Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-08-18

wish for.
But notwithstanding all that nature
has placed TO our credit. We are far
| from the realization of our great posi-
bilities and in common with less IA
vored lands, there are in our midst
hundreds Of thousands who are the vic
tins of remorseless and grinding pow
erty and the airs house and the prison
are still numbe' ed among our instltu-
tious.
The central1zation of wealth shown
by the last census staggers the inagina-
ton The homeless are multiplying
and a few owners of fabulous fortunes
are taking the place of the multitude
with a competence of moderate fortune.
| The danger of the future lay in the
| changing conditions that are working
| out new order of things for our peo-
| pie.
In land whose great natural re-
| sources are a constant invitation to
two hundred millions of people to come
and abide in plenty, in an age when
| invention is going forward with leaps
and bounds, multiplying the means of
| ing the people homeless is not work
j Ing out that which in our imaginative
/ hours " nj aff,ra : ifeSt 6astipv -
! These changes cannot fail to cause the
/ thoughtful 70 shddder at the portent.
! Neither can parental love view with
| Indifference changes that forbode evil
to their offspring. No attachment to
| political organization, If known to
/ foster such a change. is sufficiently
strong to command the allegiance OF
/ freenen. If, as a nation, we possess
| advantages over all others in the boun-
| ties of nature, and our territory and
resources far exceed the needs of more
than double our present population,
what is the reason that poverty and
want are common in our midst, and
bankruptcy and suicide periodically
holds high carnival in our land? What
is the condition that initiates against
US? And what is the controlling con-
dition of prosperity or adversely?
The answer is that the one condition,
in the absence of which there can be
no general prosperity, is stable or
slightly advancing prices. Falling
prices confscate the property of debt
ors. Falling prices drive labor into
idleness, and force it to starve. Fall
ing prices make the weak weaker and
the strong stronger in the competitive
struggle. Falling prices rob all other
members of society to bestow unjustly
upon the creditor class.
With falling prices the debts Of the
world can never be paid, and if this
condition be continued long the equi-
ties of private debtors disappear and
they are reduced to the ranks of the
n-propertied classes, while those
free of debt will be impoverished by
the burdens OF taxation Falling prices
if continued a few generations would
cause return of conditions similar to
those of the Middle Ages.
We use the term falling prices" to
mean that the general price level is
falling. The general price level can
not fall unless money in comparison
with its uses is becoming comparative
" scarce, because money is the pricing
instrument and its units are counted to
indicate prices
The gold combination, composed of
the worlds creditors, profit by falling
prices. All others are losers. Restore
silver to equal mintage rights with
gold and stop falling prices by provid-
ing an adequate money supply and re-
store the conditions of prosperity
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