The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-09-03

| UOWhru events, nor Oh COnulUlO0S TelAttO
| to our natural resources. Nor Is tracea-
BILE to any vi the Affections which fire.
| quently check national growth and pros.
| perity. With plenteous crops, with ahun.
dant promise of remuneratiye production
and manufacture, with unusual invita-
| tion to safe Investment, and with salts
| factory assurances to business enterprises,
suddenly financial distrust and fear have
| sprung up ON every side. Numerous
moneysd nsitgtions h%ye Wre sqspended nps se SS
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
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 conjectured, and
loss and failure have Invaded every de-
partment Of business"
The Cause of the Change.
What startling and sudden change
within the short period of eight months,
from December, 1892, 10 August, 1882
What had occurredp A change of admin
| istration; all branches of the government
had been entrusted to the Democratic
party, which was committed against the
| protective policy that had prevailed unin-
terruptedly for more than 80 years and
brouoht unexampled prosperity tn tho
p piete overflow wand and the f ssbsttution S VS Of a
tariff for revenue only. The change hav-
ing been decreed by the elections in No
| vember, its effects were at once antici-
| pated and felt. We cannot close our
| eyes to these altered conditions, nor would
| IL be wise to exclude from contemplation
and Investigation the causes which pro-
| duced them. They are facts which we
| cannot as people disregard, and we can
only hope to improve our present condi-
! tion by study of their causes. In De-
| cember, 1892, we had the same currency
and practically the same volume of cur
rency that we have now 1t aggregated
In 1892, S2,372, ,509, sol; in 1893, g., 1923 ,0O0-
600; in 1894, 81, 1923, AZ, 1862; and in Decem-
bcr, 1895, a., 1874 ,0O0, ,230 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 was nothing con-
| neoted with our money, therefore, to ac-
count for this sudden and aggravated in
| dustrial change Whatever Is to be de-
precated in our financial system, 1t must
everywhere ne admitted that our money
has been absolutely good, and has brought
neither loss nor Inconvenience to its hold
ers. A deprecated currency has not ex.
| listed to further vex the troubled business
| situation.
| Good Money Never Made Times Hard.
1t is a mere pretence to attribute the
hard times to the fact that all our cur
rency is on gold basis. Good money
never made hard times Those who as
sert that our present industrial and finan-
cial depression is the result of the gol|
| standard have not read American history
Alright, or been careful students of the
| events of recent years We never had
| greater prosperity In this country, in every
| field of employment and industry than in
| the busy years from 1880 to 1892, during all
of which time this country was on gold
| basis ana employed more gold money in
its fiscal and business operations than
ever before. We had, too, u protective
| tariff under which ample revenues were
| collected for the government, and an ac-
cumulating surplus which was conven-
iently applied to the payment of the pub
| lie debt. Let us hold fast to what we
| know 4s good. 1t is not more money we
! want what we want Is to put the money
we already have at work. When money
is employed, men are employed. Both
| have always been steadily and remunera-
lively engaged during all the years of pro-
tectiye tariff legislation. When those
who have money lack confidence 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 re-
store public confidence by an act which
would revolutionize all values or an act
which entails a deficiency in the public
revenues We cannot inspire confidence
! by advocating repudiation or by practic-
! ing dishonesty. ave cannot restore conf
denoe, either TO the treasury or to the peo-
pie without a change in our present tariff
| legislation.
| The Tariff of 1904.
The only measure of general nature
that affected Inc treasury and the employ
ment of our people passed by the Fifty
third congress was the general tariff act
which did not receive the approval of the
PRESIDENT. Whatever virtues may be
llaimed for that act there is confessedly
,ne which 1t does not possess. 1t lacks the
essential virtue of its creation-the raising
Df revenue sufficient TO supply the needs
If the government. 1t has at no time pro-
Vided enough revenue for such needs but
| t has caused constant deficiency in the
treasury and u steady depletion in the
earnings of labor and land. 1t has con-
;ributed to swell our national debt more
;han S26e 900 600 a sum nearly MS great as
.he debt OF the government from Wash
ngton to Lincoln, including all our for.
| Egn wars from the Revolution to the Re.
bellion. Since its passage work at home
has been diminished, prices of agricultural
products have fallen, confidence has been
arrested and general business demoraliza-
| tion Is seen on every hand.
The Tariffs of 1890 and 1894 Contrasted.
The total receipts under the tariff act of
1894 for the first % months.of it's enforce
ment, from September, 1894, to June, 1885,
we're 1867, ,615, 1928, and the expenditures
b640, ,4lS,363, or q deficiency of 49,, ,S03, ,O35.
The decrease in our exports of American
products and manufactures during the
tirst Is months of the present tariff, as
contrasted with the exports of the first 10
months of 1890, was $500, 353, 800. The ex-
cess of exports over impocts during the
first 15 months of the toitf of 1890 was
k213, ,972, ,06S, but only $56, 75S, ,623 under the
| first 10 months of the tariff of 1894, u loss
under the latter of 1857 ,2l4, ,345. The net
loss in the trade balance of the United
States has been 1896, 9S3, ,607 during the first
10 months operation of the tariff of 1894,
as compared with the first 10 months OF
the tariff of 1890. The loss has been large,
| constant and steady at the rate of Sl3, $780,
100000 per month, or 100000 for Overy
business day of the year.
Losing In Both Directions.
We have either been spending too much
money out Of the country or getting too
little in, or both. We have lost steady
In both directions. Our foreign trade has
been diminished and our domestic trade
has suffered incalculable loss. Does not
this suggest the cause of our pres
ent depression, and indicates its
remedyY Confidence in home enterprises
has almost wholly disappeared. Our
shops arc closed or running on half time
At reduced wages and small profit, II not
actual Loss. Our men at home are idle,
and while they are idle men abroad are
occupied In supplying us with goods. Our
unrivaled home market for the farmer has
also greatly suffered because those who
constitute 1.-THE great army of American