Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1915-01-08
BUSINESS DEPRESSION-CAUSES AND CURE.

One new feature and fact of the present business st
alton that the railroads have been granted the long
sought five per cent advance by the interstate commerce.
commission If onehaf the benefit to trade and business
should mateIaze from this compliance with railroad de-
mands that the big business fraternity have gOWlngy
predicted we will promptly be able to note renewed acti
vity in the steel mills and manufactures of railroad equip
ment generally But yet this predicted activity is only
an additional query and possibility in the realm of prOsi
pect BY the way this prospect realm is where the ma
ton has been passing most Of its time for considerable
period We are fast getting the doubt habit and seem to
be dragging out considerable OF our existence in hesa
ton getting line the outlook the prospects and prob
abilities The refreshing sight of renewed business acti
vity is what all desire to This condition Onged fol
by the individual the administration the manufacturer
the builder the aborer the American people But 1t ap-
pears that business activity like wind is eyasve stuff
and where it goes and from whence, when, it will re-
turn, no man really knows, not even the Optimst.
The country that is far as business conditions are
concerned has never been quite right since the socaed
financial "fuuy" Of 1907 There has been kind of nel
and uncertainty that has gradually grown more
pronounced during the past three years Even now the
prices of produce and manufactured goods, which togeh
er constitute the cost of living the boom level Bus
mess depression heretofore has always meant low prices
and scarcity of money now the banks are filled with idle
funds and many classes Of the people have more money
their possession than ever beforebut they not spend
ing it with any marked freedom,
What is the real of the peculiar business cond
ton that exists? Not the European war; because cond
tons were similar before its outbreak it may have inten
Sfied them Not crop failures because they averaged
fair the country over last year. and prices for everything
produced are at the highest stage. Not the reduction in
the tariff because the has served to practically pro-
hib Importation of foreign goods giving this country
almost exclusive market in all countries not under hos
tile blockade.
Possibly the business depression may have only one
real cause.-the slowing down that generally follows an
era of real estate initiation and boo coupled with almost
unbounded speculation and expansion of credit All over
the United States and Canada the cities and towns have
had most remarkable growth in the past decade far
ceeding the development Of the territory tributary
and the bursting OF the real estate boom leaving many
investors badly tangled up financially may have had
much than anything else to do with the depres
sion in this country The proper proportion between the
city and rural dstricts-the consuming and producing
casses-has not been preserved There is little construc
ton work going in the cities because they already
Overbu and many out OF employment yet prices Of
the necessities of life abnomay high The most
couragng sign Of the times it to u.s. is that there
are many vacant houses in all the towns along the coast
from Southern California to the northern limits Of Br
tsh Columbia The people who lived in these houses have
gone somewhereet us hope back to the country where
many of them came from. If so, production Will grad
ually increase and prices go to lower level which will
allow the people IN the cities to live and still provide
fair profit for the producer Gradually oo the working
remaining in the cities will find employment and the
equilibrium will be restored bringing in due sequence the
general prosperity for which everybody is praying
Other things that may be holding back the return to
normal business conditions is the constant discussion Of
the situation and its causes the problem of the unempoy
ed and the advertising of the work of organized charity
as well as agitation for experimental legislation to meet
the condition in which the nation finds itself These
things keep the qeston constantly in the minds of the
people and influences expenditures and Investments on
the part of those who possess ample funds AS President
nd oil nlnVun ny yNcNt