The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-09-15


I bogus? Is 1t oil mere insubstantial de
luslon? Tho Democratic leaders Woult
have you believe It's. And the reason
they would have you so believe Is tina
they prophesied that ruin would come In
stead OF prosperity with specie payments
+ and now their only chance Of success is tc
deceive and dellde you into the idea tina
Q all that you see and all you read Is
' sham and fraud. To such straits as thesl
Is the Democratic party OF to-day driver
In order to ward off their impending de
feat.
now THE PANIC CANE.
want to say tew words to you in re
g. gard 10 the panic and as to who Is respon
, sible for IL. All panics come from de-
structlon Of capital. On an average Eng.
land has q panic once In every ten year,
and this country once In every twenty
years, We had great panic in 1887,
caused by the investment Of the esurplus oil
capital in Western lands. The mania oi
the times was to buy lands, lay out cities
and sell corner lots. As an illustration oi
this mania can point now to the sites oil
tye cities laid out on paper In my section
Of Ohio. In selling corner lots In these
paper cities $500 900 changed hands. The
streets were all laid out and named, but
not o house was built and not q spade was
ever stuck in the ground. There was the
paper city Of Manchester near Con.
neaut on Lake Erie. The project
was unite II with Liverpool on the
Ohio river and build up two great
marts Of commerce. Men were crazed
by the plethora Of paper money then
ahoat, Everybody got rich on paper. Busi-
nessin real estate was booming In that day.
Alas, for the delusion. One fine morning
In May the bubble burst, the whole pile OF
bricks fell in on each other, and there was
a universal crash. Ruin and bankruptcy
followed, and years Of stagnation, depres-
sion and distress. The paper cities were
wiped out even on paper, and their broad
acres sold iorarpetesong. That was the end
otthegreat imitation thatculminated in the
memorable panicof 1887. In 1873 we had
another panic. AS in 1887, we had an i'm
mense volume OF paper money ahoat-more
than at any time for years previous. Gen.
Ewing tells the people that the panic Of
'7S occurred because OF a contraction OF
the currency. The statement is not true.
The exact reverse is true. | hold myself
responsible to this audience for the state.
ment that In 1873 we had more money
atioat than we had in 1870, or n or '72.
And yet the panic came as come It must,
We had blown up the bubble to the burst
ing point. It was bubble as much as
those that the boys blow with soap suds
and clay pipe. You have all blown such
bubbles. You rememberh how the balloon
appears above the mouth OF the pipe at
the first imitation or two. It looks very
attractive. Then you give 1t another in
tiation and It gets bigger and more beauti-
iul, but thinner-always thinner. Then
another, and you see 1t in all the brilliant
and dazzling hues Of the rainbow. Then
another, and the whole thing bursts and
leaves nothing but q miserable mess OF
suds in tho old pipe.
THE RAILROAD MANIA.
The great cause Of the panic Of 1873 was
the destruction Of capital by investmentin
railroads that were not wanted-railroads
built from nowhere to nowhere-railroads
whose business would not pay for their
axle grease. Up to 1865 this country had
constructed 5000 miles OF railroad and
had been 30 years building them. In the
8 years that followed we built 5000 more.
We graded roads that were never ironed,
and we ironed roads on which no car was
ever placed. The country went wild in |
building speculative railroads. We spent
all OF our own money and borrowed from |
whoever would lend to US. We got in
debt heels over head. We sold bonds at |
whatever they would bring. We finally |
started TO build the Northern Pacific road, |
the greatest speculative railroad project ev.
er known. Tive hundred and fifty miles Of |
this road ran through a trackless wild,
where naught lived but wild beasts and |
wild Indians, and where the travel and |
traffic would not pay the wages OF one |
brakeman on the whole line. In this way
we buried in the ground nine hundred |
millions OF capital-sunk it out OF sight and |
out OF use-when one hundred millions |
would have been ample for all our. needs |
And in addition To this waste Of capital |
IN railroads, we fell to building mills Of all |
kinds. We oYer-excted the development |
Of ores, tue development Of coal, and drew |
from the ranks OF agriculture vast myriad |
OF people into the eover.produGtion OF iron,
glass, and cotton and wooden goods. Men
subscribed their hundreds and thousands
OF capital to countless forms OF machinery,
and when the bubble burst they lost 1t ali, |
and were thrown helpless and dependent
upon their labor when there was no labor
for them to do. Jay Cookies failure burst
the bubble, and again one brick fell lagainst
another, until half the industries of the
country were in ruins. This is the history
and the explanation OF the panic Of 1873.
THE MONEY POWER,
During the dark days that have suo-
ceeded the panic the Democratic leaders
have gone through the country infaming |
the minds Of the people against what they
call the Money Power. Now want to
say few words to you on this head. You
have been taught to hate the money
power OF the country. The seeds OF com
munism have been sedulousIy sown |
among you by designing demagogues,
These ,demagogues have taught the peo.
pie to believe that 1t Is almost crime for
one man 10 have money and another to
have none. Now, what Is Money Power7i
Let US be Just to reason and common
sense. The man who works in this mill
and saves $40 in week or month over
and above his necessities is the owner Of
a money power to the extent OF $40; Is he
notY lie has the purchasing power that
SID gives 70 every possessor OF that much |
money. at the end OF q year he has
saved 500, and he has the money power
Of that much money. By and by be saves
$1,000, and he has the, money power OF
$1,000. Now, 100 such men, who have
created each $1,000 out Of. his labor,
club together under the form Of corpo. |
ration and they put their 100000 in a
great enterprise like this mill, and they
WELD the money power, of 100000. That
is their rightful power in the com:
munity. All capital simply repre-.
sents the surplus earnings OF
labor. The man who Is Industrious,
temperate and economical saves his sur
plus and employs 1t as producer in order