Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-11-18
SIGNS OF THE TIMES


Many are wondering with
some concern as whether the
months close ahead of us will be
good or bad in a financial sense.
The following thoughtful article
from the conservative Spring.
field Republican is Illuminating
and not without hope:
A leading New York bank in it's
November circular calls special at
tention to the "signifcant fact that
for the first time in thes shistory of
this country period of expansion
has eliminated and prices have
turned decisiVely downward without
a banking panic" And it adds so
positively as to fix ones attention:
Not only has there been none up to
this time, but there will be none.
The reason for this happy state
of affairs, according to the same au-
thority, is that the situation in busi-
ness and finance is supported by
an adequate banking system" Such
a tribute to the federal reserve sys-
TEN is probably merited, in view of
the fact that prices of commodities
hay" been falling since the first
quarter of the present year, in some
important cases falling preciptously,
without being attended as in former
crises by a collapse of bank credit. q
Doubtless many thousands Of ag
ricultural producers in the United
States have felt that the banks,
through restrictions on credit, were
themselves responsible for falling
prices; and inasmuch as the govern
ment because of its intimate connec-
ton through the treasury with the
federal reserve system is held ac-
countable, more or less, for the
policies of the federal reserve board,
an attempt to rebuke the banking
institutions of the country over the
shoulders of the Wilson administra-
ton may perhaps be discerned in
the election returns.
The banks of the United States
are really without substantial re-
sponsibility for the fall in prices,
except in so far as they took sound
measures to check rising imitation
that would have certainly ended in
a nation catastrophe. The fact that
the present depression and decline in
commodity prices is worldwide
should not be ignored. The Man
chester (Eng.) Guardian recently
said in review of trade conditions.-
Signs are multiplying that a period
of industrial depression is approach
ing. The cotton trade is stagnant,
and the woolen is little, if any, better
In other great industries the outlook
is also gloomy, though present condi-
tionS are not so bad as in the staple
trades of Lancashire and the West
Riding. The worlds demand for
goods is certainly not yet satisfied.
The fact is, however. that people in
other lands cannot purchase the
goods they require at the prices that
prevail at present.
Fundamentally, the problem be-
came the same in England as in this
country. The consumer class the
world over went on strike Eng
lands manufacturing prosperity de-
,,opdc ,,po,, bor foroiop roorlyot. o,d
we find the Manchester Guardian
testifying that people in other lands
cannot purchase the goods they re-
quire" at prevailing prices. Hence
England's industrial depression. The
depression in America started in the
same way.
Price readjustment must continue
of course until a level is reached
where buying will begin again. In
view of the fact that the world is
not overstocked with anything con-
sumable and that everywhere there
is much work needing to be done,
the impression in high financial
circles that the present depression
will not be long continued seems
reasonable and based on actual
economic conditions. Work and pro-
duction will lift the world out of the
pit, but, in the meantime, here as
elsewhere, the fever of war imitation
must burn itself out.