Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-03-29

be formed in 1896, and he attacks the ex.
listing state of things in the following
breezy way in tho New York World:
What good y Ill free silver do while the
money changers are in control of interest
notes and can corner the money market
whenever they choose? What good will BIZ
metalism do as long as Wall street moves
the money that controls the affairs Of the
wOrld?" What good can come from finan-
Cial reform" as long as the concentrated
money power" that the Democrats of 1910
warned the country against has control of
congress and 80 per cent of the people are
indebted to the banks and loan agencies?
Fifty-two per cent of the people of the
United States are homeless They live in
houses that are owned by other persons,
and they own but per cent of tho coun-
try's wealth Forty eight per cent of the
people own all the land that is claimed by
private persons, and % per cent of it is
encountered with a debt Of SO, 1872, $40, SOB,
which isS7. per cent of it's estimated value
and bears interest at the rate of &. 60 per
cent.
Thirty four per cent of tho farmers rent
the land they till. In six wards of the city
of Boston renters constitute g5 per cent of
the population in those wards; in two
wards of Chicago the rate is 90 per cent
in nine wards of Cincinnati the rate is 81
in three wards of Cleveland it is 90, in one
ward Of Omaha it is "a; in nine wards of
st. Louis it is "a; in six assembly districts
of San Francisco it is 49,
The average number of renting families,
compared with the total population in all
the cities of the country containing 100 600
inhabitants and upward, is n per cent
In Buffalo tho average is 60 per cent; in
Pittsburg it is ~ per cent; in Philadelphia,
n per cent; in New York, "a per cent
In some parts of New York the popula-
ton is so dense that less than one square
yard of earth S surface is allotted to each
person if all were stood on the ground oc-
Cupied by the houses they live in All
this too, in face of the fact that it is not
300 years since our ancestors found this
continent virgin soil, and it has not cost
us cent an acre
The little shop of the tradesman we
knew half century ago is gone. Ne
chanics and artisans now are compelled to
work in great establishments where one
man rules 10, 600 and buys his labor as he
buys wood and iron and coal and cotton
and wool
twenty-five per cent of the working
force Of the country is idle because there is
nothing for it to do, 25 per cent is work
ing on half time or less, 20 per cont is
working less than full time and the other
25 per cent is getting wages less than tho
same amount and quality of work CON.
manded ten years ago What can free sill
yer do for these poor, idle, half starved
homeless peoplep What is bimetallism to
them?
Already 20 per cent Of human labor has
been displaced by machines, and the fold
of invention is continually growing wider.
Steam, water, gas, air and electricity as
motive powers are now available in ma
chinery enough to equal the force of 200,
600, 900 adult men, and we have but about
20, 900, 600 ablebodied men and women in
the entire country, A poor man cannot
now go into business 1t requires large
capital to compete successfully with large
concerns Department stores are crowding
out the small shopkecpers. There is moth
ing left the poor man but hopeless race
among men striving each for one mans
work with nine Others present and wanting
it,
llbN Suli llCO ollNtI anu DIIItldl-
lism" reach and cure all these sores? What
help could come from such a campaign
battlecry to women working below the
living line? What responsive chord would
vibrato in the souphouses and the sweat
shops2
Coal mines are owned and operated by
corporations and syndicates. People are
paying double price for COAL and miners
are fighting against reduction of their pay
or are working at starvation wages. Rail
way companies violate the laws at will
and claim it right to pool their business
in order to maintain rates, while they
call in Pinkertons or the army, or both, to
prevent their wOTkmen from doing the
same thing Streets in every city of the
country are monopolized by railway cor
porations charging two prices for their
service, paying barely a living wage to
their men, and they maintain their sys.
TEN by military force
These are the questions which the new
party will have to grapple with Free sill
yer and bimetallism are but parts of tho |
great reforms needed, very small parts in |
deed-mere toys for children in finance to
play with while they are learning what |
ails tho people.
BY the time the twentieth century |
reaches us thinking men will have learned |
that silver and gold are not only not re- |
CURED for use as money in ofrecting our |
exchanges but that they are positively /
hurtful, and that we shall have to discard .
them sooner or later if we would rid our
selves of the domination of the money |
power
The best result that will follow a thor !
ough discussion of the silver question will .
be the discovery that paper money, after .
ALL is the best money. 1t is never corner.
ed; it never creates a panic; it does not /
sink away in time of peace nor betray the |
people in time of war.
The new party will be founded on broad .
principles that will appeal to the public .
conscience, and its objects will be respon-
sive to the peoples wants. Anything short
of this can only be preliminary to the
work Of organizing the great party that
shall accomplish what we most need.
The end of all is employment and COM
Portable living for the people The earth
was made for man. Every child born into
the world has right to live and the right
to live includes the right to earn subsist,
Gnce and place to do it, None of us
were born outcasts We are all here OF
right. But it is worth mans life to seek
a home now in some parts of the country,
even on the public lands. The land mo-
l.. L