The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-04
TWO DISPATCHES.

Two dispatches in yesterdays Jour-
nal are entitled to consideration be-
cause of the bearing which one has upon
the other One of these dispatches was
an account of the reception of John
Burns, Nj. p, in Boston, in which he
declared that speculation and monopoly
were more prevalent in America than
elsewhere in the world. and as the re-
suit he soresaw "a storm in this coun-
try before which the French revolu-
ton will be nightmare and the Com
mune an illusion unless guided into
proper channels by labor unions OF
course this wordy Briton did not name
the monopolies or the speculations that
are such monsters. because he could
not. There is no monopoly in the
necessaries of life. some of which are
heavily taxed in Great Britain. There
is q lack of employment, but it is less
pressing than year ago, and the wages
paid labor are yet from 30 to 80 per
cent. higher than they are in Great
Britain. They would be yet higher had
not an attempt been made to reduce
them to the British level by the adop-
ton of revenue tariff. If Burns NJ
p, is snxious to elevate labor let him
go home and urge the adoption of a
protective system which will enable
British labor to be paid as well as in
this country, and thus enabled to pur-
chase some of the British goods which
are now sent abroad for a market be-
cause British laborers do not receive
wages which make it possible for them
to buy.
AT the same hour that the Burns
jeremiad and doleful prophecy was be-
ing put on the wires at Boston the alb
stract of the report of the Census
Bureau regarding the owners of farms
and homes was coming from Washing
ton. Burns, NJ. p, and all of the dismal
brood of calamityites will never read
that abstract Statistics showing that
''the owners of farms and homes. re-
garded as substantially the land owners
of the United States, own more than
so per cent. of the wealth of the coun-
try are evidences OF conditions which
make the Burns chatter about monopo-
lies ridiculous and his visions of revo-
luton the creatures of his overworlSed
imagination. Having ridden over the
country on fast trains and seen only
the most forbidding features of the
cities Mr. Burns knows no more of the
people OF this country and their condi-
tions than the man knows of literature
who has read half dozen penny
dreadfus
That II per cent. of the white owners
OF farms are free of mortgage, and that
% per cent. of occupants of homes in
the fifty-eight cities of 5000 inhabi-
tants and upwards are owners are con-
ditions which cannot be found else
where in the world. If a dozen of the
larger and older cities were excluded
from consideration the proportion of
those who own homes clear OF incum-
brance or nortgaged for the purchase
money would be very much larger. One
OF the agencies which Burns and his ill1
denounce as monopolies. the means of
rapid transit from suburbs to city CEN
tiers, has promoted home owning very
largely.
The ownership OF farms and homes
and the interest of much larger num-
Der in some one of the numerous
agencies for the saving OF small
amounts from current earnings con-
stitute force for the preservation OF
the country from bloody revolution
which Mr.. Burns seems to know nothing
about. The man who seeks audiences