The Opelousas courier., 1898-02-26
Where Is 1.-THE Advance Agent ~
Times DemOerat, Feb. 8.

1t is a maxim among creditors thai
there are only two unsatisfactory kinds
of payers-those who pay in advance,
and those who don't pay at all. The
same saying might be applied to the
heralds or agents of prosperity, OF
whom the unsatisfactory classes would
be G) those who don't bring it before it
is due, and (2) those who don't bring it
at all.
Readers of The Times-Democrat will
have no difficulty in remembering what
a loud potLer the Republicans made
during the last six months of 1896 and
the first three months of 1897 about the
''Saturnian age" that Mckinley was des-
tined to bring back again to this
try after the passing of the devastating
Cleveland regime. Prosperity would
ats0nce, after the installment of Nc
kinley, flow as from a Ceres horn all
over tho land, and Mckinley himself
was tho "advance' of that prosperity.
The advance agent" and abundant
prosperity" fetch has rot been
much heard.of Of late. Lntlse summer
months Of 1897. when s1sie &are signs
everywhere of Il more than Equally
b0untifnl harvest, tlx1e was the snSEss-
ton that this was tlk first wave of w
predicted prosperity and that it woufHs
go on swelling through< Fiery line OF
industrial activity so Wig as the White
House should have the good fortune to-
be tenanted by the advance agent
But unfortunately for these slouters OF
prosperity. the PROSPERITY has declined
to come. 1t came in a measure to the
wheat-srOwers; but, apart from them,
it has not come and shows no signs OF
coming. The growers OF cotton are m
able to get so much as 5 IA cents for
their product, and the mills Of New
England are either shut down or have
made a heavy reduction in.the wages OF
employees. The advance agent is con-
%sequently under a cloud !; for like the
payer in advance" lie brought on his
prosperity before it was due, and he and
his are thoroughly discredited.
The most peculiar feature of the pros
perity bubble is that the home of Mel
son Diugley, who under the advance
agent" was the person chiefly looked to
with his high-prOtectiOH legislation to
bring back the golden era of prosperity,
has been one of the sections Of the
country to suffer from an unusual de-
preston of business. During the past
month $50 cotton mills in new England
either reduced wages or shut down alto
gether because thee employees refused
W dSSVpG thC CuuCtu SCdIt , anu 10
than 125, 900 operatives were af-
10y these untoward conditions.
Only n mill. it is true, in Nelson Din
city Of Lewiston, Me, had to close
its doors, the operatives in all the 9th
ers having accepted the lowered wage
the principle that they took y half
loaf to DO better than no bread. But it
was the biggest mill in Lewiston, tho
.~ndroscoggin, employing 100 hands,
within a stones throw of Nelson
DlDgley's office, that had to shut it's
doors.
The agent Of the Androscoggin mills
aid In an Interview that the operatives
could have borne the reduction if they
had chosen. Their wages were raised
TWO years ago the same amount by which
they are reduced now, he says "The
average of wages, taking men,
and boys, is 81 a day. The
Of cloth has dropped so that the
Mills are no better Oft than before the
down. We are brought face to face
With a great problem. An investment
IT $4,000, 900 in Fall River cotton mills
8 not earning Il Ger In Lewiston
100000 is invested and there is no
'etnrn from it,"
This, it will be observed, is an ugly
tate OF things-for the employers. The
employees do not seem to be any more
'atisfied with it.