Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-06-22
THE BUSINESS SITUATION

invites the attention of those
who like that sort of thing, but
as a panacea for depression in bust
ness II Is an utter failure. Herman
l.. Collins, in an admirable survey OF
the situation, indicates in two or three
paragraphs some truths which REQUIRE
no argument to establish their con-
vincing force:
There Is no psychology in these
ngures: America last month sold
TO foreigners over $33, ,O0O, 900 less
nie ahiercnand1se and bought from for
disc than in May, 1918.
Lnere is no psychology in these
United Unite HsgaFes; sfstes sol6 In May. 1919 the
SoI,Oooo0O more than it bought
from them. Last month the United
states bought s6,OOO.OOO more than
=, Shipments of bituminous coal over
tne Pennsylvania Railroad Com
Pany lines east of Pittsburgh and
IRE IRE IN May were S,543.21S tons, a
corresponding month of 1918. Coke
Snlpments We're S17,S16 tons, a fall
ing off of 420,267 tons.
Ihere are many optimistic factors
IN the situation, of course, but it is the
consensus of conservative opinion that
'hose things which should make for
prosperous period are overcome by
the persistent legislative folly at
washington, 1t must be apparent to
even the most casual student of affairs
that when we buy more from Eurone
than we sell the manufacturer and
workingman of the United States are
the sufferers.
AS suggested by another student of
trade conditions, instead of selling
each month vastly more than we
bought from foreign producers. for
the last two months the United States
mas bought more than it sold. Off,
clal reports show that thousands of
railroad cars are idle, that the move
ment OF freight during the first half
OF June has decreased II per cent. on
the Pennsylvania Railroad. which is
double the decrease for the five months
from January to June 1; that the
United Staes has been Obliged to send
to Europe $4,000, 900 of real gold this
year, and notwithstanding all this the
mills of legislation antagonistic to tbe
business interests of the country grind
on.
DR.. Talcott Williams, head of the
Pulitzer School of Journalism, who is
remarkably careful in any pubIic
statement, said that canvass had
been made at a meeting of the New
York State Editorial Association, and
all of the editors were unanimous in
laying at the door of the Administra-
ton the responsibility for the unset
tied conditions of business.
While the harvest outlook is great
and the bank clearings are satisfac-
tory. the continued insistence of the
Wilson Administration on the massage
of more antitrust bills is having a
tendency to destroy the confidence
which comes from the crop reports.
TWO hundred million bushels of wheat
in excess of any other harvest in the
history of the country, $4,000 cars of
fruit the promise of Southern Califor-
MIA for this year, cheap money and
sound credit and the natural optimism
of the people of the United States are
all encouraging signs of the times.
but when the foreign producer is able
to undersell the American producer.
which completely reverses our posi-
tion as a. big seller into a still bigger
buyer" and the further fact that the
railroads which buy 40 per cent. in
normal times of the steel output in
America are now able to buy only
about one-fifth of the amount, and the
additional fact that railroads are pay
ing the same wages with traffic going
down as was paid when traffic was
going up. the reason for the lack of
confidence is not hard to discover.
Mr.. Dimmick likewise dipped deem