The herald., 1896-01-01


I'VE my enlargs the sweep of our in
q III AMI Ia Sc otner C nintriea into The sur.
vey with still In)re i,Distc ausw II, re-
jectlDg any uniformity OF condition upon
these lines of pub ic policy, for these hard
times have not been cDntiued to our own
coun ry, but have spread ov thu civilized
worlt. varying according to different con-
ditions in different cnuutries-at hough the
wave may have reached its highest marx
here. During the PRESENT crisis it has
broke alike in undinnished force upon
Eng and and a | Eiropean countries. Il
convui5ed at the same time In Countries of
the widest difference of polit cal, ind u.s.
trial, commercial aud educational status.
1t overleaped all boundaries of race or
climate. High protective tariff or free
trade policies were alike enveloped in he
same dark shadow of this eclipse of social
prosperity. But we do not need to search
in vain to find uniformity of phenoine-
ma connected with the conception, advance
and elimination of these times of distress;
for every phase in the progress of these
panics is reproduced in each succeeding
one with striking uniformity, shswing that
uniform cause must underlie. These
regular recurring peri DIS of, frsr, prostra-
ton, and then stagnation, then liquidation
and then ow regeneration, which we
have labeled modern hard times.
Nor is a search to find uniform condi-
ton, existing and pre-existing to these in
dusuiai crises, long protrac ed until we
find condition in marked uni son in eX.
tent with the severity of the crisis, that in
variably precedes and accompanies these
depres-ious, until the third stage l h ave
noted is reached, namely, the period of
liquidation, and the accompanying coiIdi-
ton is greatly eX ended system of credits.
Indeed it is always manifest when The Pc
liod of liquidation arrives that the capital
ist holds claims against the business of the
country that there is not we 4ith enough to
pay; or. to state it in another form, busi
ness capital demands more remuneration
than the business of the country can sus-
tain, toge her with the other charges that
must be brought against it.
"lgnoring the classification of charges
against production by the political econo-
my of the scnoois, we will broadly STATE
tnem as: The cost of human existence; the
cost to repair wastage; the cost of produce
tion; and cost of rent. interest and profit,
the last three being essentially one, and to
which may he add. d unearned increment.
Now it is a fact known to all political econ
olnists of this day, that the dustriai world
is always in "a state of chrouic bankrup cy
and unabie to pay the heavy charges that
our social order demands, and so from year
to year unpa bills accumulate in shape of
loans, mortgages and securities. To be a
little more clear we will stale it in this
manner. 1t is estimated to lay, as near
as may be judged from the statistics at
hand, that The to- al veal h of the country
approXimates $72,O00,O0O.OO0 We are
really i'll debt for 81 per cent of this enor-
nous sum and are paying interes upon it
upon an average of more than per cent.
l. is held by about 100000 OF our citizens,
or less 'han l.24U of the people, aud 10
these 25U,OO0 The lot of the people must
pay every year the enormous sum of
$500 100000 in interest. During the
last decade We were paying interest upon
<.F Il
ov~r $4,000 100000 per ear, Or $50 ,O0O,-
OOO,UOU III zen years. Now, during that
same period the total Increase of the
wealth of the country was but $22,OOO,-
% 1000, leaving standing against US,
alter ddducting the total value of the iu-
creased wealth of the county from the in
terest paid Oh debt of 5000, ,UUO, COO
In other words, the production of The
country failed to pay the charges against
an accumulated debt of $S 1000, 900, 900
for interest alone. Now, If we owed this
sum to oui side parties, OF course ou career
wou d soon cicse by our creditors taking
posses sion of our effects. But this Is not
the case. 1t is family affair, largely,
and we owe each othec and are so ..ncally
inteflinked that to soIne extent we
are compelled TO bear one another's
burdeus. AS | am only considering the
the question I have raised and The situato 1
l have shown having faiIi iy brodghL the IT.
no farther the questions of p'oduc ion and
its relation to tue accunuative wealth and
Indeb edaess OF the country, simply saying
that The statement | h I'VE made is not
nearly compl-te in thar direction.
We return, then, 10 the consideration of
the constantly increasing load that tn 9
labor of The country is carrying in interest
upon the accu uulaIed wealth that is held
by the few who have succeeded in obtain
ing possession of it. | say the lab IT of the
couutry-tor it does not seem necessary to
say that all we il,h of ev ry Kind comes by
labor applied TO natural envu ou,neul. So
labor must gear every load, every burden
that social conditions impose upon LIS.
What, then is the len'ency of this coI-
stantly increasing debt, to the money
loams-and how must il effect economic
conditous-and consequently the happ-
ness and we'll being of oteiy? For 10 this
extent does the CONDITION of debts and
creditor disturb the natural relation of
man to his fellow man. For essentially a
man who l., in debt is no louger free
m An, his creditor owning certain part of
hls time and energies; and being able to
exercise at least "a partial control over him,
aud while it may be hardly accurate to Call
him a slave, ye il would be equally untrue
to call him free.
''The tendency, then. of this cons antly
increasing Indebtedness is to greatly
widen and extend hi, condition. of limited
. freedom and unnatural relation between
several beings. Under the rapid MESSING
of capital i'll these modern days condition
of eXi eme helples sness and poverty for
the great mass of tho iaboring world would
soon ensue if the mt cessituies of commer-
cial life and capitalistc expl,iiaiions did
not keep up "A constant interchange of
places by individuals of the Capitalists
and laboring classes. The ca,i alist of
today may be forced in,o the ranks of
labor tomorrow and The Eorer, by some
for,utious Circumstance, may be able to
scale the hitherto inaccessible heights of
capital and have his old oppres.or in his
grasp; aud SO the unnatural relation of
debtor and creditor that makes 1t at all
tolerate and to be borne with any equIam-
ity. Is il lacs of peruanency Under
tue conservative term of this constant
menace to the permannnce of wealth
has been evolved the modern hard times,
and is really a general lapsing of the busi-
ness of -ue country into the hands of a
receiver and struggle between de tor
and creditor for II compromise by which
the creditor consents to sacrih % part of
hts debt and the debtor is enc ,uraged to re-
sume his exertions to pay the balance.
When these adjustments are made busi-
ness slowly resumes it's activi les to 60 the
Same exasperating round once more II is
one of the most remarkable indica-
tions of the comprehensive grasp of
the mind of the great law-giver
of the Hebrew race that disappeared from
human sight fLon the lonely summit of
Nebo that he forestalls this forced period
of liquidation with all its untold tale of hu-
nj hVr st.h -