The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-05-27

menus OF Sname;-Lne rest is but a
frightening out Of a dreadful agony
death in life. I'D.
FINANCIAL CONDITION.
New York, May 15.-Bradstreet's to-
morrow will say:
General trade throughout the coun-
try remains quiet. wholesale mer-
chants continue conservative and the
distribution of general merchandise is
almost Of hand-tO-mouth character.
South and Southwest business re.
mains dull and featureless and un-
changed from last week. At larger
Eastern centers travellers are prepar-
ing to start out, but unfavorable fea-
lures in recent weeks, with respect to
cotton and wooden and steel and iron
Industries. show no change. COllec-
tiOns in most directions continue un-
satisfactory. Concessions are made in
prices Of wool. and manufacturers of
cotton goods complain that prices are
below parity with the cost of raw
material. Tobacco is depressed by
trade EN- barrassmentS and quOtatlO rs
are weaker, except for Havana. De-
mand for iron and steel is disappoint-
| luk3 duO NuOUd UlOuS lux UCSSCluCI
have been shaded further. Unreason-
able weather has had an unfavorable
influence on sales of clothing and 9TH
er staples while labor disturbances at
some Western cities have checked de-
mand. Request for lumber is smaller
than anticipated and dry weather at
the South has emphasized the dull
ness of last week.
ffor OF fhoir oro~;~~ on<7 h1ox-
ing and jim Growing this is the COM
plexion they have come to at last-a
story of universal collapse and help
lessneSs.
How could it be otherwise? Every
day the disproportion between the
population of the world and the
money-supply grows greater. Every
child born adds to the difficulties Of
the situation. The money-changers
when they assumed the right to con.
tract the currency should have claim
ed the right to contract the popula-
tion. They are doing it now through
murders and suicides, through starva.
tion and sickness caused by INSULT
cient food supply. but it is slow and
dreadful process. When they demone
tized silver they should have demone.
tiled the babies. The house of Roth
schilds should decide how many chill
dren the Christian mothers shoulc
bear. But to leave nature free t o ex
pand unlimitedly in one direction
and put Chinese iron-shoes on it's feet
in another direction is something
horribly absurd.
And where are all the prophecies
with which Bradstreet and Dun an6
Depew and the rest have tickled the
ears of the groundlings 10 these many
years? Prosperity was just ahead;-it
was right around the corner:-you
could see It's coat tails disappearing
in the dim distance. The Christmas
trade was to bring it-and did not
The spring, with it's flowers and it's
breezes, would certainly rejuvenate
the business world. But it did not
There were a thousand plausible rea-
sons why it did not;-enough to drag
the tickle goddess Fortune over the
fence by the ears,-but they did not
Then summer-then winter-theI
| spring-then summer-then winter
then spring, and thus we chased hope
around the revolving year. But still
down went the great banks, and the
great merchants, like giant oaks in a
hurricane. And at last Bradstreet
sits down amid the wrecks,-like
Marius among the ruins of Carthage
and weeps and admits that the hum
buggery is all played out; and nothing
is left but fiat and feature-less de
struction.
And yet we foretold all this ant
they called us cranks." We toll
them, in the Omaha platform, foul
years ago, that the land was ''on the
verge of moral, material and financia
ruin" and they laughed until the
heavens re-echoed their ribald uproar
Now they are past the verge; they are
in the bottom Of the abyss. Theil
hearts are sad; their clothes are torn.
Their great men are "busted;" Their
great companies are 'gone up;" NJ
man trusts his fellow as far as he car
pitch him; faith is gone and honor
lost; the bottom is out of everything!
And dark as an arctic winter the fu
ture settles down upon them:-thert
isn't star in the black sky; not g
thread Of light along the eastern hori
zon. Even Brads treet and Dun have
ceased lying for their encouragement
The last string of the old fiddle i.
broken,
But the end is not yet. The fellow:
who have brought all this desolatior
on the people want it continued fol
four years more; and they are work
ing, through the two old parties, tt
fool the plundered people into voting
for the men who plundered them.
Four years more like the present
Good God! How many can survive
them! How many will own shelte
| for their heads at the end of foul
years more? And the children! Wha
will their prospects be? /. D.
GOT 1T BAD.