Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1915-04-13
A BRIGHT Outlook.

The outlook for another big fruit
crop in this section could not be bright
er than it is at the present. The con-
tinous cold weather. throughout the
month of March, kept the buds dormant
and nothing but an unusual condition
in late April or early May can prevent
crop as large or larger than last year.
Counting the crop safe, the question in
which our people are now interested is,
what kind of market will there be?
while large sums II money were paid
out. in this county, last year, for labor
and supplies. the very low prices OBJ
tanned for both peaches and apples. left
the growers with little or no margin.
That result was due to several causes.
There is no disputing the fact that the
buying power of the public, especially
in the cities where the fruit was sold,
was greatly diminished by depressed
business conditions. early in the season,
but Just as peaches began to move the
war broke, hundreds of thousands of
persons were Immediately thrown out
of employment in the Eastern cities,
sugar rose to nine cents per pound and
the fruit market went to smash leaving
the grower in hard lines. The cotton
growers were equally as bad off, but
the magnitude of their crop and the
disaster that would have fallen upon
the whole country had the growers
thrown their cotton Immediately upon
the market, led the government and
the financial institutions of the East to
come to the aid of the cotton growers,
a pool of $135. 900. 600 being formed by
the eastern bankers to loan the cotton
people and enable them to hold their
crop. The result was that the price of
cotton increased $500 per bale since
March 1st. The fruit growers could
not hold their perishable products and
no such aid was forthcoming. hence it
was sell at any price with them.
Conditions now are very different.
when the war broke this country owed
England five billion dollars and the bal
ance of trade was heavily against us.
New York bankers raised a pool of one
hundred million dollars in gold to place
in Canada to sustain our credit with
London, but now the shoe is on the
other foot. Heavy purchases of grain
and war materials have left a trade
balance in favor of this country of more
than one hundred millions of dollars a
month. Gold is coming to this country
rapidly, the stock exchanges are open
again and prices of all kinds of corpor-
alton securities are rising rapidly. j.
P. Morgan went to London last week
to arrange to give credit in New York
for the Allies of half billion dollars.
Business is. recovering and the one fear
of the financiers now is that such
boom times" are approaching as will
make period of wild and dangerous
speculation.
This trade and business revival will
mean a market for our products this
season, good if not a big market.
The Georgia peach crop, killed outright
last week, eliminates early competition,
hence the fruit growers have bright
prospects head of them. Last sea-
sons experience, while a severe one, is
not without its lessons and its recon-
pense. Easy money breeds extrava-
gance. Forced economies often mean
better practices. The road will con-
inue trough until this seasons crop is
realized on, but there are but few who
are unable to keep travelling it. Re-
verses come in any line of business.
Continuous sunshine would tire our
eyes and parch the earth. There must
be clouds and rains and occasional
storms, but after these the rainbow of
hope and promise is only the more
pleasing. 1t is plainly visible now and
unless all signs fail this section will
reap the reward this season which the
industry and energy of its people have
already rned.-Hampshire Review.