The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-03-29
PESSIMISTIC PETER.
THE POPuLlST SENATOR MAKES SOME
STARTLING CHARGES.


agely Attacks Wall Street and Monop
oily.
Senator PETER thinks new party will
be formed in 1896, and he attacks the ex
listing state of things in the following
breezy way in the New York World
What good will free silver do while the
money changers are in control of interest
notes and can corner the money market
whenever they choosep What good will BIZ
metallism 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 lS4C
warned the country against has control OF
congress and 90 per cent of the people are
indebted to the banks and loan agencies?
Fiftytw 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 8 per cent of the coun-
try wealth. Forty eight per cent of the
people own all the land that is claimed by
private persons, and 80 per cent of it is
encountered with debt of SO, 1872, $40, 563,
which is 81. per cent of it's estimated value
and bears interest at the rate of 6. 65 per
cent.
Thirty -four per cent of the farmers rent
the land they till. In six wards of the city
of Boston renters constitute SO 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 90;
in three wards of Cleveland it is 90; in one
ward of Omaha it is "a; In nine wards of
St Louis 1t is "a; in six assembly districts
of San Francisco it is SO.
The average number of renting families,
compared with the total population in all
the cities of the country containing 1OO 600
inhabitants and upward, is n per cent
In Buffalo the average is 60 per cent; In
Pittsburg tits 70 per cent; in Philadelphia,
| " 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 a virgin soil, and it has not cost
us a cent an acre.
The little shop of the tradesman we
knew half century ago is gone. Me
chanics and artisans now are compelled to
WOTh III BT5hu WUST6 ono
man rules 10, 900 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, % per cent Is work
ing on half time or less, 25 per cent is
working less than full time, and the other
% per cent is getting wages less than the
and nnalitu IF xuprlx
manded ten years ago. What can free sill
yer do for these poor, idle, half starved,
homeless peoplep What is bimetallism to
them?
Already rs per cent of human labor has
been displaced by machines, and the field
of invention is contin ually growing wider.
Steam, water, gas, air and electricity as
motive powers are now available in mC:
ohinery enough to equal the force of 200,-
600, 600 adult men, and we have but about
90, 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 shopkeepers 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,
How can free silver and "bimetal-
ism" reach and cure all these soresP What
help could come from such a campaign
battlecry to women working below the
living liner What responsive chord would
vibrate In the souphouses and the sweat
shops?
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 workmen 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'
tenn 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 the |
great reforms needed, very small parts in
deed-mere toys for children in finance to |
play with while they are learning what |
ails the people.
By the time the twentieth century |
reaches us thinking men will have learned
that silver and gold are not only not re-
quired for use as money in effecting 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 i-
The best result that will follow 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; 1t never creates a panic; 1t does not
stink 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 viii be respon-
sive to the peoples wants, Anything short I
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 a right to live, and the right
to live includes the right to earn subsist-
ence and a place to do it. None of Us
were born outcasts. We are all here of
right. But it is worth a mans life to seek
a home now in some parts of the country,