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Show MR. ROCKEFELLER'S VIEWS. flfl The Rockefeller interview published a few days j BA ago was a right sensible one. He deplores Car- I j ijH negie's form of benevolence as not doing the most j.j ijH good to the greatest number, and he mentioned ' ijH incidentally that he is appropriating $20,000 daily ; uHt for educational purposes in the south, and hopes HH soon to increase that amount to $100,000. That is 'IH doing a grand thing on a grand scale, sure enough. , jfiflV But his conclusion that a great panic is due in j I Ififl about the next Presidential year, greater than in 1 ' 'Kjfl 1893, because of over-production on the part of I n manufacturers, is a serious one, coming from such j flfl a source, because he is in a situation to know of j what he speaks. At the same time, there are fac- ififl tors which perhaps he has not considered. The j i vBM panic of '93 came, not from over-production, but ji jQfi from under-consumption. By destroying silver as j gj money, the thieves and bond holders of the east- ' EM ern great cities reduced the value of all forms of Wm property, from sea to sea, 50 per cent, and people ijfl could not buy necessities, to say nothing of luxur- ies. At the very crisis of hard times the bankers in j II New York City sent circulars west to all bankers i , J to call in their loaned money and to loan no more. ' j !H The crash which followed' was overwhelming. It j gfl was done to give Mr. Cleveland an excuse for call- j , jH ing an extra session of congress to repeal the pur- j, i Jjfl chasing clause of the Sherman law. We believe mum that Mr. Cleveland was cognizant of and approved ' . '; fl the plan. To add to the dismay, he was elected j , Q on a platform calling for a radical revision of "the S tariff. His friend in congress, Mr. Wilson, went , , ffl to work upon that, and finally produced and ,() H pushed' through the House a bill which, had it be- j 1 g! come a law, would have smashed the manufac- lit jM turing industries of the whole north and east. 1 g Then the New York and Boston national banks M wanted more bonds, they rushed greenbacks upon , 1 . 9 the Treasury demanding and receiving gold, and P j ' j jfi repeated the operation, with the consent of Secrc- Jl mm tary Carlisle, until they compelled the government ' ' Bp to issue $250,000,000 in bond's. This, too, in a ! ,: JS time of profound peace and when the Secretary J kf j K could have stopped the run in fifteen minutes by ' ! J fl tendering standard dollars for the greenbacks. ;! 1 IS There was no relief until the famine of the out- J I In side world brought the nations to us for bread, :U and the engineers' strike in England gave a mar- jig fl ket for American machinery abroad. In the j ; fjRj meantime, too, the Rand, West Australia and 'jj jjS Cripple Creek began to give up their deposits and ft jfl the application of the cyanide process for the re- JH duction of gold ore doubled the world's supply. '; ; W We do not believe that any such combination ; : fl of evil circumstances can come about in the nejur ' fl future. Some manufactories will doubtless haye V, fl to slow down, but not all. We believe that iron ': fl and steel will keep up their roar. There will Pj fl probably have to be relaid 100,000 miles of old B track in the next three or four years. The miles i fl of suburban electric roads that are to be built can- ' 9 Ij M not be computed. There is no surplus of woolen i , goods the present price of wool is proof of that. ; ' i J I The foreign trade is increasing, and finally, where-! where-! j ! as in 1893 there were 78,000,000 people nearly if'1 ji all broke, there will be in 1908 probably t 95,000,000 people and more money in the jf,,; i country than any other nation ever pos- ! ' sessed. Still, we think Mr. Rockefeller's I 1 idea to kill vagadondage and give the poor work ; I on the public highways and span the country , ! I I with good roads, is a splendid one. |