The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-09-26

in their midst, where five dollars are
imparatively needed Neither wealth
nor any species Of solid prosperity can
attend the laboring classes when thus
deprived of the means of stransacting
/ business and cursed by low prices for
/ all the productions OF their daily toll
/ Four years ago 1 heard Henry NJ. Tel
i Ter of Colorado, one of the aDiest and
: most reliable men / ever met in public
I life. declare on the floor of the senate,
/ that one-half the entire wealth ''of this,
/ the richest country on the globe" as
K he styled II, was owned by not more
! than one hundred thousand people. Es-
! TINA ting our entire population at 65,000,-
/ 600 this small and favored squad of
millonaires and d-mi.lionlaires bear
4 the proportion of one person to every
! six hundred and fifty men, women and
/ children in the United States. II may
/ also be safely asserted that those who
| actually own one-hslf the wealth OF
! this country will, through the power of
( trusts, monopolies and far-reaching cor
porations, to a very great extent, man
/ age and control the other half This
| enormous and frightful inequality in
the distribution of wealth amongst the
! different classes Of our people Is the
| darkest omen In our sky; it portends
! social and political revolution, at no
| great distance in the future, wherein
| moneyed aristocracy will be recognized,
a titled nobility have birth, lords, bar
rons, dukes, earis and princes be ere
ated in honor of the colossal estates
they already possess while the busy
| handed, toiling millions who eat bread
in the sweat Of their faces will have
| their rank as hewers Of wooc and
drawers of water only little more dis
/ tinctly defined than at present, and be
/ left to bear the brunt of every discrim-
/ ination against themselves. their wives
| and their children as they do now.
To those who assume that the people
| of the United States have been nur-
| tured into prosperity by the poAcies OF
the republican party, / would also COM
| mend a careful study of a recent cen
| sus bulletin on the subject of mort
cages. There are. according to this Of
| fetal publication, 12.690,152 families in
| the United states, and that less than
one-haif OF them own their homes,
whether living In towns or in the coun-
| try, while the majority of them are
| tenants and pay rent to landlords. The
! number Of families living in the coun-
| try is put down al 4,676,179, and the
| statement is made that thirty-three of
| every one hundred Of these farmers do
| not own their homes, and of those who
| do have titles to them, 2S per cent,
| twenty-sight in every one hundred, have
| been compelled 10 cucumber their
| homes with mortgages in order 10 raise
! money on which TO live and to transact
| business 1t is shown that. Jan. 1, 1890.
! there were AIT $50 mortgages in force
| in the United States to secure the pay
| ment of private debts amounting to the
|
without including single railroad
| mortgage, or any other corporation in
| 6ebtedness. The annual interest pay
| ment on these mortgage debts is stated
as $780,, 442 1872, an amount far more than
| sufficient to meet all the expenses of
| the federal government, with the eX-
ception Of pensions TO our soldiers and
| their widows. 1t is, indeed a striking
| and an awful fact that the private
| debts of the American people secured
/ hrv rfcr.rr ~ fhnfp I'D f.ras
| other real estate constituted a sum in
| 1880 three times as great as the entire
| public debt Of the country 1t is off,
! cially shown that ali the public debts
in the United States put together at
| that time. including national, state,
! county, school and municipal obliga-
! tons amounted to S2.027. 170,546 as
| against over six thousand millions,
which as l have shown, the people owe
| on private account and for which they
| have executed mortgages bearing an
| average rate OF more than 6 per cent.
| interest. Nor VIII any intelligent man
| pretend that the condition OF the peo-
| pie has been bettered by legislation in
the last four years; on the contrary,
| their burdens have grown heavier. their
| debts have increased, prices for their
| produce and wages for their work have
| gone down instead of going up until
today there IL anxiety, care, hard times
| and deep depression In every home of
labor, whether on farms or in work.
shops, in all this broad and fruitful
| land.
The Condition of the Country When
| Congress Met.
My fellow-cltizens, have thus far
and at some length, dwelt on the evil
results which have followed bad laws;
first, for the purpose of placing party
responsibility where it belongs, and sec
| ond. in order to portray the true condi-
ton Of the country as it was when the
| democratic party succeeded to power
and entered upon its proclaimed mission
| of reform. When the Fifty-third con-
| gress was called together in August
1898, the Mckinley tariff law for the pro-
| lection and enrichment of a limited
number of American citizens by the plain
| and distinct robbery of all others, was
by no means the only monster evil that
| confronted US and demanded prompt and
| heroic treatment. The treasury was
! practically bankrupt to begin with. This
| fact was not then generally known,
| which was most fortunate. The best pro-
| lection the public credit had at the close
| Of Harrison's administration was not in
it's financial resources or skillful man
| agement, but in the want of knowledge,
| on the part of the public. as to the real
| financial condition in which his party
left the government. 1t has been def
| nitely learned since and publicly stated on
! the floor of the senate, and not denied,
| that in the last few weeks prior to the
| 4th of March, 1898, all necessary prepara-
| ton, including plates for engraving, were
| made by the expiring administration for
| the issuance of bonds, with the proceeds
| Of which to exc out the expenses Of the
| government; that Harrison himself at
| last faltered and allowed the treasury
| to be turned over TO the incoming ad-
ministration practically empty. He had
| received 1t from his democratic predeces-
sor four years before, full, with sur
| plus but under system of tariff taxa
| ton which was for the protection Of
| private gain and not for the public
| revenue, 1t now contained but a beggar-
| ly balance, IL any balance at all, to the
| credit OF the government. Never before
| in the history of this or any other gov
| eminent under constitu tionSl restraints,
| has there been known in time Of peace
such a rapid disappearance Of public
money and such failure of public rev.
| enue. Nor will II ever be forgotten that
Ii was during the period of Harrison's
! term as president, when the Fifty-frst
! congress, republican TO the core In both
| branches, broke all previous records of
profigacy in American history by appro-
priating a thousand million Of dollars for
| public expenditures. The very spirit of
| riotous extravaganza had seized upon
the party then in power and dominated
all its councils, it's methods and its pub
| lie conduct.
The Sherman Act.
The stability of the public credit was