Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1893-01-26
HOLD FAST WHAT Is GOOD.

HOLD FAST WHAT Is GOOD.
New York Tribune.
Western Populists are not the only
persons who have acquired the habit OF
complaining perputually. Unrest and
discomfort are not confined to the
prairies. Neither any body of reformers
nor any set of demagogues has a
monopoly of the appeal to that spirit
which inds fault with all that is, because
it is not better The desire to do and
get better things is worthy of praisein
its proper place. But it may become
Jne of the most dangerous forces in the
world, if it ignores or refuses to recog-
1ize the good that is already realized,
md passionately perils it all in every eff
fort for better things.
1t seems well worth while, in these
lays of chronic complaining to keep in
mind the fact that the year 1892 was on
The whole the best year for the people
Of this country they have ever yet seen.
Without regard to party, creed, occupa-
zion or locality. all may join in the hope
that the yer just begun may prove even
more satisfactory. Very few tests of
general wellbeing can be applied which
do not bring out in strong light the
blessings which the people have been en-
ioying. At time when radical changes
are constantly proposed, not merely in
government, not merely in laws relating
to industries or money transportation or
relations of mutual interdependance and
helpfulness which have done SO much in
he past to make this land prosper, it
cannot be wise always to forget the max
i'm, ''Let well alone"
1t means something to every person
in the country, because it means much
to that great body which comprise most
of the adult population, that the wage
earners in the United States have rarely
if ever been SO fully employed as last
year. This statement rests, not merely
upon accounts of manufacturers and
other employers, but upon reports of
workingmen's organizations as well.
There were numerous strikes, and some
If them important, but the number of
he tndurtrious and competent who
sought work in vain was to certainty
remarkably small in 1892.
Abundant proof of this comes in the
dryest trade statistics. The number OF
cotton bales turned into goods tells some
thing of the number of hands engaged
in the work So of the pounds of wool,
md the tons of iron and coal, and the
sides of leather, and pounds of silk,
transferred by human industry into
forms for use. If in nearly all these re-
SpectS and beyond a question in all
aiken together, the work done in 1892
snrpasses that of any previous year, il
is only chronic pessimist or crank
who can doubt that the labor of the Ma
tion has not been remarkably well en-
ployed.
The labor employed has been able to
buy more than ever before of things re-
quired for the satisfaction of human
wants. This is only the other side of the
same set of facts, for production would
not have gone on so successfully to the
end had there not been an enormous
sustaining demand from consumers
And it is not the fortunate few, but the
toiling millions, who consume and pur-
chase the vast bulk of the products
When more things have been pronuced
than ever, and yet the markets in almost
every important branch are either nearly
bare of goods or pressing closely upon
the producing capacity he is indeed blind
or wilful who does not see that the mill
ions have been prospering.
In the-record of business transacted
of payments made through clearing
houses, of tonnage transported from
factories to farms and homes, of con-
sumption of imported comforts and
necessaries of life, and even of those
luxuries, such as liquors and tobacco
which in this country are bought more
freely only IN time of general pros.
perity, the year just closed is thus fal
the banner year. All these these things
do not merely indicate, but demonstrate
to the mind of every person capable OF
reasoning, that in spite of AL the things
of which we complain, in spite of much
that is imperfect and much that is crue
and much that is wrong, the people OF
this country have attained during the
Tast year higher measure of prosperity
than ever before The man who propos
es to tear down, or only to risk, all that
has been gained is bound. in duty tC
others and to himself, to have sure
ground for faith that he will not sacri
flee more than he gains.