Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1896-09-02


7,2S5. During the first six months Of the
present calendar year. la new factories
were built, Of which 40 were cotton mills,
As knitting mills, % wooden mills. Is silk
mills. 4 plush mills. and 2 linen mills. OF
the forty cotton mills, twenty-one have
been built in the Southern states This
fairly describes the happy condition Of the
country in December, 1892. What has It
been since. and what is 1t now?
Eight Months Later.
1.-THE messages Of President Cleveland
from the beginning OF his second admin
i~stration 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 present
| condition and that which has prevailed
during the past three years, l venture to
quote from President Cleveland's first
message, Aug. 8, 1898, addressed to the
Fifty-third congress. which he had called
together in extraordinary session. The
existence of an alarming and extraordinary
business situation said he, involving the
| welfare and 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 legisla-
tive duties with which they solely are
charged, the present evils may be miti-
gated and dangers threatening the future
may be averted. Our unfortunate financial
plight Is not the result of untoward events,
nor Of conditions related to our natural re-
sources. Nor is it traceable to any Of the
aIiictiuns which frequently check national
growth and prosperity. With plenteous
crops, with abundant promise Of remun-
erative production and manufacture, with
unusual invitation to safe investment, and
with satisfactory assurances to business
enterprises. suddenly financial dlstrust and
fear have sprung up on every side. Numer-
GUS moneyed institutions have suspended,
because abundant assets were not imme-
diately available to meet the demands OF
frightened depositors. Surviving corpora
tons and individuals are content to keep
n 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 failure have invaded every branch
CT business
Startling ana Sudden Change.
What a startling and sudden change
within the short period of eight months,
from December, 1892, to Aus:e., 1893!
What had occurred? A change Of ad-
ministration; all branches of the govern
ment had been entrusted to the Democratic
party which was committed against the
protective policy that had prevailed unin-
terruptedly for more than ~thirty-two years
and brought uneXampled prosperity to the
country and firmly pledged to its complete
overthrow and the substitution of a tariff
for revenue only. The change having
been decreed by the elections in November,
its effects were at once anticipated and felt.
We cannot close our eyes to these alter
ed conditions, nor would 1t be wise to
exclude from contemplation and investiga-
ton the causes which produced them. They
are facts which we cannot. as a people,
disregard, and we can only hope to i'm
prove our present condition by q study
OF their causes. In December, 1892, we
had the same currency and practically the
same volume of currency that we have
now. 1t aggregated in 1892 $2,372, 500, sol;
In 1893 1898, 900, 900; In 1894 1898, 442, 1862,
aiN "a 1870. cAtlJ1tOVOs-oVs nv
per capita OF money 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
Industrial change. Whatever is to be
deprecated in our financial system, 1t
must every where be admitted that our
money has been absolutely sound and has
brought neither loss nor inconvenience to
It's holders. A deprecated currency has
not existed to further vex the troubled
business situation.
Good Money Never Made Times Hard.
ut is a mere pretense 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 assert
that our present Industrial and financial
depression Is the result Of the gold stand
ard have not read American history Alright,
or been careful students OF the events OF
recent years. We never had greater pros
perity 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 a goid 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 we're collected for
the government and an accommodating sur
plus which was constantly applied to the
payment Of the public debt. Let us hold
fast to that which we know is good. II
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 and both have always
been steadily and remuneratively engaged
during all the years Of protective 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 restore public confidence by
an act which would revolutlonize all val.
ues. or an act which entails a deficit In
the public revenues. We cannot inspire
confidence by advocating reputation oil
practicing dishonesty. We cannot restore
confidence. either to the treasury or to
the people without a change In our presen,
tariff legislation.
EVIL of the Democratic Tnrin.
THE only measure Of a general nature
that affected the treasury and the employ
ment of our people passed by the Fifty
third congress was the General Tariff act
I which did not receive the approval Of the
president. Whatever virtues may be
! claimed for that act, there is confessedly
one which It does not possess. 1t lacks
the essential virtue Of its creatlon-the
raising OF revenue sufficient to supply the
needs of the government. 1t has at nc
time provided enough revenue for such
/ needs. but II has caused a constant def,
cheney in the treasury and a steady de
pletion in the earnings of labor and land
II has contributed to swell our national
debt more than 1862. 900, 900, a sum nearly
as great as the debt OF the governments
from Washington to Lincoln, including oil