The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-08-21
Differing Doctors.

Republican journals are not agreed
as to the grounds upon which the pres
ent political battle is to be fought. In
view of the great depression in bust
ness and the widespread dissatisfaction
among all classes, some put in plea in
the nature of a confession and avoid
ance. Others undertake to bull It right
through, and declare there are no hard
times nor dearth of business. OF this
class is the Philadelphia Inquirer, an
enthusiastic Blaine organ, which says:
THE stores are all open and appear to have
the usual number of buyers in them; the fac
tories and shops and mills and mines are all
being operated, and certainly there are no
id'e workingmen about, except those who are
'On a strike for higher wages, or shorter
day. or for the purpose of Furnishing an en-
plOyer for presuming to say he would not
employ a union man who was incompetent or
disagreeable 20 him. Everybody who wants
WORK and wages, and good wages, too, can
get them"
We venture to say this is not in ac-
cordance with the current experience of
the country. The bank clearings, the
labor reports, the sales of merchants,
the voice of innumerable labor societies,
the hundreds of silent mills and thou
sands of unemployed operatives attest
that the business and industrial condi-
ton is not at all so happy as is here rep
resented. There is little actual want
of the sheer necessaries of life, for there
can be, in this country of abundance,
but little. But there is room for vast
improvement in the situation of the
commercial and productive classes.
The Chicago Tribune, a leading Re-
publican journal of the West. takes a
wholly different view of the situation
from that presented by its Eastern CO.
adjutor. Noticing an alleged improve
ment in the business of the country, it
says:
prosperity which is heralded as now about TO
descend with folded wings on our people? Is
it a new energy in any useful work, q new
manufacture, new highway to inaccessible
fields, the discovery of new treasures, a new
whirr of wheels of industry that have been
standing still2 Does new demand for iron
and qufckening OF that depressed interest,
or does a restoration of work and wages for
the tens of thousands of men, women and
children lying idle introduce the new decade
of better times? 1t is none of these but a
frantic rush of lambs into the stock market, a
new circulation of points, a new Juror of
betting on the turns of the stock and grain
markets that is the main feature OF the i'm
proyement.'
1t would be extremely agreeable to
be able to look through the s3ectacles
OF our Philadelphia contemporary, but
truth stands in the way. Our exports
are not nearly what they should be.
Our commerce by no means reaches
proportions beftting nearly, xtY mil
lions population. There is faulty dis
tribution of labor and the fruits .os it.
Notwithstanding, there is enforced idle
ness and unemployed machinery in
every part OF the country. There is
surplus of commodities in nearly all our
markets. The supply exceeds the de-
inland at home, and yet we can not en-
ter the markets abroad. There is moth
ing to do but to wait till consumption
oVertakes production, and agriculture,
now much depressed in some respects,
brings back general prosperity. There
are not more commodities than the
people desire TO consume, but there are
more than they can afford to consume
taxed as they are. Supply and demand
are sought to be regulated by legisla-
ton through indirect methods, and the
result is the state of things we now wit
ness. So-called protection and a re-
stricted commerce are at the bottom Of
most of the evils which now afflict the
people of this country.-St. Loais Re-
pss6licGB.