The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1898-01-20
CHANGING BACK WARD
WHAT A VAST CHANGE HAS
TAKEN PLACE!
The Country Does Not Recognize ltseit
In viewing Its Condition OF Year
Ago-Farmers the ones Who IiaSe
Received the Greatest Benefit.
(Washington letter.

There are several reasons ana IL may
| not be improper from this national
standpoint, where they are easily look
ed at, TO enumerate some of them.
Glance over the files OF your papers
OF the corresponding date four years
ago and even three years ago, and, il
you have not them at hand, recall TO
your recollection the circumstances OF
that time. Want and suffering in ev-
cry city; hundreds Of thousands OF peo-
pie out of employment: business sus-
pended and business men called upon
10 give OF their funds TO keep the un-
employed of their own communities
from starvation; soup houses estab-
lisbed everywhere; Idle men in search
OF employment or in search of susie
nance; thousands sleeping in station
houses and public buildings in the
great cities. Everybody who recalls
the experiences of the first and second
winters which followed the election Of
free trade President and Congress
and contrasts them with those Of to-
day, must feel that there is occasion
for gratitude in the present condition
of his own community and the COM
munities 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 he is now getting and
those during the free trade period will
certainly make this a Merry Christmas
and Happy New Year TO him. The far
mer supplies the bulk Of that great
mass OF productions which 60 10 other
parts of the world and bring millions
OF money into the United States. The
expectations of the country in the year
now about TO end are the heaviest in
its entire history. They will reach for
the calendar year nearly S1,100,000, 900.
In but once in the history of ine coun-
try did they reach as much as a bill
lion. and that under the administration
OF the last Republican President, Cen
eral Harrison. This year they will ex-
coed those of 1892, when they were ST.
Ol5,OOO,O00. And the farmer is getting
his share OF this prosperity.
Take the manufacturers and tie 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
were without work. To-day in every
nj ha
OF full time, many of them overtime,
in some cases running day and night,
while thousands upon thousands OF
workingmen and women have received
as holiday gifts an increase of from 10
to 20 per cent in their wages. This is
the result of the protective system: the
conditions Of tour years ago were the
result Of the free trade system
Take the currency of the country, the
money in circulation as another exam
pie. Two years ago the leaders OF the
Democratic party began the vigorous
agitation in favor of an unsound sys-
tenn Of finance in the affairs Of the ma
ton. The result was Immediately felt
in rapid reduction OF the money in
circulation. Eighteen months ago it's
leaders met in Chicago and did what it
had been for some time apparent they
would do, declared for the free and un-
limited coinage of silver at ratio far
different from that which actually ex-
lists in the commercial value of silver
and gold. And during that campaign
II was insisted that only by this false
and delusive method could there be
produced sufficient increase in the
currency OF the country to keep pace
} with the growth OF its population. The
result Of that agitation was suspension
OF business, the disappearance of cur
rency, business alarm, still further loss
OF employment. The rejection of the
proposition by the people was felt by
an immediate increase in the country,
and on this holiday occasion, only
year after the rejection by the people
or the United States of this proposed
system OF finance, the currency in cir
culation is more than $500 600 900 in
excess of that on the day that Mr.. Bry-
an was nominated upon the free silver
platform. And this is another of the
numerous causes for congratulation TO
the people Of the United States on this
holiday occasion.
What is the cause of all these
changes? The cause is found simnlv
in the difference Of policy and admin
istration between the Cleveland free
trade period and the Mckinley protec-
tive tariff period. Under the former
policy the country had reached the low
est ebb in finance and trade within the
memory OF the generation, but with the
appearance OF Bryan and the free sill