The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-08-27
A Hromg and Its Remedy.


earnest toll exercises as much economy,
rises as early and l8boTs rs late as he for
merly did; his wife is as patient, as prudent
and as thrifty as she ever was ; but debt
accumulates, wages decrease, clothing
grows poorer. comforts are fewer, and lux
uries are totally absent from the much loved
home. Too often, alas, distress for rent,
the constable's demand and the advertise
ment of the Sheriff tell Of debt, of furni-
ture to be sold, of the home to be taken
away. Day by day these evidences OF
poverty increase in our midst. 1he busl-
ness man. t)o--the energetic, active, schem-
ing man whose cash capito! is supplement-
ed by good business education, an active
brain and ready hand-he too, finds every
venture a loss, every effort clogged with
difficulty The energy that is vital to his
own success is repressed by ever increasing
debt, and the industrial interests of the
country always dependent upon the pro-
ductive force and inventive THRIFT OF TINS
class Of its citizens, grow rapidly less re-
munerative and less able to bear the bur
dcns of oppressive taxation. Dismantled
factories, blown out furnaces, idle mills,
fOundries and workshops abandoned mines,
cheap oil, unsOld Iron, coal and lumber,
and discharged and starving artisans, teii
u.s. III emphatic tones, that something Is the
matter What is it, then? 1t Is to be
found in the exorbitant return that cHpltai
demands for its use. Its cause is 80 ne
sought in a system Of finance that enables
wealth, in the form of corporate monopoly,
20 oppress the business man, and through
him the laborer or artisan he employs
Whilst agriculture finds n scanty return of
less than four per cent, and but too often
is unable to meet the demands of the tax
gatherer-whilst the wages of the labOrer
are reduced and his comforts lessened-
whilst the mechanic, miner, manufacturer,
merchant, lumberman and all others en-
gagged in productive industry, find them
selves growing gradually poorer, and pro
tested notes or the summons of the Sheriff
crowd close upon tbCm-the capitalist, al
most entirely exempted from taxation, sits
in indolenJ ease, and gathers an income OF
from ten to eighteen per cent. upon his in
vestmcnt.
What is wrong? 1t is our system of
finance. What is the matter? 1t is the
large return that corporate capital exacts
for its use.
The stockholder in the carrying corpora
tion compels his managing director to sac
Tifice everything else to a large dividend. -
He is not content that business men shall
live and prosper if it curtails his dividends
or lessons his income. The bctterments OF
his road must be kept up, branches must
be projected and built, and palatial offices
and depots erected, and thus the value Of
one must pay for all these, and yield to
him his annual dividend. The burden Of
all of these, and of the taxation from which
he is exempt, is placed upon the business
man who is compelled to use the road to
transport his products. The creature with
out a soul, known as a corporation, through
its ever-active agents, learns the price of a
commodity At the point of delivery, ascer-
tans the net cost of production at the
place of shipment, an6 fixes the charge for
transportation at the highest rate consist
ent with a sckly existence OF the bust
ness. The only point considered is, How
much freight will it bear? The only in
terest consulted is that Of The stocbholder.
The profits of the business man. the devcl-
opment Of the State, the security Of the
consumer, are all sacrificed to the rapa-
cious demand for large dividends. The
transporting corporation absorbs all the
profits their policy leaves 10 margin for
competition in the trade it prevents the
employer from increasing the wages of Ia
bor, and drives into bankruptcy hundreds
of men whose energy, activity and soul
have been and still Ought to be potent
agencies in the employment and prosperity
of thousands of sturdy workmcn.
Nor is this all /; the small margin left by
the carrying companies to the producer
and his employees is also subjected to the
insatiate demands of wealth in the form of
banking capital. and here again everything
is sacrificed to the necessity for large divi-
dends, and aggregated wealth through the
forms Of banking monopoly takes from
production and from labor unjust reward.
Not content that the Government shall
pay them six dollars in gold annually for
the privilege il gives them to go back to
the people and discount their paper at law
ful rates not content with the total ex-
emption Of their wealth from taxation not
content that courts and iuries, Schools
streets. roads and police are maintained
for their protection by the producer and
the laboler, they, too, break down the bus
mess man and oppross the laborer tn earn
large dividends and increase their surplus.
If the exactions of wealth in other
forms compel the borrowing of money on
accommodation paper, or the necessities of
business require discount, it is only given
when .he margin at bank is equal to the
sum drawn ont and the legal rate of inter
est is doubled by the process, or the note
/ is made payable at a distance, and exchange
I is charged to swell the rate, or q bold vio-
/ latiOn of the statute is committed at the
counter by an increase of rate, or the GUS
! toner is sent to "a private Office where the
/ funds of the bank are used secretly to do
} that which it fears to do openly. The re-
/ suit is the same however it may be reach
/ ed : a large sum is added to the surplus
! fund. the stakeholder pockets ten to eigh-
} teen per cent. dividend annually, the busi-
ness life of the producer grows shorter and
She wages of his men continually shrink.
Is it strange that business languishes,
! building ceases and our industries die out
under the operation of such system as
this
1t is a popularity ofthis system of finance
that the value Of every other commodity in
which the fortunes of men are invested,
day by day grows less whilst that of this
form of wealth grows greater in precisely
the same ratio in which other articles de-
( preciate. As we tend towards the only
safe basis-specie payments-lands, houses,
merchandise, ships, iron, coal, oil and Ium-
Der shrink in value but the value of ag-
gregated wealth in the form of corporate
monopoly constantly increases. Whist il
is conceded that this is inevitable, and that
the faith of the people must be preserved
la. LrlnIt Of I'll hlila doht