El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-12-29
PROSPEROUS
OUTLOOK.
Conditions for the Coming
Year are Propitious.
PAST YEARS ADVANCES.
A Washington Dispatch That Gives a
General Review of Returning Pros
perity to This Country and an Idea
of the Future.
PAST YEARS. ADVANCES,

WASHINGTON, December 20 This
ought to be Happy New Year for q
large proportion of the people of the
United States.
There are several reasons and it
may be not improper from this nation
al stand point, where they are easily
looked at, TO epumerate some of them.
Glance over the files of your papers
OF the corresponding date four years
ago ard even three years ago, and ii
you have not them at hand recall to
your recollection the circumstances of
that time. Want and suffering in
every city; hundreds of thousands of
people out of employ inert; hrsipess
suspended and business men called
upon to give of their furd 10 keep the
uLt M loyes Of tLelr own communities
from starvs ton; soup-h.uses establish
ed everywhere: die men in search of
employ ment or in S. arch Of suktenance;
thousands sleeping in statiOI-hOuses
and public buildings in the great cities.
Every body who recalls the experiences
of the first and second winters which
followed the election of a feee-trade
president and congress and contrasts
them with th ose of today must feel
that there is occasion fOr gratitude in
the present condition of his own COM
munity and the communities of his
country.
Take the farmer and his condition as
another example. While he was not
actually starving and requiring his
friends to contribute food at this time
four years ago, the contrast between
the PRICES which be is now getting and
those during the free-trade period will
certainly make this Marry Christ
mas ana Happy New Year to him. The
farmer supplies the bulk of that great
mass of productions which go to other
pats Of the world and bring millions
of money into the Uni'ed States. 7 he
exportatiors of the country in the year
now about tha end are the heaviest in
its entire history. They will reach for
the calendar year nearly ST, loo, ,00O, 900.
In but once in the history of the coun-
try did they re ach as much as billion,
snd that under the administrat' on OF
the last republican president, General
Harrison. This year they will exceed
tn Sc of 1892, when they were ST. ,O12,-
O00, 200 And the farmer is ge ting his
sha, of this prosperity.
Take the manufacturers and the mil
lions of men employed in the various
Industries which they control or which
are tributary to them. Four years ago
the shutters were upon the windows,
the wheels were silent. the employees
we're without work. Today in every
community the factories are working
on full time, many of them overtime, in
some cases running dayaDd night while
thousands of working men and women
have received as holiday gifts an in
crease of from ten to t. enty per cent.
in their wages. This is the result of
the pro- ective system; the conditions of
four years ago we're the result of the
free-trad system.
Wha. is the cause of all these
cha-g ge-? The cause is found Simply
in the difference of policy and admir-
istrat:On between the Mckinley free
trade period and the Mckinley protec-
tive tariff psriod. Under the former
policy the country had reached the
lowest ebb in finances and trade with
in the memory of the generation, but
with the appearance of Bryan and the
free silver heresy a still further stag
nation was felt until things at one time
seemed to be at standstill. But with
the election of a president pledged to
protection and sound money, an i'm
mediate difference was seen. Even be-
fore it was possible to enact any legis-
latiou which would change the opera
tions of the government, or even be-
fore any change was made in the oc-
cupancy of the white house, the con-
fid ence restored to the country aud
business, in the knowledge that pro-
per legislation would occur as soon as
possible, was marked on all sides.
Then came the Inauguration of Pres
ident Mckinley and later the enact
ment of republican tariff law, desi gn-
ed to furnish sufficient revenue and to
protect American industries, ard the
result has been steady growth and an
increase of business all over the land.
Prices of farm products have risen,
wages of employees have been increas-
ed, thousands of unemployed have
work, and the cou ntry is entering into
a season of prosperity which is great
contrast to the years of free trade
which are fresh in the memories of the
people.
PLAYED While Hotel Burned.