What can it be, Mr. President, that has thus brought to naught all the
careful estimates and painstaking computations, not of thousands, nor of
hundreds of thousands, but of millions, of keen, shrewd, and far-seeing
men? Our people take an intelligent interest in their business; they
look ahead; they endeavor, as far as possible, to estimate correctly
their assets and liabilities, so that on the day of reckoning they may
be found ready. Why this universal failure of all classes to compute
correctly in advance their situation on the coming pay-day? What potent
and sinister drug has been secretly introduced into the veins of
commerce that has caused the blood to flow so sluggishly--that has
narcotized the commercial and industrial world?
All have been looking for the cause, and many think they have discovered
it. With some it is "over-production," with others either a "high
tariff" or a "tariff not sufficiently high." Some think it due to trusts
and combinations, others to improved methods of production, or because
the crops are overabundant or not abundant enough. Some ascribe the
difficulty to speculation; others, to "strikes." All sorts of
insufficient and contradictory causes are assigned for the same general
and universal complaint. However inadequate in themselves, they serve to
emphasize the universal recognition of a difficulty whose cause without
close inquiry is likely to elude detection. But the evil is of such
magnitude, it is so widespread and pervasive, that, without a knowledge
of its cause, all effort at mitigation of its effects can but add to the
confusion and intensify the difficulty.
It behooves us, therefore, as we value the prosperity and happiness of
our people, to set ourselves diligently to the inquiry: What is the
cause of the unrest and discontent now universally prevailing?