Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-07-01
EVEN THE WAR DOES NOT RE-
WYE BUSINESS.
Widespread Dissatisfaction Caused by
the Failure Of the Glowing Promises
of Quickly Coming Prosperity to Fol-
low McKinlev's Election.

chaser of labor products, and because
of the removal from the labor market
of large number of volunteers. This
was the effect of the civil war upon
business and industries in the Northern
states. Why does not the war with
Spain restore prosperity? Perhaps 1t
is because the war is being fought upon
a gold basis, something no government
was ever foolish enough to attempt be-
fore. The issuance of greenbacks in
stead of bonds would make all the diff
ference between the present industrial
paralysis and the good times that pre-
vailed during the civil war.
The New York Voice ian organ OF
sleek. well-fed people, tool says:
There exists on all sides dissatisfac-
| ton over the failure of the glowing
promises that the election of William
Mckinley would inaugurate a return
| of good times That there has been
such a failure is manifest to every one
who is at all familiar with passing
events. While it is true that certain
| lines of business have undergone
marked improvement, it is also true
that the laboring man finds employ
ment almor as difficult to obtain and
his toll but little better recompensed
than it was during the so-called panic.
The dissatisfaction of the coal miners
in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Vir-
ginia is we'll known; the strike OF the
cotton workers in New England has at
tracted wide attention, while in our
large cities the police and charity rec
ords show that the past winter was
characterized by suffering from colo
and hunger such as was never exceeded
in our country's history. Nor is the
condition of the American farmer salts
factory. Foreign famine and war have
raised the price of wheat, and failure
Of crops has, in localities, increased the
/ price of this or that farm product; still
it is true that thousands Of this strong
and influential class Of citizens believe
themselves to be poorly requited for
their toll. The prosperity of the coun-
try, or in other words, good times de-
ponds upon the prosperity of the indi-
viduals composing our population.
When it is true that any large number
of citizens are, for any reason, deprived
of the fruits of their toll, robbed OF
their wealth, or seriously interfered
with in the pursuit of their occupa-
tions, conditions exist which, if suffi-
GENTLY widespread, produce hard times,
not for those people alone, but for the
country at large Such condition ex-
! lists today, and has existed for years."
The New York Commonwealth, an
avowed organ of the discontinued
masses, talks scarcely less vigorously
than the Voice, as follows:
within the last three years the army
| of starving men, women and children
in this country has increased ten-foid
! while the rich have continued to grow
| in wealth. At one end of society We
have noXious and pampered idlers anc
| plunderers, with their countless mil
| lions; at the other, the famisned serfs
| of labor living in enforced idieness, fast
| sinking into despair. 1t is safe to say
| that the whole history of the old chat
tel bondage in the Southern states does
not reveal as much wretchedness and
, suffering as have been the lot of the
| American working people during the
| last three years. The negro slave was
| sure of the three primary needs OF life
food, clothing and shelter-which
cannot be said of the great majority Of
our white workingmen today. Men
never toiled in the cotton fields as they
| now toll for miserable pittance in the
| vast coal fields, in absolute subsection
! to the will of their masters, and with
no hope of relief save through the por-
tails of death more merciful than their
| brother man. A mountainmass OF
wealth has been produced but the peo-
| pie have remained poor. A handful OF
heartless schemers gather in with one
hand the wealth produced by labor;
| with the other they sow poverty, suf-
! fering and tears. Three-fourths of the
wealth of the nation is in few thou
sand pockets-that is what has become
| of the riches of the people,"
We remember the kind of prosperity
we were promised by the Mckinley
campaign orators. What we are get
| ting is illustrated by the following
paragraphs:
The New York Sun, which is great
prosperity sheet, comes to the conclu-
| sion, after careful investigation, that
100000 working women in that city are
receiving wages so small that they are
| compelled to accept charity or else
| starve.
The Boston Manufacturing Co. OF
Waltham, Mass, has announced 10
/ per cent reduction Of wages for its l.
500 employees, said reduction to take eff
| feet the 2Sth inst. A strike will prob
ably result, and our prosperity will
again be proven.
Thomas Murphy, blacklisted rail-
| road engineer, was shot by the mar