, 1876-05-01
HARD TIMEs-.1HE REASON WHY,

To the Editor Of The Chicago TF!bhrs:
CHICAGO, April 29.-Bus,neas is depressed,
trade is dull. money Is scarce, aud times ara
hard. This la the common complaint all over
tho country. Now, why ia IT. Thoro Ia q
isaaon for everythtng. and thero must be
reason for this Rtste Of thInge.
thousand-and.one .hoogses hare been
adva,c cod to account for thts anomalous coudt-
Hon OF Affairs. Ono sex Of mon claim that it IL
paper 11onoy; anothor, that it Is oyor-produc-
tlon OF Manufacturers; another atil that it Ia
corruption in oillco; and yet another, that 1t ia
Tho result q an antagoniam bttwoeD labor and
capital. Thels may DO somo truth In all Of these
theories, bit ills ovidont that they are not tho
producing causea, tboy arc simply Objects Of
another cause, AND, In my opinion, that cAuao
ls this;
When businoss fs active. money Ia abundant
circulation, and times generally fluah tho popu-
.ation Hhsch bag toen producing. the Health
getting living; they dock from tho farms and
Tho mines to tho villages from the villages 10
tho towns, and from the towns to tho largo citlcs
and groat centres OF trade and busnoas.
epsasa ors y bass rite ipo,s 9a monsy easily
DO producers, operating as ,nlld!enon and spec-
utators. become worshIesa to themselves aud
to the community; they earn nothing, aud
mako nothing. It Is only question OF llttIc
ts "a to d% 10y long they ssa ,e upon sash
they become boggars. In this man.
nor tho great malts Of trade and busin oss-
New York, Boston. Philadolphln. Chicago,
sna a., other citlcs-get to be overs.ooksd with an
up for employment and for bretd. A hundred
thousand idle men In tho City of Now York, Al,
many more in st. Lona. 76,000 In Philadelphia,
$4,000 ln Boston aud ChoaGo, arc looking for
feh nft itAtr rrk &rx,3
arc much oxaggcr.tod. There are not 100000
men In st. Louis, counting employed and uu-
employed. tho vote Of the city being less than
40. o.0O0.-ED. Tn1uuxE.
md but ono. Tho tidal wavo has boon flowing
In one direction for fifteen years, and It must bo
Bot back; 1t muat be made TO dow tho othof nay.
This surplus population must 90 back to tho
soil. and cara Its own living. Whea tr.t Ia
done. and thls surplus Of poople ccase to be
consumers, and turn producers, the difficulty
will be solved, The farmers all over the country
never wore In botter condition than thoy arc
to-day; they gro generally out Of debt, vlth
land paid for and improvements made,
Of farm-products, notwithstanding tho gcuosal
depression, are good wheat and corn bring fur
rates. aud pork IL exceptionally high. Theto
things can all DO raised Ut profit. Any iudus-
tTtouB. willing man can got living on 90 aorcl
of land, anywhere In this county and fhara ara
millions OF those 40.aoro t1aots yot unoccupied,
waiting for tho hand to come which shall turn
the furrow aud plant tue grRin.
Am AWARD that 1t is porhsps mattcr Of great
| difficulty for man who haH become impoTetish-
cd in 4 great city, with his family dependent
upon him, to get out Of It and Sway to get tho
land aud work 1t; but there eEo hundteds Of
thousands Of tdle, single men. who have no ducl
| imped!ment, aud they can movo. And make
room aud work for others. At al events, w
shall have no rollef until the tide surns, and The
non-oousumass again become pfodaoers.
0koRuE a. 9nuFzLDT, in