The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-09-17
The Calamity Shriek.

The Calamity Shrek.
The calamity si,riekers Of Kansas have
done infinite harm to their State, and
brought upon it distrust that will be
pose Of the PETERS and Simpsons, to be
elected to high and responsible posi-
tions in the legislative halls Of the ma
ton, and to give power to the Alliance
in the legislature OF their own state, but
it will not win the confidence and the
respect Of the business men of the coun-
try, or bring TO them the relief they so
dolefully proclaim they must have or
starve to death Instead of sympathy,
their creditors concluded to f0reclose
mortgages, when the people had en-
dorsed men who openly declared for the
reputation of private and public debts,
and were conspiring to elect Judiciary
THAT would carry out the declared inten-
lions of dishonest men. The withdrawal
of confidence and the institution of
means to assert their rights on the part
of creditors, presented the case in a diff
erent light than that famed before the
country by the calamity shriekers, and
has brought to the front an organized
force to defend the State and the peo-
pie of the State.
A dispatch from Topeka, dated the
Sth, gives an insight into the methods
being adopted to redeem public and
private credit and refute the falsehoods
and ISLANDERS the calamity delnagogues
have sent out to the country, about
| their people. 1t may not be too late
to- amelorate at least the harm that
has been DONE but it will take much
earnest work and well directed effort to
inspire that confidence so necessary for
the progress and prosperity of any
people.
1t was these falsehoods and ISLANDERS
which constituted the groundwork of
success in Kansas, deluding the people
as to their own condition and the causes
| which brought about any misfortune
which they had to endure. They did not
stop to consider that a succession of bad
crops for four years would in the very
nature of things cause pinched times
and scarcity of money, and compel
debtors to ask indulgence on their
obligations until return of better sea-
sons. The PETERS and the Simpsons
cared nothing about the crops or the
seasons, nor for the truth in any respect.
They were after political preferment,
and magnified the financial stress that
prevailed, and falsely charged political
parties with bringing about the pinch
and distress through legislation in favor
of trusts and capital, which found their
source in unfavorable seasons and crop
failures-things with which neither par
ties nor legislatures could have anything
to do. Yet demagogues like PETER and
Simpson played the calamity card for
all that was in it. They played it sue
cessfully for-themselves but disastrously
for their constituents, and it will take
steady and persistent engineering to
counterfeit the harm they have done. 1t
is ON the line of this commendable work
that the Topeka dispatch runs. threads:
At recent Republican League conv ention a
committee was appointed to answer the State
| mentS made by leaders Of the Peoples party
with reference to the credit OF Kansas. This
committee, in their report issued today ac-
Knowledge that the State has always been a
borrower, but that the debts stand for invest
ments and not for losses. They represent enter
prise, not misfortune, and they will be paid to
the last cent. Official reports from sixty coun-
ties OF the State show that during the last three
months there net reduction i'll mortgage
Indebtedness of those counties of $5C00G0
After estimating the returns from the years
crops the report says the farmers of the State
will have $lG4 100000 the net result OF the
years work. The report concludes; Some of
this large profit will be added to permanent
capital, but most of it viii be employed in liqui-
dating Indebtedness The balance of trade is so
largely in our favor that the early extngush-
nent of all our debts is certain. 1t should be
understood abroad, as it is at home, that the
only advocates CT reputation, either by in
trigue or artiflce, are adherents Of the Peoples
party"