Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-09-03
20 imperatively demanded at this juncture
of our national affairs.

Oh our natlOnal uHhlrs.
Our Condition In December. 1902.
In December, 1899, President Harrison
sent his last message to congress. 1t was
an able and exhaustive review of the con-
dition and resources Of the country. 1t
stated our situation so accurately that i
am sure it will not be amiss to recite his
official and valuable testimony. There
never has been time in our history said
he, "when work was so abundant or when
wages were SO high, whether measured by
the currency in which they are paid or by
their power to supply the necessaries and
comforts Of life. The general average Of
prices has been such rs to give to agricul-
ture a fair participation in the general
prosperity. The new industrial plants es-
tablished since Oct. 6, 1890, and up to Oct.
20, 1892, number 345 and the extensions
of existing plants 10S. The new capital in
vested amounts to $40, GAG, 060 and the
number of additional employees 37,2S5.
; During the first six months of the present
| calendar year 1875 new factories were built,
; of which 40 were cotton mills, 4S knitting
+ mills, 20 wooden mills, Is silk mills,
plush mills and linen mills OF the 40
cotton mills 81 have been built in the
southern states"
! This fairly describes the happy condi
ton of the country in December, 1892.
| What has 1t been since, and what Is 1t now!
Our Condition Eight Months Later.
! The messages of President Cleveland
from the beginning of his second admins
: tration to the present time abound with
! descriptions of the deplorable industrial
! and financial situation of the country.
! While no resort to history or official state
! ment Is required to advise us Of the pres
/ emit condition and that which has prevailed
: during the past three years, venture to
: quote from President Cleveland's first
, message, Aug s., 1898, addressed to the
! Fifty third congress, which he had called
! together in extraordinary session. 1.-The
existence Of an alarming and extraordinary
business situation" said he, Involving
the welfare and the prosperity Of all our
people, has constrained me to call together
in extra session the peoples representatives
in congress, to the end that, through the
wise and patriotic exercise of the Legislative
duties with which they solely are charged,
the present evils may be mitigated and
dangers threatening the future may be
averted Our unfortunate financial plight
is not the result Of untoward events or
of conditions related to our natural re-
sources, nor Is it traceable to any Of the
Affections which frequently check national
growth and prosperity. With plenteous
crops, with abundant promise of remuner-
ative production and manufacture, with
unusual invitation to safe investment and
with satisfactory assurances to business
enterprises, suddenly financial distrust and
fear have sprung up on every side Numer-
Gus moneyed institutions have suspended
. hacan n hl1nIo nj g N In, ndi
ately available to meet the demands Of
frightened depositors. Surviving corpora
tions and individuals are content to keep
in hand the money they are usually anx-
ious to loan, and those engaged In legit-
innate business are surprised to find that
the securities they offer for loans, though
heretofore satisfactory, are no longer &C
cepted. Values supposed to be fixed are
fast becoming conjectural, and loss and
failure have invaded every branch Of bust
ness"
What Caused the Change.
What a startling and sudden change
| within the shors period of eight months,
! from December, 1892, to August, 1898!
! What had occurred? A change of admins
trntion. All branches of the government
! had been intrusted to the Democratic party,
which was committed against the protect
! i've policy that had prevailed uninterrupt-
edly for more than 80 years and brought
! unexampled prosperity to the country and
! firmly pledged to it's complete overthrow
/ and the substitution Of u tariff for revenue
! only. The change having been decreed by
| the elections in November, it's effects We're
at once anticipated and felt. We cannot
close our eyes to these altered conditions
nor would 1t be wise to exclude from con-
temptation and investigation the causes
which produced them. They are facts
which we cannot, as n people, disregard
and we can only hope to improve our pres
ent condition by study OF their causes
In December, 1892, we had the same cur
rency and practically the same volume of
currency that we have now. 1t aggregat
ed in 1892 Sc, 372, 500, sol; in 1898, So, $685.
| 900, 900; in 1894, 50, 1923, 442, 362, and in
December, 1896, 90, 1914, 900, $50. The per
capita of money, too, has been practically
the Same during this whole period. The
quality Of the money has been identical,
! all kept equal to gold There is nothing
connected with our money, therefore, to
account for this sudden and aggravated in
dustrial change. Whatever is to be depre-
Gated in our financial system, it must ev-
| erywhere beedmittcd that our money has
DSSu SOOl lliiS DrOuSnU HCl-
| Their loss nor inconvenience to its holders
A deprecated currency has not existed to
further vex the troubled business situation.
On a Gold Basis.
1t is a mere pretense to attribute the
| hard times to the fact that all our cur
rency is on gold basis. Good money new
| or made times hard. Those who assert that
| our present industrial and financial de-
| preston is the result of the gold standard
! have not read American history Alright or
been careful students of the events of re-
cent years. We never had greater prosper
ity in this country in every field of en-
ployment and industry than in the busy
! years from 1880 to 1899, during all of
which time this country was on a gold
basis and employed more gold money in
its fiscal and business operations than ever
| before. We had, too, a protective tariff,
under which ample revenues were collected
for the government and an accommodating
surplus which was constantly applied to
the Payment of the public debt. Let US
hold fast to that which we know is good
It is not more money we want What we
want is TO put the money we already have
at work When money is employed, men