The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1898-01-13
A GLANCE BACKWARD
GREAT CHANGE IN THE cOUN-
TRY DURING THE PAST YEAR.


Country Now ON Sound BUSINESS
Basis and Prosperity Is With Us
Again-A Few Comparisons.
E. F. PARSONS, Special Correspondent.
Washington. D. C.-This ought to
be a merry Christmas and happy New
Year for large proportion Of the peo-
pie of the United Staes.
There are several reasons and it may
not be improper, from this national
standpoint, where they are easily looked
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. it
you have not them at hand, recall to
your recollection the circumstances Of
that time. Want and suffering in
every city; hundreds of thousands of
people out of employment; business
suspended and business men called
upon to give of their funds to keep the
unemployed of their own communities
from starvation; soup houses estab-
lished everywhere; idle men in search
Of employment or in search Of susten-
ance; thousands sleeping in station
houses and public buildings in the great
cities. Everybody who recalls the ex-
periences of the first and second win
tiers which followed the election of a
free trade president and congress and
contrasts them with those Of today,
must feel that there is occasion for
gratitude in the present condition OF
his own community and the commune
ties 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 price which he is now getting and
those during the free trade period will
certainly make this merry Christmas
and happy New Year to him. The
farmer supplies the bulk of that great
mass of productions which 60 to other
parts of the world and brings millions
of money into the United States. The
expectations of the country in the year
now about to end are the heaviest in
it's entire history. They will reach for
the calendar year nearly 81, 100, 000,-
600. In but once in the history of the
country did they reach as much as
billion, and that under the admin ira
tion of the last Republican president,
General Harrison. This year they will
exceed those of 1892, when they were
81, ola, OOO,0 900. And the farmer is
getting his share of this prosperity.
Take the manufacturers and the mil
lions of men employed in the various
il dustries which they control or which
are tributary to them. Four years
ago the shutters were upon the win
dows, the wheels were silent. the en-
ployes were without work. Today in
every community the factories are
working on full time, many of them
overtime, in some cases running day
and night, while thousands upon thou
sands Of working men 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 sys-
tenn; the conditions of four years ago
were the result of the free trade sys
tenn.
Take the currency of the country
the money in circulation as another ex-
ample. Two years ago the leaders of
the Democratic party began the vigor-
GUS agitation in favor of an unsound
system of finance in the affairs of the
nation. The result was Immediately
felt in rapid reduction of the money
in circulation. Eighteen months ago
its leaders met in Chicago and did
what it had Teen for sometime ap-
parent they would do, declared for the
free and unlimited coinage Of silver at
a ratio far different from that which
actually exists in the commercial value
of silver and gold. And during that
campaign it 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 suspen-
sion of business, the disappearance of
currency, business alarm, still further
loss of employment. The rejection of
the proposition by the people was felt
by an immediate increase in the the
country, and on this holiday occasion,
only year after the rejection by the
people of the United States. of this pro-
posed system of finance, the currency
in circulation is more than 5000, 0O0,-
900 in excess of that on the day that
Mr.. Bryan was nominated upon the free
silver platform. And this is another
of the numerous causes for congratulate
ton to the people of the United States
on this holiday occasion.
What is the cause Of all these
changes? The cause is found simply
in the difference of policy and admin.
istration between the Cleveland and
free trade period and the Mckinley
protective tariff period. Under the
former policy the country had reached
the lowest ebb in finance and trade
within the memory of the generation,
but with the appearance Of Bryan and
the free-silver heresy still further
was felt until thingssat one
time seemed to be at a standstill
But with the election Of president
pledged to protection and sound money
an immediate difference was seem.
Even before it was possible to enact
any legislation which would change the
operations OF the government or even
before any change in the occupancy Of
the White House, the confidence re-
stored to the country and business in