The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-07

Financial Chronicle.
 The South has within it's power to
 render a service of great value to the
 country at the present Juncture In na-
 tional affairs. Its political leaders. oy adopting a course calculated to ensure the nomination of a conservative type of man as a Presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket. can aid in lift. ing industrial affairs out of the pres
 ent slough of despond and effectuate quick restoration of business pros- perity. Not for a period of fifty years has the trade and business of the coun- try suffered such a serious reverse as now being experienced. The aftermath of the panic of 1873 was much less business which attended the crisis of 1903, this was hardly a circumstance to the almost complete industrial stop page with which the country is now confronted.
 Unfortunately. too. trade prostration Is becoming more pronounced with each succeeding week, and the recovery which 1has been sso confidently pre- dicted. month by month. ever since the upheaval of last October and Novem- Der, seems as far in the distance as ever. The best illustration of the truth of this statement is the fact that gross earnings of United States rail- roads for the latest full week avail able, namely, the third quarter in April, show the very largest decrease yet re- ported for any week. reaching 1929 per cent. In the general collapse the South finds itself hit particularly hard. It has felt the depression in trade more seriously than any othF section of the country. Taking those two repre- sentative roads the Louisville and Nashville on the ono hand and the Southern Railway on the other. the gross earnings of the former in the third week of April fell off $220.3l5. or nearly 2s per cent. and the gross earnings of the latter $20s.71s. or ever 19 per cent.
 The problem presented to the South and to the whole country is how this unfortunate situation can be cured most readily and most effectively, There may be differences of opinion as to the cause or causes of the tre- mendous slump in business. It seems to us there can be no doubt as to the remedy to apply. The country needs above everything else freedom from further agitation tending to cause fear and distrust. After the strain to which it has been subjected, this Is \ indispensable to a recovery of the for. mer strength and tone.
 What is now needed above every thing else is a return and revival of confidence ;and obviously confidence cannot be revived or restored by the undertaking of more experiments of the kind which have already wrought so much mischief Grant for the sake of argument. that the movement of the last few years had much in it's favor would it be prudent to treat the pa tient with more doses of the same kind when he Is now sick nigh unto death? Would 1t not be much the better plan to proceed slowly and cautiously un- til the effects of past action can be clearly and definitely ascertained. and if can be determined whether any good results at all are likely to fol- low from such action? Yet politi- clans. always slow to learn, have fail ed utterly to perceive the lesson which recent experience Is teaching. They are still proceeding in the same old way, seeking further to disturb ana unsettle the established order in the hope that political advantage can be gained thereby.
 The need of the hour therefore, is conservatism in politics It Is here where the South can be of such great service Note the trend of affairs in the two great political bodies It seems as plain as an event of the flu ture can be in advance that the com Ing Republican Convention VIII pre- sent as the nominee for the Prest- dency Secretary Taft whose candidacy MT. Roosevelt has openly espoused. and in whose behalf he Is using all the means and agencies and power at his command Thus. in the case of the success of the Republican ticket the country would run the risk of having four wears more of doubt and trial like the six years through which 1t has already passed For it would be too. much to expect a complete recov- erv of confidence so long as the old disturbins agencies remained at work
 stop now to consider the probabn- tties in the Democratic Party Should Mir Bryan secure the nomination. tbare would be even less chance of a
 rastoration of business prosperity. The
 South has it within It's power to pre-
 vent the nomination of MT Bryan MT.
 rryan has recently been losing ground,
 h,,t he is still in the lead, and his de- Ssa+ for the nomination can be ac- connlished with absolute certainty tbrouRh the cooperation of the South ern States. The South Is supposed to | antert ain kindly feelings towards him. but the fact which we wish to impress upon it's attention is that in | inc event of his election, the result could be neither beneficial to the South nor 10 the country at large. By rea-