Great Falls weekly tribune., 1896-10-02
BUSINESS MEN.

| BUSINESS MEN.
| From the inception of the campaign
up to the present time the McKinle,
press and orators have laid much stress
upon the fact that the alleged business
men were supporting the st. Louis plat.
form and candidates. In referring tc
this in his Chicago speech Mr.. Bryan
sptly said: I'VE say to you that you
have made the definition of a business
man too limited in its application. The
man who is employed for wages is az
much business man az his employer;
the attorney in country town is az
much business man as the corporation
counsel in great metropolis; the mer-
chant at the cross roads store is as much
business man as the merchant Of New
York; the farmer who goes forth in the
morning and tolls all day, who begins in
the spring and tolls all summer, and
who, by the application of brain and
muscle to the natural resources of the
country, creates wealth, is as much a
business man as the man who goes upon
the board OF trade and bets on the price
of grain; the miners who go down q
thousand feet into the earth, or climb
two thousand feet upon the cliff, and
bring forth from their hiding places the
precious metals to be poured into the
channels of trade, are as much business
men as the few nagnates who, in a back
room, corner the money of the world"
In this statement Mr.. Bryan tells the
exact truth. Every producer is busi-
ness man in the highest and best sense
OF the term. He makes the merchant
and banker possible, and while his unre-
Quilted toll adds to their wealth, he differs
from them only in degree and Justly
claims that he is the foundation stone Of
the country's greatness. Who are this
handful OF men who, under the specious
title OF business men, are now proclaim
ing that they represent all the intelli-
gence and all the patriotism in the land :
The proposition will stand inquiry, and
in the light of indisputable facts will fall
to ground and expose their impudent
Take the census report
for 1890 and we find that the total en-
gagged in gainful occupations was 22735,-
G6l. or these 9,O13,201 are credited to
agriculture, fisheries and mining; 5,Oo1,.
CG9 to manufactures and mechan-
ical industries, 4,36O,5O6 to domes-
tic ana personal service, 3,325,962 |
to trade and transportation and 44,323 |
to professional service. Pursuing the in
luiry little further, we find that of the
number S,449,9S4 are in agriculture; Gill;
III are carpenters and joiners; 349,5SS
are miners; 79,4G3 locomotive engineers
and tiremen; G0,150 fishermen and
oystermen; 39,95G officials of banks, in
surance, trade, transportation, trust and
other companies; 81, ,199 wholesale mer-
chants and dealers; and 10000 bankers
and brokers. These figures are official
and instructive. Read them carefully.
0ut of total of more than 22,OOO,OOO,
his self-satistied class OF bankers and
brokers' and business men foot up about
100000. Yet they have the audacity to
lain that they and they alone are COM
'etent to judge OF the needs of the
country, and that they are superior in
knowledge and loyalty to the great
masses. The CLAIM. is absurd and will
'e rejected at the polls The time has
lot arrived in this country when hand
ul of men can arrogate to themselves
uperlor virtues and control the destinies
It the land. When it does come we had
'etter surrender our pretense to self
government and hail this minority as
masters.