Show HARD TIMES from literary digest it is usual to read the press accounts ot of a financial panic the morning alter after and learn on the best ot of authority that what happened was totally unreasonable and unfounded being brought on by useless tear fear that suddenly seizes mens minds as witness ness the very use of the word panic capitalists and the financial press calmly ascribe the trouble to a state ot of mind but when president wilson tells a visiting delegation of manufacturers that the present long continued depression in ili business is merely psychological many financial writers find such a description absurd and even make disparaging allusions to the presidents own psychology some tell him that he alone Is responsible for business unrest some resort to irony in cartoon or editorial like that of the N new york sun which remarks satira satirically cally that the effects of the tariff are an ah illusion the paralysis of 0 the railroads Is a distorted mental perception stagnant industry is hypochondria and unemployment balliel hallucination nation more seriously minded editors call the scholars attention to practical objections to his theory and quote figures showing the reality and the extent of business depression on the other hand the president has the backing of some business men and the president of 0 an ohio steel company asserts that the depression is based in the ratio of 25 per cent on real causes and 75 per cent on a falsey falsely based sentiment not kot a few newspaper editors and writers also agree with the presidents psychological diagnosis and the secretary of commerce loyally supports him with a national weather map of psychological depression and tells complaining business men that they are not only victims of psychological tendencies but are mental mourners the presidents attitude it will be remembered is according to an official statement that nothing is more dangerous for business than uncertainty that the policy of the administration is absolutely necessary to satisfy the conscience of the country and that it was a great deal better to do the thing moderately and sob erly now than to wait until more radi eat cal I 1 faires forces iia had and it 1 was n necessary e acs sary to go much further this was the presidents answer to the manufacturers who came to ask him to postpone the carrying out of 0 his trust program lie he also said as the white house statement reports him that while he was aware of the present depression of business there was abundant evidence that it was merely psychological cical that there is no material condition or substantial reason why the business of the country should not tie be in the most prosperous and expanding condition A new york sun correspondent in fit Nast washington lington reports report that the president itt in 2 a later interview defended his position and made known his opinion that the present depression of business radiates from railroad offices and is confined to those industries dependents which are practically dependent upon the carriers for prosperity and that it has been reflected in the money market by a tightening ot of credit and this authority makes the inference that the president is looking to the granting of the rate increase to the eastern railroads as the solution of the hard times problem it was in a speech before the raleigh N C chamber of commerce that secretary redfield who is said to be the presidents chief advisor on business conditions elaborated the psychological idea still further he would not deride those in a deprest state of mind he be would sympathize with them he would point out that their hope lies in the fact that the realities of the physical condition may so assert themselves ere long that the mental state will adjust itself to them and be relieved the secre tary then went on to draw a sort ol of commercial weather map of the bust busi ness atmosphere of the country some of his assertions it should be b noted coincide with statements of ac tive business men quoted in the daily papers during the last few weeks he H sees the country in this light in the extreme southeast and anc southwest would be areas where the thi business barometer la Is high all al thru the great central part 0 the country where ihei the bulk ol of our wheat la Is grown would be another great area of fair weather and high pressure over the great cotton areas ot of the south would be no depression not even unsettled conditions but normal looking for great agricultural favors expected to come high barometer also prevails where automobiles are made in and about the lake area over the northeastern state would be found a section of low barometer and marked depression it if the state of mind of the different parts of our country could be shaded in colors the great body of the west would be white while an area of dull gray would represent our northeastern states As secretary redfield looks over the whole country he sees all the conditions upon which sound business should rest existing in full force and vigor he is informed that many of the men who are pessimistic in speech are prosperous in pocket so lie he is glad that the minds of the mental mourners are to be cheered that the fields are open to the employment of willing ng thousands thousands that the railways see a great business already at th their air hands perhaps to such a degree as to overtax their powers republican and progressive editors and politicians itic ians who are deploring the hard times caused by the tariff and making an issue of lt it can find little comfort in the situation according to the democratic secretary of commerce imports he says have indeed increased but the largest item is crude and partly manufactured foodstuffs the increase in fully finished manufactures Is offset by a decrease decrease in partly finished goods so tor for the first seven months under the new tariff as compared with the corresponding period last year there is a total increase of imports of not quite and an actual decrease in imports of all manufactures of there is here no sign of any excessive flooding of our markets margets marh ets of the decrease in exports 1 1 is in foodstuffs As mr redfield says we could coula not well have foodstuffs to sell when there was a short 1 age in our jovn sup supplies pIles of grain and lood food last yearn year I 1 with these figures in mind the democratic philadelphia record points out that the country Is doing 1 I 1 more business under the underwood tariff than it did under the payne Al dritch tariff secretary optimism Is shared by the steel men who 4 recently gathered gathe redin in new nevi york judge gary thinks prosperity is at hand president thomas of the briar hill steel company of youngstown ohio says we are in tile the swing now and may shortly expect a remarkable period of expansion others look for a midsummer or early tall fall boom these men agree that conditions are fundamentally sound and meanwhile notes the baltimore sun bumper wheat and fruit crops are predicted bank clearings are running along greater than they were last year and the cost of living as shown by the index numbers has decreased several papers remark upon a general improvement of business in the important industrial state ot of pennsylvania the same story says the new york herald is told by recent comparative increase in the earnings of a number ot of the rall railways ways pittsburg tells of 0 greater purchases of basic pig iron fron the inevitable forerunner of great demand for finished nashed steel products fall river notes an improved inquiry for cotton textiles and so runs tile the better feeling through the whole cycle of industries there are signs on every alde that the period of retrenchment economy doubt and gloom has ended that the country is about to enter upon an era of expansion and prosperity with so many signs of prosperity some may incline to wonder what it is that is still wrong the fundamental trouble answers the new york evening post through its st louis correspondent is limited buying power for want of funds the transportation lines are not making improvements or buying equipment the same influences are felt adversely in mines mills and foun darles and consequently the buying power of industrial workingmen and mechanics Is reduced at the retail stores and the purchasing ot of the retail stores from jobbers Is decreased the number of new enterprises launched Is not as large as it should be altho new capital Is going steadily into new and old ventures of 0 a a strictly commercial enterprise ter prise capital is wary ana it is not taking risks as it did a lew few years ago the effects of capitals indifference are obvious in all kinds ot of constructive tive and developmental operations this condition does exist insists the new york journal ot of commerce and it cannot be dispelled by cheerful talk two earnest supporters ol of the president dent the baltimore sun san and tho the new york world say emphatically that chat the president la Is quite correct in his estimate of the situation but even they think to use the worlds phrase that it would help relieve the situation if the administration and congress made haste slowly in the matter of new legislation and it should b be e noted that the president presidents Pres identa a psychological remarks again reveal the widespread feeling in newspaper sanctums sanc tums that tor for the sake ot of business congress ought to enact as aa little trust legislation as aa possible and speedily adjourn this counsel now comes not only from regular republican incomes ilai dallies lies like the st louis globe democrat pittsburg gazette times philadelphia press and albany journal nal and the progressively inclined cleveland leader lead er new york evening mail and press nor only from such thoroughly conservative as the new york herald times and sun philadelphia public ledger boston herald and washington herald but also from the more radical new york american and globe and from democratic dallies including the brooklyn eagle and I 1 the atlanta constitution the atlanta paper for example realizes that there are ills to be adjusted and democratic pledges to be fulfilled but advocates p postponing their fulfillment until the country has recovered from the strain and shock of tariff revision and currency reform by so doing says the constitution we shall silence our part izan critics and give business the rest for which it positively Is clamoring on the other hand we find the springfield republican arguing that it is both good business and good politics tor for the democrats to go right ahead with their trust program anti and it offers this advice no tear fear of the political cai effects of b business depression should deter the administration and the democratic party in congress from forcing its lt trust policy into law while there are the time and power to do lt it it if they fall fail in accomplishment along this thia line they will be exposed to sharp attacks by mr air roosevelt in the summer and autumn campaign for insincerity and humbug continued on an nage cage savea PHYS AL HARD TIMES touti continued linued from rage page two business depression la Is the club with which it is sought to drive the administration into retreat dut but such a retreat will not cure a business depression which Is worldwide world wide which prevails in canada in a worse form than in the united states and which has lately closed cotton mills in lancashire ca in another editorial the republican notes among the suggested causes of th the e depression in the united states readjustment to the new tariff prospective trust legislation the recent revival of 0 corporation investigations and the general railroad situation which with the state or of igind annil pro deuced among investors by the railroad calamity campaign concerning the earning power of railroads under present rates can not be ignored the republican also calls attention to one other very important cause ot of unsatisfactory business situation which a still more conservative and witness the railway age gazette describes in these strong words such revelations lations as have been made regarding the financial management of some roads are enough to shake public confidence in railroad management in this country the situation s is worse than that they are enough to arake shake the foundations of the confidence of the people of this and of other countries in the financial management of all kinds of business concerns in america for the men directly or indirectly responsible tor for tho the mismanagement of railroads are as largely large ay interested and as potent in manufacturing mining and other as they are in the railroad business the great danger Is that the disclosures will cause the passage ot of more radical legislation than the conditions justify it if excessively drastic legislation shall be passed we trust that there will be no hypocritical walling wailing from wall street about ignorant public hostility toward railways and about the public being misled by demagogy demag the in wall streit street and the fools and cowards in wall street who let the work their wills are the chief authors of such legislation it Is a tossup toss up whether the demagogy demag or the high binders of finance are doing toe de more more to bring all the details of business under ander the regulation of public officials eugene V debs morris quit and upton sinclair think that they are the real leaders of the socialist movement in this country they take themselves too seriously the real leaders of socialism in this country are such men as are too crooked cowardly indolent or incapable to perform the duties of their positions |