Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-20
EXAGGERATED EVILS.
rsprc1AL TELEGRAM TO THE prsrArc,

Financial Evils" Is the subject OF Matthew W
Marshall's article for to -morrow's Sun. It Is
as follows:
Unless the Presidential campaign about to
begin differs from all others which have
preceded 1t, a prominent topic in the dis.
courses OF political orators and in the edi
torials OF political newspapers from now
until election day will be the financial dis
tress OF the country. The partisans Of the
administration will contend that nothing
but ruin and disaster will follow the advent
to power Of their opponents, and these in
turn will assert that their success alone can
repair the mischiefs already occasioned and
avert the greater mischiefs ready to follow
them. One side will maintain that the Nc
Kinley tariff has been blight upon the in.
dustry OF the country, while the other will
as strenuously insist that its repeal will have
the same evil effect.
Here. at the East, the increase of silver
enterprise and inviting bankruptcy, while
at the West and the South free silver COIN
age will with equal fervor be extolled as the
only means for relieving debtors from the
intolerable burden which is crushing them.
In like manner the Farmers Alliance, the
Labor party, the Prohibitionists, the Female
Suffragfsts and every other faction seeking
offers the true remedy for the industrial,
economical and social evils which affiict
the country now as it never has been af-
f1icted before.
The Power OF LeglsIation.,
I am far from disputing that much can be
done by legislation toward augment1ng and
diminishing financial distress. Like all
human interests, industry can be encouraged
and its rewards increased by wise laws, and
1t can be impedeG and rendered less pro-
ducttve by unwise ones. Wearisome as is
the discussion of the tariff, of the currency
and similar topics, it results in some enlignt-
eminent Of the public mind, and the expert
ments made as the outcome of it lead to re-
suits of more or less value for future use.
Hence l don't deprecate the prominence
given to financial and industrial topics in
political Debates and am inclined to be
lenient to the rhetorical exaggerations of
political writers and speakers. still, de-
sire to put my readers on their guard against
accepting those exaggerations as sober facts.
and against believing that the countrys
ruin is either impending or already here be-
cause they are told 80.
For rhetorical purposes indeed the plain,
unembellisheu truth is so much less effec-
to substitute exaggeration for it in argu-
ment is almost Irresistible. 1t is well
kown that scenery painted for theater
must be made far brighter IN its color than
nature and much more vivid in its contrasts
of light and shade or else it will seem dull
and tame. For the same reason actors and
actresses have to color their faces to avoid
looking pallid, and to declaim instead OF
speaking conversationally to be heard.
Artificial Better Than tho Real.
There is even a venerable legend that q
performer on the stage once won great ap-
plause by the skill with which he mimicked
a squealing pig, and that when q jealous
rival sought to supplant him by hiding
real pig under his cloak and pinching it
until it squealed the audience unanimously
pronounced the living animal far inferior to
its artificial tniitator. So, if platform speak
ers confined themselves strictly to facts,
they would have no success against more
competitors.
There is always too, enough real misfort-
une IN the world to afford foundation for i'm
causes OF it. Every man has his business
troubles and disappointments, and to every
man they seem of vastly more importance
than the troubles and disappointments of
mentations over the evil plight Of the coun-
try, present or imminent, his inclination is
to join in them and to adopt the remedy pro-
posed, provided its efficiency is plausibly
enough advocated. never knew the time
yet when some one or more of my friends
did not insist that his business was not
worth doing, and who had not an infaliible
cure for the evil by some legislative meas
ure. This widespread discomfort and nope
of i'm provement by change are always favor
able to the party out of power, and it often
the possession OF the offices by the party in
power.
How Henry George Got Big Vote.
A striking illustration of the way in
which this trait of human nature operates
in this respect was presented by the
mayoralty election in 1856, in which Mr..
Henry George was a candidate. Mr.. George
had never held office and had absolutely no
political experience and no reputation for
administrative ability. His sole recon-
mendation was the vigor with which he had
0rfr ad Ia mia n nd IA
confidence with which he propounded his
single land tax scheme as panacea for
them. On this ground alone he obtained
save save their heir lives, could not have p explained
in what respect they were worse of than the
rest of mankind, nor how the election OF Mr..
George as mayor of New Yoek would result
in the slightest benefit to them.
The wrongs and the sufferngs of the Ia
boring population are always an inexhausti-
BILE theme. not only for politicians but for
read and hear, the men and women who
work for daily and weekly wages in this
country are the most abused and down.
trodden creatures in existence, and the en-
ployers who pay them wages are inhuman
tyrants. The favorite remedy proposed for
the evil is to abolish individual employers
and have all industries managed Dy Govern
ment officials. This is done in the lace of
have already are continually denounced by
those opposed to them in politics as selfish.
greedy, corrupt. tyrannical, and every ything
else that is bad.
As Well on q. Anyone.
The truth is, unless am greatly mis-
taken, that while American workingmen
are not perfectly happy, they are as nearly
80 as the rest of their fellowmen, and de-
serve no more miseration from others.
Politicians at the extreme West and South
have q great deal to say just now about the
li,t~ In Gxrt t1,n
want OF ready cash and the absolute neces-
sity of legislation to relieve it. The meas
ures proposed are unlimited silver coinage
and an increase of bank circulation. The
later device has only lately come into
prominence. A bill to enact 1t into law was
presented in Congress last week, and am
glad to see it was summarily rejected. Yet
very respectable gentlemen advocate it on
the ground have mentioned namely, that
people remote from the great financial
centers are suffering from the scarcity OF
currency and are compelled to pay ex-
orbitant rates OF interest for loans They
forget the time honored saying that man
cannot eat his cake and have it too, and
that what the western farmers ana south
tarily incurred. which no coming of silver
and printing of bank notes will discharge
Our western and southwestern fellow
citizens are not, however, peculiar In thus
evils which most immediate concern them.
Every time little gold Is shipped to Europe
it makes our capitalists uneasy and de-
presses the prices of securities. Few peo-
pie seem to consider that gold coin cannot
be eaten, nor drunk nor worn and that its |
abroad reduces by just SO much |
our debts abroad and is therefore q benefit
to us and not an injury.
Serious Obstacles to Prosperity. i
The most serious obstacles to financial
are not those which are the most
talked about and for the removal of which ]
legislative remedies are the most loudly de- |