The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-01-21
THE INTELLlGENCER.
WHEELING, JANUARY ~, 1895. :

n III NV G@ItOHINS -sAe
a WHEELING, JANUARY ~, 1898.
n Cotton Spinniers' Strike aud Demagogues.
Ks A great many absurd things are being
y said by the Popocratlc press concerning
sSthe strike Of the cotton operatives in
New England against a reduction of
wages. Il is the only opportunity the
Bryanite papers have had to revive the
calamity wall for some time. and Is the
FIRST chance they have had to misrepre-
cent the workings OF the Dlngley bill, as
II affects the Industries of the country,
and. since, In the face Of the increased
K employment and earnings in the country
generally, they have found little comfort,
st is not surprising that they grasp; at
the opportunity presented by the cotton
strike to misrepresent the causes, and to
attribute 1t to ""Dingleyism," the gold
STANDARD, and everything else that Is
opposed to the theories OF the chief
calamftyite OF them all.
With the evidences OF increased en-
ployment. increased earnings, and eplen-
: did volume OF business everywhere STAR
ing them in the face, and the disappear
s ance Of the depression caused by their
four years of destructive tariff and
business disturbing agitation for cheap
money, the free traders and sllverites
have found nothing to cheer them until
now, when strike occurs in New Eng!
( land, an unfortunate circumstance due
in no manner whatever to economical
policies.
Just as they were beginning to admit
& that, after all, the Dingley bill and the
+ sound money policy really were not ruin
Ing the country. the cotton mill Strikes
came along to restore the dropping
spirits Of the Popocratlc demagogues,
2 and they burst forth in wild and hilari-
ously triumphant shout that the Dingley
bill is a failure and prosperity is but
dream. In the misfortune OF New Eng
land workmen they find cause for par:i-
san Joy. 1t doesn't matter about the
: fact that millions of busy wage-workers,
(. who a year ago were Idle, now have en-
a ployment in other industries, and the
country generally is enjoying period OF
almost unprecedented business activity,
the cotton-spinners strike proves to
them that the country is going to ruin
under Republicanism. 1t doesn't mat
ter to these demagogues, who are hap
1 pier when misfortune in any part of the
+ country gives them opportunity to at
tempt to make political capital at the
expense of the truth, that the cotton
spinning industry in New England is
! not depressed on account of party poll
cies. but on account OF the immutable
laws of trade, which are shifting from
one section OF the country to the other
the manufacture Of cotton. producing a
condition which no tariff policy or mon
4 ey5 system can possibly be responsible
for. A contemporary points out that
q years ago precisely the same sort of
q changing conditions were witnessed,
when the seat OF the iron industry was
4 shifted from New England to eastern
\ Pennsylvania and the Mississippi val
ley, But the demagogues who must
made political capital must howl at all
! hazards, even though 1t be at the expense
OF logical reasoning.
rs Our Wheeling Popocratic contcmpor-
airy, discussing This question, and in a
weak attempt to ignore the general busl-.
4 ness conditions of the country, Is more
mixed up in its mind as to the chlseG OF
the cotton-spinners' strike than any
other organ ,hat'wears the Bryan collar.
S1tisn't exactly sure whether 1t is Ding
Y leylsm" or .thc money power" that Is
responsible. While it regards as ZAP
proprlate" that the strike against
Dinglcy wages" should begin al Ding
ley's home. still it IS not sure that, after
I: all, the Dlngley tariff has 60 much to
a do with 1t as ''the slow strangulation OF
labor entailed by the gold standard,
iiNiShsCp dluG VI NHC uUlldl
Chat is. II doesn't provide forty-fve
cent dollar). and proportionatcly de-
= * ereases the price Of everything else. in
g GLIDING labor. It gradually Increases
the length OF the yard stick and the size
OF the measure, and under such condI-
lions producers must succumb sooner or
{ later"
Our contemporary furnishes no dia-
gram with THE explanation" to show
why It Is that the wicked guild standard
L. sought out the cotton manufacturing in
dustry for Its victim and left all the
other manufacturing industries OF the
I countrysin a prosperous condition, with
labor more generally employed. with
STEADY work. and, In many Instances,
A better wages. than for some years past.
Asfo why "DlnglcyIsm" and the gold
standard should have so affected this
particular industry and not the others
or Ponocratic deponen, must forever
4 remain silent. 1t Is 4 question OF logic
which is too mysterious FOR 1t to handle.
Indeed the application OF Its theory 10
this single industry proves troublesome
4 thing for our contemporary. It ignores
\ the well known fact, apparent to cvGry-'
i body, regarding the condition OF the cot
\ ton trade when It says: ''rt Is not a local
eroublo duo to local conditional II this