Little Falls weekly transcript., 1894-08-31
THE. GREAT PROBLEM
How SHALL TIE COUNTRY REGAIN
THE PROSPERITY or 1897

How SHALL. TIE COUNTRY REGAIN
THE PROSPERITY or 1897
Then Factories Were Thinning Full Time,
tho Wage Rate Was the Highest IN the
WorlG's History, and Wheat Reached the
Dollar Mark The Condition Today.
In 1892 the capital of the country
was employed in these natural fanc-
hons. New industries were being add
ed, and the great body Of our people
were employed. The factories and mills
were running on full time. The wage
rate or Ompensation to those who labor
was the best ever paid to workmen in
any period Of the worlds history. No
less than five Of the most prominent
statisticians Of this country, both Dem
ocrats and Republicans, in official pa
pers have voiced this statement-that
the wages paid in 1892 were the best
wages ever paid by the United States
government or in any other country in
the world. -
The Democratic orators in 1892 were
loud in their denunciation of Republican
methods, claiming that ID, 900 men were
unemployed. If this be true, we think
we could find these IA, 900 men still
unemployed, and possibly there never
was time when they were employed
They were not men who sought employ
ment or cared for employment. They
belonged to the army of professional
tramps. In 1899 the great railroad
lines Of our country were earning and
paying reasonable dividends. They were
able to carry their Indebtedness, look.
ing forward to the time when they
should be able to iquidate all these
claims and at the same time pay re-
munerative wages to those employed.
Farm products of all kinds brought
fair prices. Wheat even reached the
dollar mark. There was nothing pro-
duced but what there was a market for.
Our exports were greater than ever
known before, while our imports kept
pace with the interests of the govern
ment under reciprocal measures. It is
sufficient to say that none of these things
exists today as then. Capital is unem-
ployed. Its owners, fearing the worst as
a result Of the changes promised by the
incoming Democratic administration,
have gathered their capital into places
of safety and have denied or refused
loans upon anything but what might be
called first class securities.
Bonds, stocks and obligations of all
kinds have fallen with ruinous results
until great fortunes and vast interests
have been pronliscuously tumbled into
the great volume of insolvent obliga-
tions The factories and mills are idle.
One Of the saddest pictures in America
today is the idle factory towns Of our
country. The happy workmen of Amer
ica in 1892 are today changed multi
tude. CommonWeal armies marching
across our domain; striking multitudes,
frenzied with the prospect that is before
them; disheartened fathers and broth
ers, sitting in despair in the quiet places
where activity once dwelt, mothers
with hungry children-all these things
crowd into one picture, scenes of sad
ness that neither tongue nor pen can
portray.
The great railroad lines are bankrupt
ed. One-third Of all the railroads in the
country are in che hands of the courts.
Stocks and bonds are worthless. Those
employed at lucrative wages are now
idle, and nothing but forebodings seem
to hang over the present. Farm products
OF all kinds are accommodating without
markets. Wheat has fallen to the lowest
price ever known in the history of the
country. Horses and cattle and sheep
that two years ago commanded not only
fair, but exorbitant prices, are scarcely
worth having today.
An incident was told in convention
in the far west few days ago whica
illustrates this fact. The speaker said:
lone Of my neighbors had contract
for few sleep a few days ago, and
when he found that the purchaser could
neither read nor count instead of let
ting him have 1000, he palmed 1000
upon him and considered it a joke
Horses selling at $40 head, sheep at
so cents, cattle without a market-all
these tell a story in awful contrast with
1892. -.
How shall we get back where the
capitalist, the merchant, the farmer,
the real estate man, the laborer, where
all Of these shall once more be employed
and find it remunerative? There is only
4one road which leads to that ultimate
accomplishment. It is to place in power
that political party which has for more
than quarter Of century stood against
the assaults that succeeded in 1892 and
maintained prices, steady employment,
equitable wages. securing prosperity to
the whole country and all it's people
Let the Republicans have control again,
and these times will soon return, with
smiles Of joy to gladden. the hearts Of
the American people.
= Public Debt.
The public debt was reduced by the
Harrison administration from March I,
1889, to March !, 1893, $305, 225, 395. 5