Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-02-26
The Condition of Industry.

new," said Mr.. VIM. Connolly, of th
Irish Emigration Society. In a loos
statement. without many details, TIL
World estimates that 1880 persons ar
now unemployed in this city. Whethe
the number is considerably less. or eve
greater, it is certain that many thousan
Industrious people are to day wlthOu
work, in the city of New York, VIII
were employed at fair wages at this tim
last year, and as late as September last
The change since that time, it is true
has been very great, and most disastrous
to labor.
But no one is surprised, who did no
wilfully shut his eyes to the truth dur
ing the last Presidential campaign. Ther
it was shown NEST clearly that a large
proportion of the employers and of tht
working people, throughout the country
expected change in the conditions Of
industry if the Democratic party should
prevail. 1t was felt that at least four
tifths of the Democratic party desired
and would insist upon the overthrow oi
the protective system, and intelligent
men saw that the apprehension of such
change would stop work in thousands
of establishments. 1t was seen, too, that
without change in the laws there
would be change of incalculable mag
nitude in the mode of interpreting and
enforcing the laws. The statutes which
have for years been consistently inter
preted so as to defend home industries
are certain to be interpreted in the op-
pOsite direction by Secretary of the
Treasury who is in harmony with the
free trade ideas of the Democratic party.
This change of Interpretation alone must
stop work in many establishments, and
compel reduction of wages as the nee
essary condition of a continuance of
continuance of work in others. All
this the people foresaw, and much more
They saw that hostility to national banks
hostility to railway and other corpora
tions, would be apt to have its way, and
to break down enterprises in which vast
sums had been invested, and from which
many people derived subsistence. In a
word, the change of policy meant gem
eral substitution of new, unknown, but
certainly less favorable conditions, for
the conditions under which industry has
been developed for twenty years past,
and enterprise has grown up, and the
vast internal and foreign trade of the
country has been shaped. The change
threatens every business man, and every
working man, and more than half of
them in these Northern States saw it
clearly.
Nevertheless, the change was decreed.
The country has been reaping the fruits
of it. 1t has endured already the worst
three months of prostration and disaster
that have been seen for forty years and
more. In 1878, month or two of great
was endured in the cer>
tainty that resumption of specie pay
ment would bring the splendid recovery
which was quickly realized. In 1861 the
prostration of industry when the war
broke out was quickly relieved by the
necessity of developing new Industries
to an enormous extent, and employing
labor in new directions. In 1858 the de.
preston was slight. Not since the hard
times of 1S39-41 has the country endured
such depression as has already resulted
frem the certainty that a great change
in the industrial policy of the country
has been assured by Democratic VIC
tory.
No one wishes to see this prostration
continue. If the Democratic party can
lift the country out of the slough of de+
spond into which it has been plunged by
the dread of Democratic Incompetence
and Democratic heresies we shall rejoice
most heartily. If Mr.. Cleveland has the
wit to do this, or to call about him any
other men who have the wit, he will de-
serve thanks. Even then the fact will
remain, that the Democratic party averts
national ruin by refusing to act upon
Democratic ideas, by walking in Repubr
lican paths, by initiating as closely as it
can the example of wise Republican ad-
ministrations which have made the
country prosperous in the past. But, in
one way or another, if Mr.. Cleveland
can give relief to the great multitude of
people out of employment, let it be done.
He will not do it, one may safely say, by
any one of the men who are now sup
posed to be in his mind.-N. Y. Tribune.