The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-10-12


1t is useless for the protectionist to lay
at the door OF so called tariff reform the
evils incident to what he calls tariff tink-
ering England has had no tariff tinker
ing in this generation, but the world has
benn cOnvulsed through her financial
panics.
SecOnd-The conclusion is inevitable
that we can have no cure for commercial
Danics save in q new social order The
truth is, panics are inevitable under the
present organization OF business. Our
present economic system is a dismal
failure. 1t is the widest OF wildcat bank
ing from the broadest International and
national point Of view. At the present
rate the world is going hopeessly in
debt and the present social order Is re-
spOnsible for it. The worlds debt
amounts, it is said, to-day to $50, OO0.-
900, 900. There are but 81 600, 100000
OF gold and silver in existence in the
known world. The interest on the world 5
debt amounts now to more than the
annual increase OF the wealth OF the world.
1t is simply amathematicalimpO
for the world to pay its debts under such
n social regime. About every 30 years,
in the case Of human events. it may be
affirmed with certainty that there will
| be Il financial crash. a period OF bank
ruptcy, OF reputation and wreck and
suffering. This is the periodical year
| for an attempted settlement The debt
! of the world can not be paid, and as the
| effort is made to settle its affairs the
whole body is cOnyulsed. We are fight
| ing against the stars III their courses eco
! nOmically.
Take our own nation, for example,
| the most prosperous in the world in its
real resources OF wealth. 1t is estimated
that our production Of wealth is 50 800,
900 per day above al expenses OF pro-
ductiOn and maintenance OF workers.
The average cost OF the United States
government per day, exclusive OF Ger
tain sums OF the budget not counted as
legitimate governmental expenses, is
vastly over 81 100000 per day. The
interest on our public bonds is 1870 900
per day: the interest on our railroad
bonds, $500, 600 per day: the interest on
private debts, 81 400 900 per day: dlvl-
dends to absentee holders OF railroad,
bank and industrial stock, 100000,
the grand total OF our daily indebtedness
amounting to $4,31O,OOO. Our net
daily income from production, with
which to meet this Indebtedness, being
| only 3, 500 900. it doesnot take much
10 STE tildC we are EuulllUS Ill
debt at the rate OF 81 1910, 900 day.
1t is easy to see that such a scheme OF
economies is bound in the long run to
ruin the society which maintains it. Its
only result can be the accumulation of
practically all the wealth OF the nation
in the hands OF the creditors. who must
become themselves fewer with the pro-
cess OF liquidation.
1t is also apparent, under the present
system of society, that the proportion
/ OF the increase of the wOrld,s wealth
| which goes to the laboring man has sud
| denly decreased during the past gener-
| alton until the proportion now received
| by the labOrer, as cOntrasted with the
| income to capital, is less than one-half
| what it was 20 years ago. The business
| OF this age, into which has been poured
! more OF human endeavOr than in any
| other field of actively, Is a stupendOus
| failure. Our young men OF energy and
| genius enter the business world.
Into this great caldron we havepoured
orr brightest blood through the past
century, and what are our returns? Our
| political economist tells Us that under
4 system OF competition and commercial
war the delightful principle OF selfinterest
| will work out the salvation OF the world.
| But the fact art.-and they can be ascer-
tanned from any commercial agency such
aS Bradstreet shat % per cent. of all
tn" business enterprises OF the nation
are sooner or later bankrupt. 1t is a
| momentOus fact that only ) per cent. of
| those who enter our commercial world
ever succeed in establishing themselves.
Can it be possible that we have deceived
ourselves into believing that a system
which produces % failures to > success es
is worthy OF being perpetuated to all
time? When 50 fail under given prin-
ciple and only , succeed, is it possible
that we can believe that such a system
is best? The plain facts stare Us in the
face. Our present regime, say what we
may about its traditions, that date
through the centuries, stands arralgned
by its own method and utter failure.
TIL: DREGs AND THE FROTH.
The product OF society under such a
scheme can be but OF the same piece. The
dregS and the irOth are ont OF all pro-
portion to the saving strata. The sui
fering and misery and crime under such
a commercial scheme must be cOntinu-
Ously on the increase. Are we satisfied
with such an order? Have We cause to
congratulate ourselves upon it? Ii you
are satisfied with the record which Brad
street gives you from the business
world, can you be satisfied with the in
cidental accompaniment which we see
| about us? lnder our present scheme our
country is being depOpulated and the
dark, crowded and fetid alleys OF our
cities being OyercrOwded.
In 1860 only 16 persons out OF 100
lived in the large cities: in 1870, 21;
in 1880, %; in 1890, %. The number
of towns having s 200 inhabitants have
increased during the last 10 Years from
$50 to 443 This is one of the saddGst
facts of this century. for it means depop-
ulatiOn and decline OF the rural districts,
which are the basis OF a nation life and
the real source OF its wealth and power
Are we satisfied with the present bust
ness, with its 80 per cent. Of failures? ii
so, can we be satisfied with the necessary
concOmitants OF our present regime? \
man who has spent his life in New York
as student and politician and news
paper man wrote some time ago thus:
September 4, the midnight hour. found
% girls, once virtuOuS and respectable
drunk and disorderly on the streets of the
Bend. They were picked up by the police,
run into the TombS and next day were
sent to the workhouSe for three months.
This is a fair example of the license sa-
| ltdl VI Que UISlIlCl lol one night
Into the back rooms of hundreds of these
suloons. into the upper and front rooms of
hundreds of others, girls are enticed and
made drunk, ruined and made to ferment
and to suffer. They hang around the
places where they lost their all, as millers
around lamp at night. At ages ranging
from 20 to so they bring children into the
world to fill pauper graves and founding
hospitals, and later on they sink into the
potter field or wander off to die as sui.
cides. The dominant political party is on
hand and responsible, up to its hips in
fermentation. its feet and legs in dirt and
disease rotten, and its above ground por
ton hurrahing for Tammany and steadily
, sinking into hell. As this combinat ion
controls politics, every decent man in city
or county, is educated to keep out of poll
tics, instead of entering that field and
changing aims and results.
THE TREACHEROUS TNDERTOW.
Can we be satisfied with such facts that
are inevitable under our present regime?
Can we be satisfied with our potter
field, with our hungry and starving