per. plexity. It was the hopeful condition oi mind which existed In this city during the trying days of October and No. vember that stayed off the depression here. Nor was 1t until the wave of pes simism forced its way here by the arti. ficlal repetition of hard luck storie, given free circulation in New York that the fierce waves of failing conf dence smote us There were, of course real reasons for the decline and disap pearance of business confidence. There are real reasons today for the rise anc formulation of new spirit of hopeful ness. The bottom has been touched There remains to be cultivated a nor mai realization of the fact that th nation is not to be beaten in a figh with adverse conditions, that the mar ket is not overproduced that the mon ey supply has not been destroyed anc that the needs of people for the stapl, products are large and never satisfied
 Let Us Alone" is a good reply t make to the calamity howlers, wh have permitted their fears to under mine their judgment and who hav magnifed their bruises until they hay, become unloading wounds. It Is a goot reply to make to those, who, In thei ignorance of trade conditions an, economies, would encourage halls o legislation, both state and national [, enter more enthusiastically than eve upon an extended career of legislativ experiment. It is good reply to mak to the man, who prophecies contin uance of hard times until after tn election, as if the task of officering tn government carries with it the germ of dissolution or as if any man an, political party could nominate an, elect would be capable of destroyini free institutions and the stimulan they provide for every kind of humai endeavor It Is a good reply 10 mak to a congress of the United States which undertakes to preach the gospe of peace through the expenditure Q millions for new battleships It Is
 good reply to make to that large arm of malcontents and discontents, who's time for preaching comes when tn commercial barometer drops It is fin ally a good reply to make to those who have grown dissatisfied with tn constitution, because they have n practical knowledge of what it can ac complish if appealed to, and who Woul carry us along to unknown and undls covered fields of needless and footles