The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1873-11-08
Hard Times,

INC general agreement Is that The country
has hard winter before it;--not hard be
cause OF unwoned severity of the weather;
not hard for want of plenty in the land to eat
and drink and wherewithal to be clothed,
not hard for want of any Of the material elc.
ments that make up the average of ,ublunar
comtorts but hard because somehow and
somewhere there is a bottling up hiding
away or boarding of the lubricatng oil thai
causes necessary the ingredients oflife's com.
forts to move smoothly and easily from one Ia
the other At the very time when everybody
thus feels poor and realizes that for q season
idleness, play and indulgence must be laid
aside and the thoughts and hands turned to
serious work, behold the paradOx-there is no
work! Too much work has been done alrea
ldy We are poor because we are too rich
We have planted, and sowed, dug and reaped
until our treasure houses and granaries are
full; we have been spinning and weaving
and contriving in all sorts of cunning and
curious handwork until our stores and shops
overflow with all the body can need to wear
or the appetite conceive to cloy its cravings.
But there Is no work, and all we can do is to
sit down and gaze on these treasures, and
freeze and and starve
Is there not, on the face of it, something
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS adically wrong in such
condition of things? Is there not some eY-
ror in the structure Of society-in the
laws of our civiiZation-that makes this
condition necessary? We relegate the ques-
tha nd
science philosophers, while we proceed to
detail a few facts:
The Br00klW (Pa) Je1ers0nian of this week
SAYS: "The Brady's Bend iron-works, of Bra
|dys Bend Armstrong county, which gave EN-.
|poyment to 600 men and supported popu-
latiOn of 5000 people, and whose works com
prise four blast furnaces, coal banks, etc,
have succumbed to the financial pressure,
and have ceased operations. The assets Of
the company, it is said, will fall short OF
their liabilities"
A Buffalo letter says: princes melodeon
and organ mandatory, employing from 200
to $50 hands, has discharged twOthirds of its
force IN consequence of the reduced demand
for those luXuries since the panic. The fur.
nture manufacturers, of whom there is y
large number, still continue work, though
some of them have made reduction in time.
The Merrlmack woolen-mills at Dracut
Mass, have issued orders to discharge all
their wOrkmen and close the mills as soon
as their stock on hand has been worked up.
Messrs Fuller, Warren & Co., the Troy stove
founders have given their men notice that
on the and after the 10th instant they will re
ducc their wages 10 per cent, Trouble is an
tcipated among the moulders,
About one-half of the operatives in the
mills of Germantown, Pa, are unemployed
| The button factory of Bostwick Brothers, in
New Milford, n. H., has suspended work in.
definitely.
OsKosH Wis, Nov. 3-Niles, Stickney q
Co., wholesale boot and shoe manufacturers.
employing over so workmen, have discharged
the entire force until the present financial
difficulty has blown over.
GREEN BAY, Wis, Nov 1.-The Peshtigo
LAUNDERING company to-day closed all their
mills Their large mill employed from $50
to 800 men, saving 100000 feet per day. They
remain closed until spring. a number of the
men employed will go to the woods, logging
during winter.
| Work has been stopped in the ore mines
along the South Mountain Railroad
Lane Gale s. Co.'S AK factory at Johnson
| vile, n. Y, employing 100 men, will run ON
half time.
The Howard Watch Factory of Pittsburgh
Pa, runs four days in the week ard nine
hours day.
About 300 operatives ere thrown out of EN-.
ployment by the suspension OF the AmsQuam
mills at Rockport, Mass.
Lippincott & CO., publishers, of Philadcl,
phia, discharged all their pressman last Sat
urday, saving the foremen and the boys.
The effect of the money panic Oh the manll-
featuring interests of ST. Louis is very severe,
out Of eight iron furnaces at CarOndelet, only
one is running. The Vulcan Rolling Mill j.
running a reduced number of hands, and will
suspend work ere long. Other iron establish
ments are working very close aEd unless
matters improve shortly, they must suspend
entirely. A prominent ironmonutacturer re
marked, few days since, that Chicago was
a far better place than st. Louis to make
iron.
MlNNEAPoIIs MINI, Nov. G.--An aticl"
in TIE E'centa1 Times reviews the prospect,
for the winter in the numbering interests. Il
shows that the several firms in this CITY
will send but 913 men into the woods, whereas
last winter the number was 1850.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Nov. ten Of tn"
mills in Manayunk have suspended entirely
They usually employ 500 hands Anothcr
mill employing 900 hands is running on half
time, and others on three quarters time Gen
Pattcrson's mill, employing 800 hands, is rum
ming full time, but at a reduction of u perc
in wages. Some Of the mills are running on
full time, and will continue 20 until navig',-
ton closes.
Iowa EIECroN-The Republican party IN
Iowa has all along this year claimed TO be-
more antimonopoly than the anti-monopr
lists. Therefore. says the Chicago TriJanc.