Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1898-12-21
Prosperity ~ In Philadelphia.

OiihSo oOIIOW w tuc SOulB OI laQO
lords, but the clsud has no silver
lining. A big factor in this condi-
tion Of things is the existence Of our
great department stores, which are
but form Of the trusts that now
dominate the commercial and busi.
ness world. These huge concerns
have well nigh proved the ruin OF
small shop keepers. Men of small
means find it impossible to do bus-
ness in competition with the mann
moth department stores, which buy
goods in tremendous quantities at
the lowest prices. The little fellows
are thus frozen out, and hence hun
dreds of houses are vacated.
"Some claim that a great public
injury is wrought in this way, while
the counter claim is advanced that
the masses are benefited by reason
of the cheaper goods offered by the
department houses. But it makes
no difference which side has the best
OF the argument-the big stores are
here to stay, and they are but an ad-
ded proof of the immutable law of
the survival of the fittest. Wash.
ington Post.
What an awful rush of "prosperity'
Philadelphia must be enjoying, to be
surel
Twenty-three thousand vacant
houses yielding no return for the in
vestment, and rents in general down
to figures that are bringing sorrow to
the souls Of landlords. And no ''sil-
yer lining" either. We are afraid,
though, that Mr.. Sharpe has been
unfortunate in the selection Of this
simile. What does the PHILADELPHIA
landlord want Of a silver lining?''
What does he want of silver in any
way or in any form? Surely it can
not be that silver, the coinage of
which would be 80 certain to bring
ruin upon US, can be a good thing to
line clouds with. What calamity
it would be to the owners of those
23 1000 vacant houses to have them
all rented with the desperate chance
OF the rents being paid in silver or
silver certificates9 How happy the
owners must be to think that they
have escaped the possibility of such
a danger! However, falling prices,
we are told, are good thing" and :,
OF course, it applies to rents as well
as TO calico. Hence the landlords
who are receiving the diminished
rents can find a world of consolation
in the thought of how much they are
contributing to the advancement of
civilization.
And then think of the ones who are
getting no rents at all; and the small
business men who have been crowded
out by the great department stores.
How can we find language to fittingly
describe their happiness in the great
work they are doing for civilization /?
II they had only been in attendance
at the Omaha monetary convention
and listened to Fowler and Enrich
expatiate upon the beauties of cheap
ness, the cup Of their Joy would have
been full. But as they were not
there the next best thing for them
is to subscribe for "Sound Money" and
learn all about it. What difference
does it make if $4,000 houses are
empty, 1000 more renting at ruin.
Gus figures and small business men
generally crowded out? What signify
little matters like these when the
great department stores are selIir o
goods cheap?
But. seriously, the fact. set fort h
in II quotation at the head of this
article strongly confirm our state.
ment elsewhere made that there is
no business that is prospering unless
it be in the nature of q MONOPOLY.
Under the falling prices which during
the last twenty-five years have ac-
companied the extension Of the gold
standard, the smaller and weaker
business men have been steadily
crowded out. Their profits have been
swept away and their debts have
ruined them. The larger and wealth
Ter concerns have stood the strain
in many cases benefiting by the mis-
fortunes of the weaker ones. They
have bought up bankrupt stocks for
mere song; they have purchased
their new goods in immense lots at
low prices, and by extending their
business to different lines of merchan-
disc great department stores have
been created. Selling some classes OF
goods at no profit, others at a small
profit and some at = large profit, they
prosper through the enormous mag
nitude of their business. And while
they are doing so 5000 houses are
vacant, with probably twice that
number OF families huddled together
In wretched tenements, only to
anxi0us IN occupv ~. r.oo~A