The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-09-27
awANr AND MISERY. .

WANT AMI 4.
The so-called Nationals, assuming thai
times are hard, assume also that legisla
ton can cure all the ills that we suffer
from, and that an unlimited issue of ir
redeemable paper currency is necessary
10 restore prosperity. AT one of their
conventions, held recently in Massachu-
sets, they solemnly resolved that by a
reckless administration of public affairs
we have seen our industries crippled and
our people reduced to want and misery"
The st. Louis Globe Democrat takes this
declaration for the text of an article, in
which il points out the palpable false
hood Of the premise, and the fallacy of
the theories that are based upon il. We
copy the GlObc-Democrat's article in full.
because it is worthy of careful perusal
by all sensible, thinking people:
ANY one who thinks for a moment
can not fail to see that this declaration
contains two palpable falsehoOds. In
the first place, whatever of want and
misery the nation may have experienced
during the last five years can not be
charged to political mismanagement any
ing so many southern cities can be at
tributed TO the same cause. The hard
times had deeper, farther-reaching caus-
es. 1t may be that mistaken attempts at
Legislation added to the affliction, but the
addition to the burden from this source
was comparatively slight. In the second
place, II is utterly false that our people
are reduced to penury and want The
great majority of our people are in fair
circumstances. They are not accumu-
lating fortunes, il is true, but they are
doing as well as their forefathers did, or
as good as the people of any other land
are doing.
The conditions never seemed more ia
Yorable TO prosperity than now, the only
real drawbacks being the dangerous de
lusions OF this same Greenback Labor
party.
The farmers have been favored with
an unusually bountiful harvest, and if
we may judge by their attendance ON the
various state and county fairs, and the
unusual excellence of the specimens of
vegetable and animal crops they display,
have reason to eXult in the prospect of
better times already at hand. Returns
from the great carrying routes of the
country show that the tides of commerce
are moving in all directions with un-
wonted energy. In manufactures like
renewal of activity is noted The for
eign demand for our products and manu-
features was never so great as now, and
our capacity to satisfy it has grown ac
cordingly. Last year our exports ex-
ceeded our imports by 1887, 900 900, and
1t is safe to estimate that the excess this
year will not be less than $3.50, 600
we have the produce, and Europe will
furnish the markets. The wholesale
merchants in all our great cities report
vast improvement in domestic trade
There is such a revival as has not been
experienced for many years. Collec-
tons are becoming easier every day, the
repeal of the bankrupt law having ex-
erted stimulating influence on the bust
ness of honest dealers, besides making
wholesale merchants more careful in the
extension of credits
Turning to- the labOring classes, we
can find no justification for the reckless
statements made by the Buffers, Kear
neps and Hills of the new party. Men
who want work can find something to
do, and, as a matter of fact, very few of
them are idle. 1t is true that wages have
shrunk from the old war figures, but this
is not very remarkable. The cost of all
the necessaries of life has shrunk still
more. The demagogues pirate loudly
about the shrinkage from So to 81 % per
day in the workingman's wages, but say
nothing about the falling off in the cost
of bread and meat. At one time during
the war pork sold for $50 per barrel
now IL costs 1878. Flour that cost $12
n barrel then can now be bought for
$3.50. Clothing has shrunk even more
in price than breadstuffs. Rents and
taxes are high, ii is true, but these items
form but small percentage of the cost
oil living of the people to whom the dem
sasr l..
suffering among some classes of arti-
sans, notably workers in iron and steel,
because of the collapse of industries into
which these articles enter largely. But
the mechanics are adapting themselves
10 their changed conditions. MANY of
them have wisely turned TO agricultural
pursuits, and others have found tempo
rary occupation until an increased de
mand for their manufactures will insure
them profitable employment once more.
by Judicious financial management we
are rapidly rounding our bonded bebt,
at greatly reduced rates of interest In
this way, and through the practice of
economy in the administration of affairs,
the burden of taxation has been greatly
lessened. Our currency, from being a
constantly shifting measure of values,
has grown as stable as coin, and, as our
Geographic reports this morning show,
practically equal to it in value. If an
easy borrowing rate is standard of
judgment, then the conditions are favor
able to those who desire to borrow on
sufficient securities, for the rate of inter
est was never lower than now. Those
who have no collaterals never can Dor
row, or at least they never should. These
are the conditions of which the Nation
ais complain. They would overturn and
destroy them all in order to lift the peo-
pie out of want and misery which only
exist in their own fevered imaginations.
They say we must apply the legislative
cure; we must abolish hard times by act
of congress- The fact is that the hard
est times are over, and that no amount
or kind of legislation will help return
ing prosperity half as much as the sup
preston of these false teachers Quack-
cry never cures. Congress cannot work
miracles. If the statesmen will keep
their hands off the Legislative machine
for little longer, the country will get
along nicely. A triumph for the Ma
tionals and the embodiment of their
views in legislation would be greater
calamity to all our best interests than
the late civil war"