Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-03-24
THE MEN WITH THE MONEY.
They Are the Ones Who Profit MoE4
When Times Grow
Better.

Private advices from New England
and New York indicate that. prosperity
is not present to any alarming extent,
at least among the rank and file of the
population. The factory hands have
long had starvation wages, but in this
year of republican prosperity even the
small wage allowed them has been cut
down by a tenth. And yet, the govern
ment reports show that New England,
New York and Pennsylvania are the
sections that have benefited most by
the business operations of the last 20
years. There has been steady flow of
wealth from the west and south to
these states on the eastern seaboard.
The great railroad systems of the coun-
try are owned largely by capitalists Iiv-
ing in these eastern sections. and the
vast profits have been flowing eastward
in steady stream.
The New Highlander may put his
thumbs into the armholes of his vest
and proudly say: "See how rich we
are growing. Why, sir, during the
period from 1890 to 1895 our little state
of Massachusetts gained in wealth to
the extent of S3I7 ,00O,O GOO, while all of
those great western states of Washing
ton, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah,
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas,
Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas and
Louisiana, combined, gained only like
sum-" But if you ask him what part
he has of this great prosperity he adj
lnits that he is as poor as ever, and that
e r. L !
not know that his section of country
had benefited by existing conditions.
There are many people in New Eng
land as well as people in other sections
of the country who would like to know
where are the men with the money.
The fact is that no section of the
country has benefited greatly by this
accumulation of new millions, but the
benefit has accrued to rich men residing
in those most favored sections. The
capitalists scattered through the east
have reaped richly during the last 90
years. It is an error to suppose that the
gold standard has benefited them only
during the time of depression. 1t is
mistake to suppose that the gold stand
ard robs the debtor only during the
times that the sheriffs are active fore
closing the mortgages. The fact is that
the gold standard is a robber standard
during the whole term of its existence.
The period from 1856 to 1890 was a
period of great prosperity, or rather,
of great business activity, and yet there
was never Il period when the wealth of
the many passed more rapidly into the
hands of the few. The general public
mistool1 activity for prosperity. They
believed because men were engaged in
business that they were all making
money.
But when, at the coming of the great
crisis of 1898. men began to reread the
records of the past decade, trey found
that business had been done at loss
and that the only commercial enter
prises that had gained money were
those founded and living by the loan
ing of money. Money alone had proved
a good investment, because it had not
shrunk in volume. The little army of
money lenders in New York, Pennsyl-
vania and New England clapped their
hands on their pockets and declared
that they had experienced unparalleled
prosperity. They passed the word out
to the multitude, and the latter, being
unable TO determine who had the
money, were content to believe that the
general public had been prosperous be-
cause they knew it must certainly have
come into the community according to
reports. Their votes at the last cleo
ton proved their faith. The men with
the money control the republican pol
itics of the east. They control the
newspapers of the east. They control
to too great an extent the national ad-
ministration. The question is forced
upon US: ''Shall the people rule or the
men with the money!" 1t must be an
swered at the coming elections.
H F. THURSTON.