Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-08-08
the UNEMPLOYED MILLION


EDS. COURIER In these days of
sreaction" in favor of the oppressed
capitalist against his late antagonist,
the laboring man, it may seem pre-
sumption in me to say anything in
favor of the latter, and can scarcely
expect a patient hearing from the
multitude who have spoken in behalf
of the interests of the poor railroad
president who ekes out q miserable
existence upon the earnings of forty
millions of r. r. stock, such an in sig
nificant sum being barely sufficient
to secure him very limited supply
of the necessaries Of life, to say moth
ing about the Injuries; however l
hope the better sense of the public
feeling may be so considerate as to
hear word for the employee, whose
interests to him arc as great as those
of the capitalist.
From the Chicago Tribune 1 learn
that there are one million of men in
this country out, or nearly out of en-
ployment, and with considerable gus
to it says the problem, a desperate
problem, is show to induce this starv.
ing, destitute, surplus labor of the
cities to take the healthful, remuner.
alive employment which is offered
them on the farm" in the Northwest
| where it claims there is room enough
for all, and thousands of comforta'
BILE homes for this same unemployed
million. 1t also says this same elias!
of people would prefer the .tasctna.
tom of city life, with its starvation t.
farm life with its assurance OF plenty
Let us examine this question which
has been settled so summarily by thu
wise editor of the Tribune. Tit
cause of the present stagnation il
business he does not presume to ex
plain, put laconically says "then there
was crash" Now if the cause o.
that crash is removed we will have {
restoration of prosperity. This Mr.
Tribune will admit. During the wal
millions of money and vast fortunes
were made by enterprising capital
lists, and made dishonesty off thu
government in its hour of adversely
The glare and glitter of these fortunes
induced men at the close of the wal
to invest in various kinds of enter.
prises, and when they didn't have the
funds to do so OF themselves they Dor.
rowed at high rates of interest; this
feature extending to every branch OF
industry and business. Ere long farm.
ers were mostly supplied with nipple.
ments for agriculture, and the con.
sumers during the war turning to be
producers and manufacturers at its
| n1o <ho ook hnrc nYNnlnUnG
in this manner soon supplied thu
wants of the people. Farms wer'
opened up in the West and the coun
try settled, and railroad enterprise
built great lines through these new
states.
The three or four million men VIII
had been in the army at $l3 pc
month now wanted to make none.
as rapidly as had the stay-at-homes il
their absence, and it was a plain cas-
they could not all do SO, many o
them having no trade or profession
the only avenue being speculation
and that principally on borrowe
capital.
| Fortunes having been made in eel
tain railroad enterprises, many line
were built, and through regions bu
recently settled, where the people
most of them, had not yet paid flo
their farms. The railroad protector
did, to the fullest extent possible
build these railways from funds go
ten from these poor farmers by tax.
ton and subsidy, and many Of IL
lines have never paid and never wi
!. pay running expenses, or any part {
the interest on their indebtedness
, Fully 10000 miles of road has bee
/. bankrupt and passed out of the hanC
of the men who began them. TIL
capital was lost, dead debt which wi
never be paid, capital eNpenae
where it is doing absolutely nothin;
The North Pacific railroad is OF
of the best illustrations of this usele
! waste of capital. OF course it wei
r somewhere, and the men who bega
{ them did not lose the money investe'
: not by any means, they never do tina
but make up their losses off the poo
men, their employees. Another was
and loss of capital was in the Chic
I 90 fire where millions went up
' smoke. Also the Boston fire and tt
numerous other fires throughout til
country where capital has passed il
to think smoke in an hour. Next
the list of losses of capital is IL
Michigan and Wisconsin fires, an
the grasshopper plague in the Yves
All this capital has been lost to Il
country, but has it been lost to Il
rich men who were mostly the imm
diate owners. Irefer to the Chicae
fire, where every building almos
has been re-erected by the same ma
who lost, on borrowed capital, an
: who made up the loss off his custom
] crs, the laboring classes in the Yves
by selling his goods at higher price
The railroad man who lost by mi,
dicious speculation made up the loI
u by heavier tariff, swindling and Wa
Street gambling. Ditto the graf
!. gambler; ditto the live stock gan
y bier; and in almost every instant
the farmer, or laborer had to pay til
y deficit in the way Of a decrease
wages, or increase of expenses.
q The farmers and others who ha
Invested in business recklessly had {
borrow money to meet deficits, if il
deed he was not wholly operating Z
borrowed capital. Itwas found TIL
Everybody could not get rich /; and Il
t man who could not pay l5 per cen
went under. Bankruptcy