The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-07-15

section of Ohio. In selling corner lots II
these paper cities $500 900 changed hands
The streets were all laid out and named
. but not q house was built and not .spad
was ever stuck in the ground. There wa
the paper city OF Manchester, near Con
ieaut, on Lake Erie. The project was u
unite 1t with Liverpool, on the Ohio river
and build up two great mArts OF com
merce. Men were craEed by the pleLhorI
OF paper money then Ahoat. Everybody
got rich on paper. Business In real estat'
was booming In that day. Alas, Tor th'
delusion.
One fine morning IN May the bubble
burst, the whole pile Of brick fell In OF
each other, and there was .unlyersa
crash. Ruin and bankruptcy followed
and years OF stagnatiou, depression and
distress. The paper cities were wiped Out
even on paper, and their broad acres sold
for a mere song. That was the end oil the
great initiation that eliminated in the
memorable panic OF 1887. 10 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 '73 occurred because OF acontraction oil
the currency. The statement Is not true:
The exact reverse is true. l hold myself
responsible to this audience for the state
ment that in 1873 We had more money
sfoat than we had in 1870, or II or ".
And yet the panic came as come 1t must.
We had blown up the bubble TO the burst
| ing point. 1t was 0 bubble as much as
those that the boys blow with soap suds
and clay pipe. You have all blown such
bubbles. You remember how the balloon
appears above the mouth OF the pipe at
the first initiation ortwo. Itlooks very at
tractive. Then you give 1t another intla-
ton and 1t gets bigger and more beautiful,
but thinner-always thinner. Then an
other, and you see in 1t all the brilliant
and dazzling hues OF the rainbow. Then
another, and the whole thing bursts and
leaves nothing but miserable mess oil
suds in the old pipe.
THE RAILROAD MANIA.
Thegreat cause OF the panic OF 1873 was
the destruction of capital by investment
in railroads that we're not wanted-rail-
roads 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 so years building
them. In the eight 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.
This country went wild in building specu-
lative roads. 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 ever known.
Two hundred and fifty miles OF this road
ran through 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 1t 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 over.excited the development
OF ores, the developmentof coal, and drew
from the ranks OF agriculture vast myriad
oil people into the over-production 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 it all,
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 against
hall kA I'D ~ no
country were in ruins. This Is the histo-
ry and the explanation OF the panic Of
1873.
THE MONEY POWER. ~
During the dark days that have succeed
ed the panic the Democratic leaders have
gone through the country infamtng the
minds Of the people against what they call
the Money Power. Now l want to say q
few words on this head. You have been
taught to hate the money power OF the
country. The seeds OF communism have
been sedulously sown among you by de-
signing demagogues. These demagogues
have taught the people to believe that 1t
is almost crime for one man to have
money and another 70 have none. Now,
what is Money Power? Let us be Just to
reason and common sense. The man who
works in this mill and saves $40 10 week
or month over and above his necessities
Is the owner OF money power 10 the ex-
tent OF $40; is he notp He has the pur-
chasing power that $40 gives TO every pos
SCISSOR OF that much money. At the end
OF year he has saved 500, and he has the
money power OF that much money. By
and by he saves $1,000, aud he has the
money power OF $1,000. Now, 100 such
men, who have created each 81 900 out OF
his labor, club together under the form Of
a corporation and they put their 500, 900
in a great enterprise like this mill, and
they WELD the money power OF 500, 900.
That, is their rightful power in the com.
mnnity. All capital simply represents the
surplus earnings Of labor.
The man who is industrious, temperate
and economical saves his surplus and en-
ploys 1t as producer in order TO increase
It, and In the process OF doing so gives
other men like himself chance to earn
their $40, their 500 and finally their
81, 600 each, or In other words, he creates
opportunities for other men to create a
succession and finally an aggregation Of
money powers that make up the savings
and the wealth of the nation. Now Is this
crime? Is It thing to be rallied at by
demagogues. Are we to turn society into
chaos and make men communists? Is
every idler, every waster, every unpro-
ductive member Of society to be clothed
with the right to come to every man who
labors and saves and demand OF him
division OF his savings. II so, pandemo-
MUM has come, and there Is an end to
civilization. And yet the Democratic
leaders have been at work intoxicating
these netarious principles among the peo-
pie during the dark days Of the panic.
And now we bring them 10 the bar oil pub.
lie opinion to answer for such communis.
tic and anarchical sentiments.
ASEPIsoDR.
Il