The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-10-13
i-I..Ri'uTHFUL FIGURES
1 Ihat Sl,ow.tl,t l;allacy oitli Bry.
auto Claim
ABOUT GOLD STANDARD EVILS.
/, The Wonderful Growth, Prosperity ami
Progress" OF the United State. since III,
so-callsd "crims OF is1a.-=Ail Cla,.,,
Enjoyed Better Time. than Ever BEFORE.

EnJoyed Better Times than Ever BEFORE.
The following Interesting and striking
showing Is nom the Philadelphia
Press: ,f.
The financial history OF this country,
and Of every. other gold standard coun-
try, for the past quarter OF century,
could be appropriately published under
+ the title, Ruin Made Easy, or the Self
Destruction OF Nations" indianapolis
Sentinel.
Y AS long as Mr., Bryan and. his sup
porters go around talking vaguely about
the evils which the gold standard has
brought answers have TO be vague too;
but now and then one OF them slips into
the 'blunder OF making o definite asser-
lion, like this OF the Indianapolis Senu-
mel. Let us see what kind OF ruin
made easy" the country has had In the
twenty-three years since 1873. NJ
The United States had then about
4QooO.00O persons. II has now 1O,0OO.-
900. This is an increase OF just &c per
cent. Any growth which Is Just 70 per
along just us fast as population. Any
growth over Is per cent shows that our
wealth has grown faster than fpopula-
ton. There Is more TO go arounag *
In this period OF ruin made easy" the
property of'the country has grown from
$50. o0O.0O0,0OO in 1870 10 SG5,0O0,0O0.-
900 IN 1890, or more than double. Each
mans share was $3.50 in 1870 1t wns
Sl.036 In 1890. The national banks had
s94i,0OO, 900 to loan in 1873, when ruin"
began. They have s?,055,0O0000 now,
two and one-thlrd times as much.
Ruin made easy" has driven up saw
inss bank deposits from sl59, 9i6,652 in
j1S73 to 81, S44,357.I9S. Before the coun-
try began this particular brand Of "ru-
! in" there were, In 1877, 2,3s5,3l4 deposit
tors. Ruin made ersy" has raised that
number to 4.sI5,5i5. or considerably
over double. Under ruin" of this sort,
s2.0s6, 00O.GJ0 OF regular life insurance In
+ 1873, has risen TO 81, 500, 100000 now, or
over double. The number OF policy
holders has grown In proportion. In
dustrial insurance was scarcely known
IN 1873. Add this and the total OF poll
cy holders in regular companies was In
1895. S.702.393. and the insurance In
4 force, S5,566, l66,264. In addition, assess
ment companies. also scarcely known In
the insurance is SI,iS2, Isl, 900. In all,
there are 100000 policies and sl3,0O0,-
600, 900 OF insurance now. or six times the
insurance and the policies since first
ruin was made easy"
Ruin" OF this sort afilicts all Of The
land. The railroads under ruin" have
Increased from 66,237 miles in 1873 10
1I5,50S in 1894. or nearly treble, and the
cost OF moving wheat has by ruin"
been reduced from 49, cents n bushel In
1873 to l2.17 cents In 1897: In 1871 the
freight moved was l50.000,000 tons. In
1925 IL was i5S,5+S,S53 tons, just three
fold. though population had only in
creased three-fourths. Who got the
benefit of this particular piece Of ''ruin?"
The shareholders? Not ut all. They
were only able TO increase their diyi-
dends little over one-half, or from S56,-
1851 In 1871 10 sSi.3i55.IIi4 In 1895. AS
for the bond-holders, over one-third OF
their bonds were in default. and they
had only been able to increase their in
terest two and a half fold, though their
bonds had nearly trebled. Fur share
holders and bond-hOlders this was some
thing like ruin" but the Sentinel and
other supporters OF Mr.. Bryan are not
worrying over the woes OF railroad
bond holders.
This Increase of wealth. Of savings
bank deposits, OF bank loans. OF insur-
ance is from two 10 three TO six fold.
Population has grown only thrcc-qliar-
tiers. There IS more tor go around. Has
1t gone around? The regular insurance
policy remains ns II was twenty-five
years ago. about $500 on the average.
Plainly, while their number has nearly
trebled, the same kind OF men. and not
rich men, are taking them ont. The
4. l. Il ALI L.,
z 1t was S3Tl In 1895. II the average size
has not grown, Is 1t not plain that the
number OF different people holding
them has increased and that they are
drawn from the same source? Here
TOO are building associations, with l.
SOC, 900 shareholders, and $500 100000 Of
assets, all organized in the. Sentlnel's
twenty-five years OF ruin made easy"
Queer articles OF ruin isn't Il? When
Z the savings Of the laborlng class lu
crease nearly twice as fast az the num-
Der OF laborers? Il business passing
into few hands? Perhaps this wealth
IS going into the hands OF monOpolies
and fewer firms do II. In 1873 there
were 559.764 firms in business. In 1895.
The e were l.209.2s2 firms, more than
double. Clearings. the measure Of bus
mess, unknown In 1873 were S27. 900. 000.-
600. In 1895 they were $50, 900, 900, 900.
clcar.rgs had doubled just as the firms
had In other words. the number OF
people doing business had kept up with
tht. gross increase OF wealth to do busi-
ness with. Just as wealth, and firms
had increased double In this period OF
rcd-banded ruin" so the currency In
circulation had increased double, from
$751; Ssl 500 in 1873 to 81, SOC. G3l O26 in 1886.
But how about the farmer AS the
Sentinel justly says In the same artI-
Gle, primarily the prosperity OF the
country depends on the producer OF raw
materials, OF whom the chief Is the farm
or. II there Is no wheat. the mills stop;
no corn, the hominy mills and distIlieries
stop; no cotton, the cotton mills stop:
no logs, the saw mills stop;Ino hogs. the
packing houses stop; and so with
thousand other products" This IL fair.
How have these products Jared In the
Z Sentincl's quarter of 4 century OF ."ru-
in?" Here are our leading products
under ruin made casyY