The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-05-24
) !
1c0ME T Us REASON TO-
0ETHER,
SAf You, - ! Hu.tacisxs Man Are Inte1-
eated IN = Cnre FOR Hard Times
us Hour .Attention-Lct Us Talk
Business.

Rn.in~s.
Business Men: You are all feeling
the hard times. You know by ex-
Z perience the difficulties to be overcome
IN your efforts to do business in these
times. The rent bills come around
regularly. The clerks are to be paid
every week. Yet the trade is slow. The
income keeps dropping lower, %collec-
ions more tardy. Goods If not turned
promptly become shop worn and each
new order is bought for less money,
tnus indicating heavy declines in value
ana corresponding losses in stock.
~ these conditions continue COM
merclal disaster must inevitably fol-
low.
IS 1t not time for everyday business
men to look into the causes of these
conditions and study carefully for a
remedy?
politicians have had the chief say SO
N tnese matters. Party has been, with
tnem, above country. Their own sell
lsh personal interests have dominated
.helr action to the sacrifice of every in
terest of the people.
corporations, creatures of the law.
nav been built UP and fostered until
they action of our congress.
legislatures, courts and juries
lney great trusts manipulate
trade to their advantage and
tne peoples injury. The Stand
ara OH company recently broke down
a absorbed its last competitor and we
see. coal oil go up SO per cent in one day.
scarcely a corporation exists to-day
winch has not forfeited their charters
Dy violations Of the laws under which
tney are created Is it not time for the
people to assume their sovereign power
anu clrtall some Of the assumed pow
ers OF these wards of the state? Many
OF thelr charters are for long terms,
Out the power that made them can con-
trol them II 1t will, and it can forfeit
tnelr charters if they deviate from a
strict observance of their charter re-
strictions.
Inc active energetic business men
are being pushed to the wall by these
conditions. Bright business men, by
tens of thousands, are being driven
from business each year and forced. to
seek employment from others. They,
together with their former en-
ployes, make up a large portion of the
great army of unemployed that now
rove over the land unable to find work.
Inc people with means are compelled
10 feed them and their families. How
shortsighted is the policy that causes
this enforced tdleness! Then too how
enormous are the losses to the country
on this account? Just take a pencil
and calculate, say three million men
Idle who could earn on an average even
the small amout Of n dollar per day,
Idle for two years of 300 working days
each OF 600 days. This makes a total
loss to the country that is lost forever
OF 1880, 000, 100000. This does not in
Guide the loss of labor of those who are
working on short time; nor the loss
from the waste incident to idleness. nor
the depreciation in values of all prop
erty. The census showed our wealth to
pc seventy-one billions. This has de-
preciated at least twenty-five per cent.
IN many cases twice that, in the past |
two years. This makes a loss in itself |
OF over twenty billions Of dollars.
These values, however, may be re-
stored in a great measure, by an i'm
provement of conditions, but the two
or two and one-half billions lost from
idle laborers is lost forever. Great |
Heavens. What a record this is to look
back upon!
What has caused all thise Some saw
" Is due to over productions; that we
have made too many goods, have all
our railroads and cities built and there
Is nothing to do. Can there be over
production Of products or goods so long
as there are hungry and naked or half
clothed people In the country? Is there
not plenty Of u%ndeyeloped country both
agricultural or mineral, to engage the
energies Of the laborers who have fur
nished their work on the railroads in
the cities? Let us rather call it under
consumption caused by inability to
buy and consume products.
Why this inability to buy? An an
swer tothis question solves the problem.
These people who are unable to buy
are, In the main. laborers. All wealth
III produced by labor. These laborers
produce some Of this wealth. But
they have none now. They have
been robbed OF 1t BY our sys-
TEN 0f distribution. Our system 0fS dis