The herald., 1896-01-01
Paper Read at the Institute OF
Applied Christianity
I'VE BY YOUR OWN EFFORT
Z lat Was the Idea Advanced by O. p.
Smith
j.ury Must Disappear In Any Proper ADJUST
ment OF Hun R.latio IS An Able
Expositir1 IS ttc Question

INK to listen 10 a paper by o. p. Smith on
u ury, Rent and Profit After a short bust.
10 So session Mr.. Smith was introduced and
spoke as follows:
The first half of the Nineteenth century
has been bewildering in it's mastery and
development of the hitherto inaccessible
sources of natural wealth, mainly by the
inventive gen us of man applied to the
mutipl cation of industrial forces, through
machinery ;ihe latter half has been equally
bewildering in surprising us at the results
of the tremendous increase of wealth pro-
ducing power.
''In the mi lst of our feasting and rejoic-
ing at the advent of this wealth creative
power-more wonderful that the gem of
Aladdin's lamp-ihere appears as an un-
hidden guest at our fe -tivties the grim and
gruesome skeleton king of poverty and
sternly demands recognition. Before we
had ceased shouting Hosauna to the wealth
king and great is Diana of the Ep ie slams,
the ominous advance of industrial armies
were resounding in our streets and
revebrating across he C ,ntinent, and ou
government was walking outside the ranks
and guarding it with pick handles.
"Before we had done glorifs i0g ourselves
for the good times we had created, hard
times, cruel and bitter, as we had never
9een them before, had us in their grip and
' ave never all wed us a moment respi te
luce. he hard times of the pres mt are
SO entirely different from those of the past
tat they seem also product of the in
v tive gei. uis OF some sinister spirit from
Z Plutorian shore.
81 ut hard times are not new thing in
f orld. Hard times have heen con-
CT, ant of human life from the earliest
sto, rd, and reason assures us that they
sng,t ave been from the beginning. When
nat As living in a state OF nature the
O q go It rewards of nature were product
Is. h IN of him of either h ard or good
2, ned nature was either frowning or be-
"FIlie0 clouds dropped their refreshing
,ins Au he sunshine flashed it's fruc il
fJius e.tls the earth laughed with plenty,
the ra Increased and harvests were
j. .Ue's, G. g. I'd man rejoiced in good times.
Wh.u 81 1uds disappeared and the sky
rrnarle tr with heat and drouth, when
c7 '.Vul,e nook and tornado wrought
larIu fret vas hard times, But these
Viri--. t.. f, o perhaps necessary to the
deg. rf'el. T courage, patience and
ue. a'.f.. fite. tht in man, and certainly
vtI. 1I * continued pressure as to
sis -. for knowing the general be-
,..uy of nature Notwithstanding these
temporary phenomena. and conscious of
his power, he repaired his dsas ers and
bulded larger and better than he he had
before.
"This pressure of the adverse side of ma
down To Our oWu remembrance, but
they have been shorn of all their adve Sc
features and are no longer a factor in the
civiliz t,iuu of today. for inlercommunica-
ton is SO rap d and eifec i've, the disas er is
couhned 80 comparatively small an area
and peoples that relief is speedily afforded,
so ,ha the hard times caused by natural
failures au,i destruciiOn Of crops by the
forces of nature may be said 10 have been
couquereu W tiIe Iorces OF civilization.
Man working III conformity to nature and
under the guidance OF natural laws, has
always been able 10 improve his condition
and advance his happi ess il is only when
acting in arbitrary .ntyadictou TO these
na u, al laws TO attain his desire, that he
becomes involved in a Iabyrinth of contra
dlcuous and d Itiiculries that alw ys imreil
to further and wider dep trture from his
original charter, and ul iinately brings his
civilization into irretriev iole disaster.
The uard times that We are 20 painfully
faIni lar with Today is a m ,st striking iilIs-
tration of the truth. Tue hard lines tnat
we have Invented III this last half of the
nineteeAtb century have none OF the ell =
ments of the former nard times except d g.
tress intensified aud eXten led a thousand
fod. Our Industrial depression comes
upo US now when harvesls are abundant
and the store houses are bursting with the
fruit OF the soil and wealth OF production.
lnueed, SO involved has our affairs become
in a labyii ith of cross purposes and hos
tile forces, that it seems TO many that we
have become distressed because we have
50 much, and tina, waste, destruction,
earthquakes and fire would be beneti-
cence. 1t you enquire among your fellow
suflei ers what they apprenend u be the
cause of This state of aifairs their
answers reveal one thing very clearly
THAI they have no knowledge that
enable them to grasp the cause,
for no TWO of even the mos Intelligent of
businessmen of aifairs-even will give
the same answer, although all are equal y
sure that he fully understands il. One III IN
OF large experience will earnestly repeat to
you that it all came about because of per-
9istenl attempt to Use a deprecated metal
Tor money-meaning silver-and the con-
sequent loss If confidence. The ne xt man
will say with with equal gravity and
earnestness that he whole evil come be-
cause OF the demonstration of silver, and
consequent contraction OF the currency by
that legislation. You show him that The
silver currency has really Increased since
its characterization by 5OO,UOO,U0O. and
then he will with increasing .arnestuess
tell you that it is because of the prospect
i've contrac ion of the currency by The
crime of '73. The next man will say that
it is because the Republican iarlff has been
tarnper+d d with aud free trade is ruiuing us.
The next man will tell you il is because
the tariff ha. built a Chinese wall aroun i
us aud we are fenced in. Stiii ano,her
intelligent man will look very wise and say
it is all loss of confidence, and you ask
him: IA loss of coufi ence in whal?'
and he will put on very wise look indeed
and say: ''Well, just a loss of contidence,' %
Continue your questioning. and at last you
will find a man who will franaly say
that he does not know, and having
found this rare and candid man 1t
is good time to slop over.
What really is The reason of modern hard
times? On seeking for the cause of mod
ern hard times, il we find precedent con-
dilion common to hem all we shall be
justified in connecting that condition with
The trouble itself, aud we may safely leave
ont OF the act all theories that do not find
their cause existing and pre-. existing in all
the Industrial depressions during at least
the last sixty years. Not one of the causes
named by the very intelligent gentle nan
whom we have interviewed stands in that
relation to the six periods of depression
that we have endured in the last sixty
years, ii we except the one labeled "want
OF confidence" and admit it to be a con-
con,tant of them all after the hard times
have really begun. Commencing with
1897, we have just three great depressons,
the present being the fourth and by far the
most disastrous, at intervals OF nearly
twenty years-lS37, 1887. 1873, 1S92-3.4
with minor ones occurring midway be-
tween the greater ones. They have all oc-
Cured under different tariff condition ),
ranging from "a simple revenue tariff to
the high projection of the Mckinley .nli.
Free trade may be left out, because the
nearest approach to free trade was IL lder
. ataat E,..x