Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-03-18
HARD FOR POOR MEN.
OLD SOLON CHASE OF MAINE
TELLS WHY.
An Era of Cheapncss Is UNDERMINING
Everything Buys Property
Gets Stuck-More Money and Enlarged
Consumption the Solution.
IT'S "a hard winter for poor men.

lisa hard winter for poor men.
Under the effect of the existing gold
standard" restricted consumption has
become so intensified that there are
twice too many cotton mills to meet
the present demands for consumption.
The calico kings have paid their debts
In rising money and sold their goods in
a falling market until it is claimed
their mills pay no dividends. The cut
in wages comes at time when there
ought to be a rise in wages to meet
the increased cost Of living that comes
from bread famine abroad.
An era of cheapness is undermining
the industries of the country. The
producer has no confidence in his own
product. The merchant buys only to
4 supply present wants. Consumers are
curtailing their purchases In every pos
sible direction. and money lenders have
hard work to find solvent borrowers.
Productive property that employs la
Dor was never so cheap, but whoever
buys 1t gets stuck. Farms in New Eng
land can be bought for one-half Of what
would be considered fair insurance
buys one Of these cheap farms and
makes two blades grow where there
was but one before doesn't get 40 cents
a day for his labor. The small manu-
featuring industries have ceased to pay
dividends long ago. Now 1t Is claimed
that the millions invested in the cotton
mills Of New England are paying no
dividends.
How a cut in wages will help the
calico kings no mortal man can see.
What good will it do to block the mar
ket with goods that cannot be sold at
the cost of production with cut down
wages. The most of the goods that
now go into consumption come from
bankrupt stocks.
The existing gold standard" has
brought the cotton mills of New Eng
and where under existing conditions 1t
seems that restricted production is a
necessity. The strikers who refuse to
travel longer the road that leads to
wooden shoes and barley bread are re-
stricting production, while the manu-
facturers propose to continue produc-
Non and diminish consumption by cut
| Ing down wages. 1t would seem that
manufacturers. Why not shut down
|
the cotton mills and let some of the
goods on hand go into consumption
with a fair profit to the merchant. The
bankrupt stocks that now block the
market work injury to the manufac-
turers, the wage workers, the mer-
chants, and indirectly to the consumer
All our industries, the saw mills, the
shoe shops, the wooden mills, the paper
mills, the brick yards, the lime kilns,
are resting on the same volcano that
broke loose in the cotton mills.
The prosperity that was promised by
opening the mills has not come. If we
should open the minis what would be
the effect? The existing single gold
standard would vanish in a night as
the ice goes out of a river. Silver
would be primary money in competi-
ton with gold as it stood throughout
the ages until 1873. There would be
plenty of legal tender dollars of less
purchasing power than the present
equivalent of gold. When the law is
repealed that has enhanced the value
Of gold the gold dollar won't buy so
much calico as now The apprecia-
tion Of gold (Which has been a wolf in
sleeps clothing for decade), would
stop. The dollar of today would be as
good as the dollar of tomorrow and
may be little mite better. Property
would rise and business men who are
now on the brink of bankruptcy would
become solvent borrowers instead Of
the market blocked with bankrupt
stocks; goods would go into consump-
tion with fair margin Of profit to the
producer. Productive property that is
now Stunned would be sought after.
All our currency would go into circula-
tion. There would, be no profit in
boarding money, but there would be
profit in spending money. Producers
who are now paying their taxes from
the savings of more prosperous times
or from their capital would pay their
taxes from their profits. The work.
ing man would buy two pair Of over
alls where he buys one pair now, and
his wife would buy two calico gowns
where she buys one now. Enlarged
consumption is the solution Of the
problem that now confronts the cotton
mills of New England as regards both
operators and operatives.
SOLON CHASE.