The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-25
Encouraging Discomfort.


and children are working harder and your
children have less and less time in which TO
attend school"
About all of the third party speakers are
talking in this way. They are endeavoring
to strengthen the feeling Of discomfort
among the people They are taking advan-
tage Of the temporarily embarrassed con-
| dition Of the farmers to make them believe
that the government is responsible for their
| distress, and that all legislation is in favor
Of the rich and against them.
Col. Peek ought to know that the farmers
are not growing poorer steadily in this or
any other state. and that they are not
gradually nearing the point when they will
| be In want of the neoessaries Of life.
That the farmers Of the south are having
a hard time now is true, but Col Peek
knows the reason they are Why doesn't
! he tell theml Why does he try to make
them believe that their present depressed
condition is due wholly 20 the laws and the
| way the government Is administered
If cotton bad been II, or even 10, cents a
pound during the last two years the farmers
or neither Georgia nor any other southern
state would complain OF poverty. What
makes the farmers poor now is the low price
Of cotton, and no legislation could have
made the price any better. The production
has been greater than the consumption, and,
naturally, the price Of cotton has fallen be-
low the profit line
There is just enough truth in what Col.
Peek and other third party stump speakers
soy to make many Of those who listen to
them believe that all they say is true. 1t is
not true that the farmers have been grow
ing steadily poorer. On the contrary, they
we're as prosperous as any other class Of
people until the price OF cotton declined so
greatly, and they would be prosperous and
oontsnted now If they could get proht-bear-
ing prices for their crops. There was q
great deal Of discomfort In the northwest a
year or more ago, but there is oompara>
lively little there now, because a splendid
wheat crop, which sold at fair prices, made
the people satisfied.
What Col. Peek and other third party
stump speakers say would not do great
deal Of harm IL it was not supplemented by
literature Of the most revolutionary kind
scattaJed over the country from headquar-
ters in Washington. The stump speakers
are answered by those of the Democratic
party, and the shallowness Of their argu-
ments are exposed, but the literature sent
out from Washington is poudered over by
farmers at their flresides and when at work
in their fields They are told that their lot
is hard one and that it is hard
because the laws are all made to ill the
pockets of the rich and rob the poor. They
are told that they have only to make a
courageous fight against the ''plutOcrats"
to bring about a condition Of affairs that
will enable them to live in ease aud even
comparative luxury.
1t is evident that this sort of literature
is likely to produce some results altogether
different from those Col. Peek and men
like him desire. They are not anxious to
encourage the discomfort that has been
awakened beyond the point of safety, but
there is a probability of its going beyond
that point.
The third party offers no satisfactory
remedy for the condition of affairs of which
the southern farmers now complain. 1t
does not propose 10 bring about an increase
tAo PlASO VI AuA III pAOduCbos ~ huOWb
there is no way to do that. The chief
thing 1t demands Ia an increase in the
amount of treasury notes in circulation, and
1t suggests a way for increasing the amount
OF tressRry notes that is wholly impracti-
cable.
The third party in encouraging discon-
tent is doing something it may have cause
to regret. What 1t says does not influence
many mon who think for themselves, but
1t does influence many who let others do
their thinking for them
The Democratic party offers the only
remedies for the present depressed condition
of the agricultural interests. 1t purposes
to reduce the cost of those things which
enter into the production of cotton, wheat
and other things, and thus make farming to
some extent profitable. 1t has been trying
to get control OF the government to reform
the tariff laws, which impose hesvy burdens
| upon the farmers. Strange as it may
seem, the third partyites are not urgent in
demanding a reduction Of the tariff. The
tariff laws are not the ones that meet their
| condemnation. Their chief grievance is
against the laws relating to the amount Of
currency in circulation. Nothing they pro-
pose would permanent help the farmers
Their chief reliance for getting sopPort is
the fostering of the feeling of discomfort.
For some time past there have been ru-
mors in New York that a change in the
management Of the Western Union Tee-
graph Company was impending, and that
P. A. B. Widener, of Philadelphia, and
William L. Elkins were to succeed Jay
Gould as the controlling power. How
much truth there is in the rumor could not
be ascertained day before yesterday by a
Philadelphia Press reporter. who called
upon Mr.. Widener. He refused either to
confirm or deny the report. Several bank
ers who were seen, however, appeared to
think there was foundation for 1t. Ii is
said that Mr.. Gould desires to sell his West
ern Union stock in order t. concentrate
himself upon his railroad interests.
The republican executive committee Of
Floyd county, at a recent meeting, had up
for consideration the matter Of supporting
the third party candidates. The sentiment
of the majority was that IL the republicans