Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-01-01

; & 4 49, 5 4 s
New Conditions Shall Have
Adjusted Themselves.
sThe year 1914 win see easier
money" predicted Mr.. Roger w. Bah
son, a New York financial expert, in
an interview with a Minneapolis re-
porter the other day.
President Wilson has shown great
sagacity, he said, in coupling the cur
rency legislation with the new tariff,
as the new currency system will help
to avoid some of the expected conse-
quences of tariff reduction.
Mr.. Babson is famed as a statisti.
clan and an expert on Investments,
and Is financial expert for the Satur-
day Evening Post. A banker by train
ing, he has developed into journal
istic line, and was sent by the New
York Times to the Balkan states dur
ing the recent war.
Balkan War Cause Of Strinaency
THE trouble with the present finan-
cial condition does not originate in
the United States" said Mr.. Babson,
but is due primarily to the Balkan
war, which consumed practically
billion dollars of the worlds available
capital. The trouble has been aggra-
waited by the enormous outlay for Eu.
ropean ornaments There are more
men under arms In Europe today
than there are on the farms of the
United States. They are withdrawn
from production and that means high
.er prices abroad and tighter money.
We do not pay the taxes Of foreign
nations, but prices are Worldwide.
War Expense All Waste
THE money spent on the Balkan
war would have double,tracked half
the railroads of the United States.
Spent as it was, this capital gave
benefit to nobody. Capital is torea
energy. When spent improving rail-
road or developing water power, it
creates something which will produce
an income for the future years.
Many business men think that.
when they buy an automobile, they are
helping business, because the automo.
bile means labor for workmen. But
the automobile is like battleship, as
rule. 1t produces no wealth, and is
scrapped in few years The size Of
this problem may be realized when /
say that we figure there are 100000
automobiles in the United States to.
day, with an average value OF $1,000.
In Stage Of Recuperation.
"Workingmen are likely to have a
harder year in 1914, but an easier
money market will soon bring an i'm
provement in conditions. We are now
reaching the first stage in a period of
recuperation
Many seem to attribute every
change in business conditions to poIi-
tics. | do not see it that way. Con-
ditions make presidents, and presi-
dents do not make conditions. | am
republican, but admire the fore
sight shown by President Wilson. The
currency legislation viii be helpful, /
am sure, to the little fellow, the man
on the bleacher, though not a good
thing for those in the charmed circle.
The president was very shrewd when
he insisted that this currency bill
should go along with the tariff. He
knows the game. He is not SO keen
about tariff reduction, / believe, as
most people think he Is, but he felt
that the tariff was the keynote Of the
platform. He stood by that as he did
by Bryan, out of loyalty, and respect
him for it.
Likes Wilson's "Sand."
He knows that a change in the
tariff is good deal like knocking
down the ladder you climbed up by,
but he was pledged to it, and he had
the sand to put 1t through. He feels
that the currency Legislation will help
to relieve the country from any un-
toward consequences OF tariff reduc-
ton, and he showed wonderful long
headedness in coupling the two to-
gether.
Il do not believe he knows In his
,wn mind just what should be done