Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-05-24

estate Never have values. deprecated
and fortunes shrunken in this country
as they have recently. This applies to
every wealth-producing source. Real
estate has deprecated until there is no
such thing as fixed market value.
Estates invested in stocks always re.
garded as good and reliable have
shrunken almost out Of sight. The out
put Of our mines has deprecated both
in amount and in market value, and our
farmers have been compelled TO dispose
Of their produce at prices lower than
ever known before.
2. The logical result Of this state of
affairs is stagnation in all our CONNER
cial and industrial pursuits. Factories
are idle, forge and furnace fires are out,
dock-yard and car shops are deserted,
mills are closed and idle workmen by
the hundred thousand throng our thor
oughfares; and all this not because they
are unwilling to work, tits the one thing
they desire that they may got bread
for themselves and their families; nor is
ii for the lack of money with which to
| do business, for there is more money in
this land to-day than ever perhaps in
our history unless 1t may have been dur
| ing the period Of imitation accompany
| ing the late war; the circulation in the
hands Of the people May list was $92,-
765,000 more than it was one year ago,
but instead Of turning factory wheels,
or developing useful industries it is
| locked up in bank vaults for safe keep
ing, only because men have lost conf
dence in those who are at the head of
affairs, and the fear of further deprecia-
ton results in commercial and industrial
stagnation, and that means worthless
factories and enforced idleness to work.
men, and that can only bring poverty
and want and suffering TO the masses,
who must either work, or beg, or steal,
| or starve.
g. Another effect Of this commercial
and industrial condition is social unrest
and discomfort that forebodes disaster
to our social and domestic peace. Every
where there is deep undertone of dis
content that, like the slumbering fires of
tho volcano threatens serious disturb
ance, and that may break forth at any
time in strife and bloodshed. The "com-
monweal" may yet form watch word
that shall strike terror to the heart of
this nation. You may ask as many
have been aaking, "Why what does 1t
amount tor What can they doY" l
know that so far it has amounted only
to huge joke in the minds of great
many people, but when you ask what it
may do, that is quite another matter.
When the CummUne rose in Paris the
Partisan asked the same question, but
when they say that wild infatuated mob
sweep through the city bearing down
before itevery legal authority, spreading
disaster and ruin everywhere. When
they saw the leader of the mob take the
seat of the judge and send the officers
OF the State and of the church TO prison
or to be shot, as he pleased, when they
saw the awful fury of that storm OF
passion they asked what will they not
do2 When you hear of foolish crank
styling himself general" leading 300
or AGO bootless tramps to Wash.
ington only to be dispersed by the
police "Coxeyism" is very nameless
thing, but when you remember that in
every section of our country this army
is being recruited by thousands, and
when you consider that this "army" is
the aggregation of all the worst elements
in our American society, then you will
ask with new meaning in your ques
ton, what can this aggregation OF com
munism and socialism and red-handet
anarchy-what can this "army" inspired
, with the spirit of plumber, maddenet
, with strong drink, armed with dynamite
at war with society and all civil and
, religious authority; wicked, withou
; the fear OF God or the love OF manklnd
, what can they do?
~. But worse If possible than eithe
: of the sources of danger TO which havt
referred is the loosening on every hanC
! Of moral restraints that gives the ruiz
to evil, and that even clothes it with tn,
, garb Of responsibility, This is seel
) most prominently:
, /. In the political corruption tina
J truckles TO the lowest classes and ap
r peals to the basest passions of men ant
t resorts to the most INSCRIPTIONS mean
: for tho promotion OF party success am
S securing of political spells. No matte
!. when found or by whom practiced
/ whether IL be Maynardism in Ney
{. York or Quayism in Pennsylvania, 1t i
v the same spirit that stuffs ballot boxe
n in Gravesend, that sells out the State +
9 thieves and gamblers in Trenton, thu
= pardons Anarchists in Chicago, and tina
: runs riot in South Carolina, and
{ means death to our free institutions.
n 2. Its seen in the guilty indifference
/, to public morality that will tolerat
@ these things, and allow them to pas
g unrebuked. In 1878 there was brough
d to Yapkton, S. D., by mistake, fe'
/, Russian thistle seed, and being SOW
e with flax they took root and grew an
n spread abroad despite every effol
e to destroy them, until no
n they have so completely take
J. possession of 1000 square miles {
1, that western country that recent
|. Senator Harnsbrough introduced bi
@ in the United States Senate asking q
81 appropriation of $1,000,000 to destro
st this foreign plague. What that thistle
N to the west the Socialism and Anarch
the rum traffic and the political CORFU
If ton of to-day are to the moral life
l. this nation, and either tine thistle or Il
te nation must go.
Iy 3. 1t Is seen in the false idea that fix
Id flexible standard of morals, establish
10 ing our standard for public men al
$, another for private citizens; tn
n measures the moral conduct of men |
k our standard and that of women |
co another infinitely higher. This is wroi
D. every way. No man has any claim
lg indulgence in things condemned by h
)b highest moral standards because he is
Id public man. The obligations of SUI
is men are commensurate with the digni
y. belonging to the positions they hold.
is is u shame and burning disgrace to Il
of American nation, but it is as true as b
in gospel, that there are men in high a;
h, responsible positions among us, olevat
e. thereto by the suffrage of the peep