OCR Text |
Show GOOD TIMES ARE COMING, SAYS PRESIDENT This Is a vast country, so vnBt that , buslnoss and Industrial conditions aro novcr uniform In tho best ot t'mos t business will complain ot depression In tho dul est times somo will enjo) prosperity. This fact affords persons, of superficial super-ficial lslon nnd politicians w'shlng to nttnek or defend an administration an opportunity to paint a roseate picture, pic-ture, or somber, as temperament or politics may lncl'ne them. It la not to tho credit of the perspicacity per-spicacity or the candor of President Wilson nnd Secretary Redlleld that they persist In tholr policy ot picking out Isolated cases and holding them tip rs Indicative of general conditions. It Is Just u little suggestive of petty-fogging. petty-fogging. Whllo these nro not panic times the country suffers from a deep seated and general commercial and industrial depress'on. It Is reflected In bank clearings, In building operations, In closed mills and factories, In decreased decreas-ed railroad earnings, in the large number ot Idle cars, in the falling off In Immigration, in the great number of unemployed, and In the heavy movement of gold from the United States to Europe. Bank clearings, for example, for the week ended June 30, were $266,-194,000, $266,-194,000, or nearly 10 per cent less thhn In the corresponding week in 1913. The steel plants are down CO to 75 per cent of their capacity, which means that from 25 to 50 per cent of tho men ordinarily employed In that Industry ore out of work. The steel Industry has long been considered consid-ered our best barometer ot industry and business. In round numbers the railroads havo laid off 2.50,000 men within: tho last year. Sinco January 1, immigration has fallen off 183,172, compared with the records for the same period In 19)3, and 70,036 more emigrants havo left this country than left It In the corresponding cor-responding months of 1913. President Wilson tells tho countr) that better times are here, but he docs not, substantiate hjs assertion with tho big facts that really measure meas-ure or tho lack of It. The point to be faced Is, what are the country's conditions' as a whole, and tho right answer Is not given when tho Whlto Houso says It has a bundle of letters from Individual advisers saying that times are brisk. The country, adds Mr. Wilson, Is on tho verge of the greatest era of prosperity It has ever known. It Is fervently hoped that the President will yet provo a prophet, but the public pub-lic can not forget that he has been sixteen months. First It heard that the Wheels would speed up when the tariff was out ot the way. Theft gTeat things were to follow the pat-sage pat-sage of the new banking and currency curren-cy law. Now more promises are hung on the administration's trutt and Industrial legislation. "Hope deferred de-ferred maketh the heart sick." But the fact remains that business lacks confidence In Mr. Wilson's i1-ministration i1-ministration and his oft repeated promises ot quick returning prosperity. prosper-ity. Ultimately It can adjust lUelt to tho administration's policies, but tho process Is not pleasant. Wo have marvelous wealth of natural resour'c-e resour'c-e and a pooplo of great Industrial nud business genius and can oven adhpt ourselves to freo trade. But tho prlco to bo paldT Spokane Spokesman-P.e-vlew. |