The sun., 1896-09-28
BRYAx1sM MEANS HARD TIMES.


Tho hoy Orator's Election, Dr. scudder
Says, Wouid Cause n Terrible Panic.
In prelude to his sermon last night the Rev
| DR.. John L. Scudder. pastor OF the Jersey City
| Tabernacle. attributed the business depression
which has existed for three years to tho Cleve
land Administration and tho silver agitation
He took for his text. Do We Want More Hard
Times 2" and said:
THE past three years have constituted one o.
the most agonizing periods in American expert
ence. Business has been paralyzed enterprise
has been checked, manufactures have beer
closed. labor has gone begging for employment
money has BEEN tight, and collections have beer
next to impossible. Wretchedness is written or
tho face of the industrial world. We have had
an abundance Of hard times. Do we want
worse7 The whole nation answers. no. To In
sure better times we must remove the cause.
"some maintain that all our woes are due
TO the demon tization of silver nearly quarter
OF century ago, but this is not an adequate
cause. for prosperity reirned in 1890 and wages
reached their high water mark. That there
has been notable decline In prices during the
last twenty years is true, but this has been duo
to tho general introduction of machinery and
increasing facilities for TRANSPORTATION. Tho
cost of production has been marvellously re-
duced. in some cases 80 per cent. Now. any one
can sec that when q commodity can be manu-
factured more choaply and carried further for
less money. under our system of competition
the price of the commodity must inevitably fall
The farmers wheat is no exception to this rule.
Its price has fallen because labor saving agri-
cultural devices have made wheat growing easy,
thus wonderfully increasing the crop in America
and other countries Silver has had nothing to
do with the dror in wheat for the price Of this
cereal is determined In the markets of the world
and upon q gold basis. and silver. like other
commodities, has suffered a similar decline. 1t
costs less to produce II than formerly, and more
OF It is produced. Tho demand is not equal to
the supply. hence its price has fallen and SEQ
no reason why 1t should have special favors
from the Government. There is a satisfactory
cause, then. for the general decline In prices.
They must be attributed to something else than
the decentralization of silver. Other countries
arc suffering from low prices also. but they do
not attribute 1t to the cause pointed out by the
Doubtless decline In prices has caused a cor
responding increase in the value of money; the
appreciation of money has not caused the de:
cline In prices This general Introduction Of
machinery, though producing fall in prices.
has been blessing to the whole people, and
cannot be regarded as a cause of hard times. 1t
always necessitates temporary incon venience to
the iaoorers who are thrown out of work for
the time being. but 1t blesses the rest OF the
world in cheapening goods and bringing them
within the reach of the poorer classes. Ma
SlMny oShMinery enables tn the thrifty M and temperate
better clothes than did the workingmen Of
fifty years ago.
Tho real causes OF our present panic are two
fold. The first has been the unnecessary tariff
tinkerinR Of the present Administration. For
season the business world was unsettled owing
TO the uncertainty of forthcoming tariff legisla-
tion. Manufacturers became suspicious and
nervous. Many refused to put out goods till
they knew whether Congress would allow
foreign competitors to enter and ruin the
market. Men did not care to invest good money
on any such uncertainties. A general lack OF
confidence ensued and the seeds of panic were
thrown broadcast. When the Wilson bill ap-
peared 1t injured or destroyed many forms Of
Industry. and this added fuel to the fire. Labor
was thrown out of employment and buying was
curtaiied; failures multiplied. exports de-
creased. the Government debt grew apace. and
we were plunged into commercial chaos.
The second. cause Of hard times was the agi-
tation for free silver and the changing of our
money, standard; Whatever confidence re-
mained was utterly shattered by this wild talk,
election. People do not know whether n dollar
will be worth 100 cents or so cents. or half way
between. and until they do know they will keep
their dollars under lock and key. Trade will
be prostrate until we are beyond tho possibility
Of a fuctuatinR currency.
Now do we want any more of this wretched
work? prophesy that IL the advocates of free
silver should triumph next election day, be-
tween November and March there will Be the
most terrific panic this country has ever known,
and in this turmoil the laoorng classes will fare
the worst.
I'VE want no experiments in finance. A VIC
tory for sound money will mean returning con-
fidence. renewed enterprise and general pros
perity."