Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-01-07
FROSPERITY'S HUM,
STILL A FEW FLIES IN THE
OINTMENT.
There Is Some Flaw in McKinley's APP
paratus Which Restricts the Benefits
of the Business Revival to q Small
Number.

|
the assertion that there has lately been
a marked revival Of prosperity; but all
such persons, it is safe to say, are
not manipulators Of trusts and mo-
nopolies, neither have they large sums
of money invested in bonds and mort
cages. Whenever you hear a man
growing about present business and
industrial conditions you may be sure
that he is not millionaire, and there
fore his opinions are not worth listen
ing to. ]. A. Wayland, while not
trust magnate, knows very we'll that
there is great deal Of prosperity in
the country, and states what he knows
as follows:
Prosperity has struck the country.
There is no doubt Of that. 1t is not
necessary to rely on mere assertion, 1t
can be proven by the facts. What as
tonishes me most is why the Repu5-
lcan papers do not come back at the
sarcasm of their opponents and give
the statistics. There Is the Standard
Oil Colt has made about fifty mil
lion dollars in the last year. Don't
that prove it is prosperous? Then the
profits of the sugar trust is re-
ported to be about twenty millions.
Isn't that evidence of prosperity?
Then the coal combines will make,
on their own showing, about eighty
millions this year. There are scores
of other incidents Of like character,
though of lesser note, all going 10
show that the business of the land Is
prosperous. Take the railroads, for
instance, they are enabled to pay in
terest on four times the sum invested
to build them. Isn't that good enough?
Now there is no reason why any one
with any brains should not be making
money hand over fist! These corpo-
rations have all the brains in the ma
ton, hence they are all right and not
bowling because Of hard times. II
should go to these fellows and buy a
few ounces of their wonderful gray
matter and go out and get rich. These
men find it easy to make money. They
know how. That is all there is in
making money When they want to do
thing and law is needed to help
them out, they go and buy the law
as they would any other merchandise
and then proceed with their money
making. The reason so many are kick
ing because they cannot make money
is that they refuse to buy the law to
suit their vocation. Take one instance:
Without law giving him the streets
Of Chicago for term Of years Yerkes
could not have made twenty millions
lately. So he went to the legislature
and got the streets. Yerkes is wise.
He has great brains. He is not howl
ing calamity because times are hard.
Times are not hard for him. There is
nobody in this country worth speaking
of but the men with lots of money.
The other fellows are no good. They
have no country. They don't own
} anything. They haven't sense enough
to even vote for their own interests.
They think their vote is to put some
one in office and nothing more. Yerkes
knows better. He knows where TO
make money. And he would be poor
man today if the voters had as much
sense as last years birds nest. Go
buy the law, make money and quit
complaining"
According to most of the newspapers
the condition of the poor is as unen-
viable as ever. The Twentieth Cen
fury says: The old story of the re-
vival of prosperity-for it is an old
story by this time-is being told again
and again by the partisans of the pres
ent administration. But many of the
agents of the charitable and other SO.
cieties throughout the country have
been at pains to investigate this mat
, ter, and it appears that rarely in our
history has there been such acute dis
, tress. 1t is true that there has been
I improvement in some parts Of the
country, but taking the nation at large
there is such keen distress that the
boasts of revived prosperity are little
better than mockery n ths unfortun,
ate. The coming winter will be ter
rble in its effects upon the poor
They are not able in many cases to OBJ
tain relief owing to the accounts of re-
vived prosperity that have been put
in circulation as card for the party
in power"
We find confirmation Of the forego-
ing is found in the following from
Sundays st. Louis Post-Dispatch, now
gold-standard organ:
This week $4,000 letters will be sent
out asking for subscriptions to the St.
, Louis Provident association. They
should bring generous and prompt re-
Spouse. Severe weather is likely to set
in at any time, and an unusual amount
of distress is expected. Last winter
the association found more restitution
than in any previous year Of its his
tory. It required $4,000 last year to