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PAGE SIX Ol INTEREST TO WEALTH CREATORS AS TO R. R. RATES. “The 2-cent railroad rate law in Ohio has been a success,” said H. D. Mannington, secretary of the railroad commission of Ohio, at the Raleigh recently. “Returns for a full year under the law are not available as yet, but our information shows that the earnings of the trunk lines have increased more than 2 per cent over those of the previous year. In some parts of the State, where the railroads run through sparsely settled commu nities, I believe the roads have suf fered, and the interurban trolley lines, in some instances, &lso have shown a decrease in their earnings. We have one narrow-gauge road in Ohio, 110 miles long, which, I be lieve, will suffer a net loss under the new law. Generally, however, the railroads have increased their profits. This is because of increased traffic and the fact that they have taken some of the business away from the trolley lines. “In my opinion, the railroad rate question might be solved more satis factorily if State commissioners were given larger power. The problems in transportation are numerous and complex, and it requires the best thought and judgment of able men to solve them. I believe that if a legis lature were to pass a law fixing a maximum rate for railroads and giv ing the State railroad commission dis cretionary power to fix rates to be charged in different parts of the State, it would prove more satisfac tory. I am satisfied that a general 2- cent rate law may work hardships on some of the smaller lines, and per haps prove confiscatory. In such cases, if the commission were to be given power to fix a rate that would make the operation of the road profit able, there could be no complaint and traffic would not be disturbed.” Mr. Mannington, whose home is in Columbus, was a candidate for the Republican nomination for secretary of state in 1900, but was defeated. — Washington Post. WHAT A LADY EDITOR WRITES. It is a blessed thing to be an Amer ican. Everybody—in America at least —admits it. But it is also ex pensive. There are many advantages, and many costs as well, but few com plain, because there is nothing really worth while that does not cost some thing, either in money or in sacrifice or in effort. One of the items of cost is taxa tion. The mere running expenses of a city like New York amount to s3l per head per year, though very likely taxes do not average so high, thanks to large corporate interests that re luctantly accept a large share of the burden, though often it is but a small part of what they should pay. That figure is high, however. Crime costs the nation a perfect toll each year. It has been esti mated that the care of prisons, the detection and prosecution of crimi nals, etc., costs $700,000,000 annual ly. Then for the better profit of our friends that are interested in trusts, we pay a large tariff tax every year. We pay this on pretty nearly every thing we eat, wear or use, and if wo paid as j»u<ih in direct taxes as we do this way, we should spend much of our time mobbing the courthouses and telling the taxing officers what we thought of them. But it is not a direct tax. It is merely an intangible par t of the cost of things we buy so we only realize the burdeh in a vague way. We do not even realize, perhaps, that through it we are enabling our millionaires to wax richer and our millionaires* sons to indulge in “brain storms* * and scandals, and our millionaires* daughters to buy titles encumbered by misery and shame. Another foolish tax, equivalent to nearly $8 per head each year, comes from our fire losses. Part of this goes in the gamble we make with the fire insurance companies to reimburse us for part of what we lose, but the greater part of it goes up in smoke, not to mention a yearly sacrifice of 6,000 lives. Fires involving losses ag gregating over $100,000,000 are due to incendiaries or to gross negligence. A very large proportion of the losses are due to putting human lives and property into structures that are lit tle better than tinder boxes. Much of the loss could be saved by greater care, and by a closer attention to tire protection especially in young and growing towns. We have had two recent serious examples of lack of fire protection, and Adams will wake up some morning to find itself in ruins if some fire protection is not soon considered and provided.—Mrs. Doherty in Adams (N. D.) Budget. LOOSE TALK ABOUT GOOD TIMES. All sorts of people are being inter viewed concerning the country’s claims of special prosperity and the financial situation generally, and their opinions are being telegraphed around the country whether the au thors of the opinions are wise or ig norant on the subject. As an example, an opinion of John Mitchell, President of the United Mine Workers, was telegraphed to the papers and printed by the Picayune yesterday. Mr. Mitchell is credited with having settled the national financial situation as follows: “The only thing, in my opinion, that would bring on a business de pression would be overproduction, and there are no signs to indicate that at present. Labor is employed and the people are continuing to spend money, and as long as these conditions prevail there is no danger, in my opinion, of hard times. I can see no reason why we should not have a continuation of several years of prosperity.** There was a lot more of this sort of talk, but what is given is suffi cient to show Mr. Mitchell’s ignor ance and the general ignorance of what produces financial panics. They never were caused by the overproduc tion of necessaries, such as coal, iron, grain, cotton and other such articles. In every case they have come sud denly out of overspeculation. When times are reputed to be good and capital is easily got to carry on all sorts of enterprises, and particu larly new ones in which it is believed a big profit is to be quickly obtained, all kinds of schemes, good and bad, from reasonable and practicable, to the worst sort of. t ‘wildcat” games, WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. find somebody to back them up, and thus all the available money on hand is put out in such speculations. All goes on swimmingly, and every body talks of the unusual good times until some of the schemers are called on to pay what they owe. They can not do it at a moment’s warning, and probably not in a month or at all. Then commences the failure of such operators, and soon a general scare ensues which induces loud calls for money. Capital which periodically loses its proverbial timidity and puts out money right and left, calls in all its loans and shuts its vaults against all comers no matter what are their merits. Then panic reigns and busi ness of every sort suffers for the reg ular accommodations to which it has been accustomed, while collections are difficult to make. The panic is caused by the bursting of the speculative bubble, but the final result is that it causes a shrink age in all legitimate business, and everybody comes down to a hand-to mouth basis. Factories stop or come down to short hours with reduced forces, and thousands of work people are turned out of employment. Today money is very tight, and it is doubtful if the grain and cotton crops could be easily moved but for the assurance that the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington will fur nish the cash. Fortunately there is a surplus of nearly ninety million dol lars in the vaults over and above the reserve and guarantee funds to pro- . tect the gold and silver certificates. It is therefore believed that the business of the country will be saved this fall from a threatened panic, not by the alleged good times, but by the money in the National Treasury. But for that there would be a serious sit uation to fear. —N. O. Picayune. ■■ ■ ifai. A SPOOL OF THREAD. The estimable Textile World Rec ord is in a quandary. It finds that the American consumer pays six cents for a two-hundred-yard spool of thread, while the British consumer pays only three cents for exactly the same spool. Both spools, of course, are made from exactly the same American cotton, and, what makes the case most puzzling, both are made by exactly the same trust. We must allow for higher wages in this country. The tariff does al low for that, and the framers of the Dingley schedules have never, so far as we are aware, been accused of un derestimating the difference between American and foreign wages. The duty on the spool is one cent, and un less we are to adopt the startling hypothesis that the tariff-makers guessed short, we must accept that as amply covering the item of high er wages on this side of the sea. Why, then, the other two cents per spool? Upon what theory does the thread trust, deriving its raw ma tetrial from the United States, charge its American patrons fifty per cent more than its British patrons over and above the increased cost of man ufacture here due to higher wages? Well, we recall an English trust which joyfnlly followed approved American methods —up to the time it began marketing its wares. Then there was a radical departure, in the form of so ftfWOUS ft public pro- test that the trust capitulated, Possibly the answer to the conun drum which baffles the Textile World Record is that the American public doesn’t mind being soaked, while the British public does. —Saturday Even ing Post, COTTON GOODS AND TSE NEW CROP. Spinning cotton in the eastern mills is now based on a cost of 13 1-4 cents for middling uplands in New York. In the mills, however, that turn out finished products stocks are small, goods are sold far ahead, and deliveries are hard to secure on old orders. Prices have been advanced since August 1 from 1-4 to 1-2 a cent a yard. Every article that the mills turn out, be it ginghams, print cloths, staple prints or bleased cottons, is quoted “strong.” Bradstreet’s says “the agents of the leading lines have announced that they will not make any prices or show sample cards for the spring of 1908 until the middle of September at the earliest, when it is expected the old business will be cleaned up. The problem appears to be how to distribute a -limited pro duction over an almost unlimited de mand, there being practically a wait ing list now.’* This is the situation in New Eng land, where the cotton mills are pay ing large dividends and have substan tial surpluses. No doubt a similar state of things exists in England and also on the continent. In England many new mills have recently been built. The goods situation goes to show that a crop of 13,000,000 bales is needed, and any deficiency must mean an increased price for new cotton. The farmers are better organized than they ever have been in the his tory of cotton cultivation, and the chances largely are that the staple will bring its full and true value throughout the shipping season.— Birmingham Age-Herald. National President of the Farmers’ Union C. S. Barrett said recently hi a speech at a meeting in South Car olina, that the Farmers’ Union was growing at an average rate of 5,000 a day. That its present membership was more than one and a half million, and that it would soon reach 2,000,- 000. The day is not far distant when they will own and operate oil mills, factories, packing-houses, banks and be prepared to handle all products of the farm, producing, manufacturing and margeting them. They are going to quit being slaves for the gamblers and work for themselves, become fac tors and masters in commerce and en joy, as God intended that all men should, the fruits of their labor.— Union Gazette. The Louisiana Planter says edito rially in its issue of Saturday last: “Considerable rain has been had during the past week throughout the sugar district, and while this has been welcome on those plantations where there has been a lack of moisture of late, it is interfering somewhat with the saving of hay and where sufficient rainfall had previously been had some mild complaints are registered against it on this score and unfortunately the rainfall is a little too late to material-