The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-07-09
SOMETHING WRONG.


something radically.-wrong in the. eco
nom;c conditions of this country, and
that, a remedy is not soon found for ex-
listing evils, revolution and ruin will inev-
itably result. With land of boundless
resources; with a soil producing in
abundance everything required for the
comfort and happiness of the people;
with mineral wealth not yet half devel-
oped, though still the wonder of the
world; with rivers and seas yielding up
food without limit; with millions of
acres of finest forests on earth; with, in
deed, all the essentials to prosperity and
progress at our very doors, there, never
theless, exists at the present time more
of want and suffering than has ever be-
fore been known--in this highly favored
country.
With food products more abundant and
cheaper than ever before; with wearing
apparel mt prices so low that it ought to
be within the easy reach of all who are
able and willing to work, there are yet
millions sorely IN need of the bare neces-
siJies of life. These unfortunate people
are ready and anxious to work, but en-
ployment cannDt be found, even at the
wages so sadly reduced by their very ne
cessities, and, with all this, larger pc
centage are steadily growing poorer thai
mt any other period in the history of the
republic. While such conditions exist,
it Is, however, fact that more million
aires have been created within the past
ten years than in any other previous
period of twenty years. Eighty per cent.
of the people are growing poorer every
day; nineteen per cent. are holding their
own, while one per cent. is growing fabu-
lousy rich.
The legislation of the county for the
past thirty years, with brief intervals,
perhaps, of comparatively healthy reac-
ton, has tended to build up the trusts
and monopolies at the expense of the peo-
pie, and to accumulate wealth in the
hands of n few, while money sharks ha We
fattened on the flesh of the nation. In
the meantime, an unhealthy brood of
damagogues has sprung up to foment dis
cord among the dissatisfied, until
communism and nihilism have found
I'm abiding place in land where all
should be free, happy ard contented. To
add to the wealth of few the currency
has been tampered with, until gold has
appreciated to double it's normal value.
while the debt-paying power of the great
mass CT the people has been proportion
ately lessened.
The farmer rs a rule receives but little
from the products of his labor, while
taxes must be paid and his children
clothed. The mills are overstocked; in
dustries shut down, and, with no work
to do. the laboring man has no money to
meet the expenses of n living. From one
extent of the country to the other idle
ness is the rule and work the exception.
Nv here, and unless IL remedy is found for
the evils from which they suffer the pa
tience of the people will be exhausted and
revolution and anarchy will follow.
For every disease there ought to be a
remedy, aud while the com plications of
the industrial situation of this country
are many and serious, it is not yet too late
TO attempt cure or to at least amelirate
the condition of the people To begiL
with, there should be less greed and
seiishness among those who are able to
help their fellows. Onice holding should
not be confined mainly to office-seek ers.
and politicians should give place to fit
ness and capacity. Demagogy should
he frowned upon in whatever guise it NAV
appear, and the greatest good to the
greatest number should be the rule of the
management in public affairs, instead of
the greatest gains to the few who can
make them.
Reform should begin in TIE country
districts and end only~swith every depart
ment of the general government. Honesty
and integrity in the management of one's
private business should be the test for
office holding, and everywhere the place
should seek the man instead of having
the man constantly on the hunt for the
position. TO make such rule universal
would OF course be impossible ut first
under present conditions; but every at
tempt to enforce it would lead to i'm
provement until the results would be
surprising. While honest men and able
men are needed everywhere in the higher
walks of the national life more statesmen
and fewer humbugs are wanted.
With these rules applied and with sill
yer restored to it's proper place as a money
metal in the currency, prosperity would