Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1914-07-03
OVERLAPPING CALAMITY.

Manufactured depression is not real depres
sion. Every last Of Us knows that but every
last one of us does not know that the present feel
ing throughout the country is directly attributable
TO concerted effort to bring about depression
The evidences of it are too plain the means by
which it is being carried out too apparent, to ad-
init of any other Interpretation. Capital is timd
and timd because as Harpers Weekly says
Whatever happens, Wall street keeps one great
power 1t can focus the country's opinion any
subject it chooses 1t can keep going the question
of whether particular measure that is in eontem-
plation makes against prosperity or not. Money
is timid, little money well as big money, and
this ability to preserve anxiety for long stretches
of time amounts to tremendous power. 1t is one
thing that keeps America agitated and makes ina
possible the steady progress of other civilized
countries
Or, as The New York Word puts it, and we are
quoting its entire editorial because it covers the
subject well
The calamity game has been overplayed
1t has been overplayed by the railroads. 1t
has been overplayed by Wall street 1t has been
overplayed by the banks. 1t has been overplayed
by Big Business in general. Evidence is multiply
ing that the country is tired of it, and that it is
disguised with the methods of acceleration that
have been used to exploit it.
1.-THE American people are not FOOLS They
are not disposed to cut off their noses to spite their
faces. They are not given to burning down the
harm in order to get rid of the rats. few weeks
ago there was strongly increasing sentiment
that government was pressing too hard upon bust
ness, and that breathing-spell was desirable
Public opinion in general favored the railroads in
their plea for per cent increase in freight
rates. It favored the postponement Of the anti
trust bills until the short session of congress.
There was general sympathy with the great corpo-
rations in their petitions for truce. That sym
pathy has been largely dissipated.
We doubt if there was any conspiracy such
til president suspected; but there was certainly
too 4 ach team work in the exploitation of calam-
ity- 90 many mimeographed letters, too many
fOrI kilograms, too many protests framed in den-
tical language, too much proof that one directing
mind had instigated the whole campaign, too much
evidence of concerted effort to bluff the presi-
dent, the congress and the country
Snch methods are likely to defeat themselves,
and in this case the defeat is decisive
There is a growing feeling that the interstate
commerce commission has not been ill-advised in
putting the acid test the petition Of the rail
roads for increased rates. The kind of railroad
finance that has been dragged to light in the New
Haven case the Rock Island case, the Frisco case
and the Pere Marquette case has done anything
but Increase public confidence in the integrity of
railroad management and in the truthfulness of
railroad claims
Instead of hating antitrust legislation, the
Campaign of Calamity has made it certain that
congress will pass all of the administrations
measures before it adjourns. incidentally, the
country remembers how bitterly the organized
banking interests opposed the new banking and
currency bill and how unanimously they approved
of 1t after it became law. 1t is rapidly coming
to the conclusion that business has been using
the same kind of bulldozing tactics to which bank
ing resorted
Calamity may have looked like good wea-
pom to terrify the country but it has turned out
to be boomerang
We think and in reaching your conclusion
we advise careful study of the PRESIDENT latest
statement, published in another part of this issue
he oily cojection we have to this new-fangled
AMI 5trial welfare commission is that it has not