The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-27

country While no resort to history or official statement Is required to advise us of the present condition and that which has prevailed during the past three years, l venture to quote from
 President Cleyeland's first message, August 8, 1893, addressed to the Fifty third congress which he had called to- gether in extraordinary session.
 "The existence of an alarming and and extraordinary business situation,"
 said he, Involving the welfare and
 prosperity of all our people, has con-
 strained me to call together in extra
 session the peoples representatives in
 congress to the end that through the
 wise and patriotic exercise of the legis- lative duties with which they solely are charged, the present evils may be miti-
 gated and dangers threatening the flu
 ture may be averted. Our unfortunate financial plight Is not the result of un-
 toward events, nor of conditions relat-
 ed to our natural resources. Nor is it
 traceable to any of the affections which
 recently checked national growth and
 prosperity. With plentious crops, with
 abundant promise of remunerative pro-
 duction and manufacture, with unusual invitation to safe investment, and with
 satisfactory assurances to business en-
 terprise suddenly financial distrust and fear have sprung up on every side. Nu-
 merous monied institutions have sus- pended, because abundant assets were not immediately available to meet the demands of frightened depositors. Sur viuiY1 i,,Ii 1c, content to keep in hand the money
 they are usually anxious to loan, and
 those engaged in legitimate business
 are surprised to find that the securities
 they offer for loans, though heretofore
 satisfactory, are no longer accepted. Values supposed to be fixed are fast
 becoming conjectural and loss and fail- ure have invaded every branch of bus iness.'
 The Cause of the Change.
 What startling and sudden change
 within the short period of eight months, from December, 1892, to Au-
 gust, 1893. What has occurred? A | change of administrations all branches
 of the government had been entrusted
 to the democratic party, which was committed against the protective pol 1 icy that had prevailed uninterruptedly
 for more than thirty-two years and brought unexampled prosperity to the country, and firmly pledged to it's com ! plete overthrow and the substitution of
 tariff for revenue only. The change having been decreed by the elections in November It's effects were at once an- ticipated and felt.
 We cannot close our eyes to these al- tered conditions, nor would it be wise
 to exclude from contemplation and in- | vestigation the causes which produced them. They are facts which we cannot as a people disregard, and we can only | hope to improve our present condition l by a study of their causes In Decem- | Der, 1892 We had the same currency 1 and practically the same volume os l currency that we have now. It aggre-
 gated in 1892 s2, s72, ,599, SOL in 1893, s2,- l 32s, 100000; in 1894, $2,3234 442, ,362, and in December, 1885, so.194 ,0o0, ,230. The per capita of money, too, has hnen practi- cally the same during this wholt Eeri- od. The quality of the money has been | indentical--all kept equal to gold.
 There is nothing connected with our | money, therefore. to account for this
 sudden aggravated industrial change Whatever is to be deprecated in our i financial system. it must everyw here be admitted that our money has been
 absolutely good and has brought neith- CT loss nor inconvenience tc its holders A depreciated currency has not exist ed to further vex the troubled business l situation.
 Good Money Never Made Times Hard. | It is mere pretnnce to attribute the | hard times to the fact that all our cur-
 rency is on a gold basis. Good money
 never made times hard. Those who as-
 sart that our present industrial and | financial depression is the result of the ! gold standard have not read Am >ican l history alright, or been careful students | of the events of recent years. We nev- 1 CT had greater prosperity in this coun- | try. in every field of employment and | industry, than In the busy years from l 1880 to 1892, during all of which time l this country was for a gold basis and 1 employed more gold money in its fiscal l and business operations than ever be- 1 fore. We had, too, protective tariff
 under which ample revenues wera col lected for the government and an ac-
 cumulating surplus which was COT stantly applied to the paym:nt of the I public debt
 l Let us hold fast to that which we know is good. It is not more mopey we want; what we want is to put the
 moneylwe already have at work. When money is employed, men are employed. Both have always been steadily and
 remuneratively engaged during all the years of protective tariff legislation. When those who have money lack con- fidence in the stability of values and investments they will not part with
 their money. Business is stagnated;
 the life blood of trade is checked and
 congested. We cannot restore the pub i lie confidence by an act which would revolutionize all values, or an act which entails a deficiency in the public rev.
 enues. We cannot inspire confidence by advocating repudiation or practic- ting dishonesty. We cannot restore con- fidence, either to the treasury or to the people without a change in our present tariff legislation.
 The Tariff of 1894.
 The only measure of general na-
 ture that affected the treasury and the
 employments of our people passed by
 the Fifty-third congress was the gen. eral tariff act, winch did not receive the i