The People's friend., 1894-07-13
DEMOCRATIC RULE.
dow the Country Has Suffered Under
CIeveland's Administration.

zion and a change Of party in order
that there may be change of system
ana change Of methods. thus assuring
the maintenance unimpaired Of insti-
tutions under which the republic has
grown great and powerful"
These are the closing sentences in
the platform adopted by the democrat
'c national convention Of two years
ago, and on which the Grover Cleve-
land administration assumed the reins
Of power. That was the promise. At
the close Of its first fiscal year of Office,
included in the sixteen months that
have elapsed since Cleveland took the
oath, let rs ask what has been the per-
fOr1nancef
Fer the first time since the close of
the war the expenditures have ex-
ceedcd The receipts, and the deficit is a
startling one. The revenues for the
year exhibit a sErinkage of about
EiEety-thTee 1nilliol dollars, and the
gold reserve is reduced to sixty mil
lions, or over forty millions below
what under republican adninistra-
tons was deemed to be the limit of
safety, and this though some fifty
eight millions have been obtained by
the sale Of bonds. And the course of
events directly due to administration
misrule is even more disastrous to the
people The clearing house payments
Of the country have decreased two bill
lions Of dollars, or about as much as
the total deposits Of the workers in the
savings banks Of the country, while it
is estimated that the total of daiIu
wages and incomes is fire million dol
lars less than two years ago, this de-
crease nelDg twice as much as the
daily cost of carrying on the tre-
mendous war for the preservation Of
the union. Truly the people have suf-
fered. They have paid dearly for
listening two years ago to the dema-
gogues who exhorted thelu to vote for
Cleveland and change.
The business trouble began very
soon after Mr.. Cleveland took his seat
in the white house. Certain hints let
drop by his secretary Of the treasury
were construed as reasons for fear that
the parity between gold and silver
would not be preserved. On this hint
foreigners sent home American stocks
and sold them for gold, and it was ex-
ported in large amounts, and what re-
i1ained in the country was locked up
from the channels Of circulation. The
result was scarcity Of money. which
induced fears Of the banks. and a run
ensued which made money still more
scarce for lending purposes, and in
dustrial operations were paralyzed.
Confidence IN the soundness of the
currency was restored by the call for
q special session and the subsequent
action Of congress Ia repeating the pur-
chasing clause Of the Sherman act of
July IA, 1890.
But the president declared in his
message that congress must soon enter
on the work Of tariff revision and re-
dnetlon to carry out tbs lf1sa ges of-the
party, and the fear Of tariff reduction
made the industrial situation still
worse. Merchants were afraid to buy
stocks Of goods that would have to be
sold ia competition with those pro-
duced under 'lower tariff and our
nanufc cturers curtaiicd operations for
the same reason, III addition to having
diminished current demand for their
goods. Many Of them We're forced to
stop because they could not get orders
fcr the product of their establishments,
and others managed to keep open by
dint Of offering their wares at severe
cut i'll prices which made it necessary
to reduce the wages Of their employees.
Of
on q smaller market led to further de-
ciincs in prices. and this to more cuts
in wages, ill the compensation of
labor had been reduced by fully twen-
+y-fve per cent. on the average. and
still hundreds of thousands could net
find work scanv price.
The decei~ed to;lers whose votes had
placed ii power that party that caused
al this mischief grew dissatisfied.
Many Of them struck for the wages
which employers had paid checrfully
during years Of republican prosperity,
but coa.d not afford to pay under the
democratic order Of things. The
strikes on the Pacific railroads,
strikes Of the miners for bituminous
coal. strikes in the Colorado gold fields.
the strike at Pullman, with Debs' order
extending it to nearly all railroads,
the scenes of violence involving muir
der in some cases. the calling out Of
sheriff's posses and the military to re-
store order; great prlvatlon TO Vhe
strikers and their families, and no
small amount Of unjust interruption
and loss to many who were not parties
to the struggle-all this was directly
consequent upon democratic interfer-
ence with previous industrial condl-
tions and national prosperity
Then there was an immense falling
off in receipts of duties on imported
goods during this last fiscal year, be-
eause importers did not deem 1t safe
to be caught with stocks on hand with
the market prices falling when tariff
reductions went into effect: and so
the income Of the government suffered
directly, in addition to the falling OH
that resulted from internal depression
cf trade, with greatly reduced con-
sumption, making total loss OF nearly
ore hundred millions Of revenue. And
while the revenues have been thus
running behind at the rate Of nearly
TWO million dollars per week for the
whole first year Of Cleveland, and the
peoplc suffering from business paraly-
sis. the tariff thinkers at Washington
hora worse than wasted many months