Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-10-22


der the rule of Hanna. The idea,
doubtless, is to inculcate the belief that
the wheat farmer is not the only man
in luck, and that prosperity is general.
The fact Is that cotton has never
been lower, for any length Of time,
than at present. Cotton planters are
glum and discontinued. and the wages
of cotton pickers have Of necessity
fallen lower than ever before.
| Here are a few extracts from south
ern papers, showing how the single
gold standard is still working full time
in Dixie:
Mariana (Ark) Courier: "Cotton
continues to decline, but thanks to the
Dingley bill and other causes. all other
products are advancing. So much for
Mckinley prosperity, so far as the
| south is concerned"
Ennis (Tex) Pilot: Wheat goes up,
and cotton goes down. The cotton
raiser will have to content himself with
masters"
Batesville (Ark.) Guard: with all
the talk of prosperity and better times,
there is less money in circulation now
than before at this time in many years.
And moneyless prosperity is the fake
variety"
The Iron Trade Review of Cleveland,
Ohio, was one of the loudest goldbug
shouters last fall. Now it announces
in detail the program of the reign of
prosperity which it then promised.
Read it carefully and see how you like
it:
"The impatient, oft-times sneering,
is this prosperity? which accompanies
newspaper announcements of reduc-
tions in wages, indicates that there are
many who utterly fail to appreciate the
conditions under which prosperity OF
whatever proportions it may prove to
be, will come to this country. Wage
reductions are certainly feature OF
the new prosperity"
And then it proceeds to explain that
because of the small margin of profit
enjoyed by American industries, the
American workingman must accept
lower wages. Hear it:
"The scale of profits is gone. The
basis of profit is often treated as tenn
porary and transitional. That is a
characteristic that promises to stay un-
til industrial capital and labor grow
used to it. An element that may be
reasonably looked for in the prosperity
to come is larger tonnage, much of 1t
gained in foreign trade, which can only
be had through lower prices and lower
wages. With this will come steadier
employment for labor. The prosperity
of the future will consist rather in hav-
ing much to do than in having large
profits or high wages
| AS the Iron Trade Review is publish
ed at the home of Prosperity Maker
| Hanna (who is in the iron business
himself), it probably reflects his ideas.
Prosperity is to manifest itself in the
form of longer hours of labor at lower
wages. 1t will be hard to recognize
prosperity in this strange garb, but the
| people must get used to 1t.
| Mrs. ]. Frazman of Granite county,
Montana, writes as follows to the Mil
waukee Advance:
Times here are fearfully dull. We
have given up all hope of McKinley's
wave reaching us. Still we should not
despair, for the effects of the Dingley
bill are already being felt. Sugar has
advanced, as l learned on my last trip
to town. Though strange to say, my
pocketbook was flatter after paying
81 for a sack Of sugar than it would
have been under the Wilson bill, with
sugar at $780, There is something
curious about that which | think we
poor mortals will have to get Hanna
to explain"
Congressman Clayton of Alabama
says that prosperity has not struck the
south. Wheat is good for the west, but
cotton at cent less per pound thac
this time last year with all the planter
has to buy at an increased price, the
prospects are not very brilliant for the
southern people.