The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1899-02-18

4 FAVORITE mode of expression
i ~ with the capitalist, who cannot
have things his own way in the
employment of labor, is to assert that
''the labor unions are killing the
town. The inference is that the To-
cality in which this assertion is made
is being injured by the unions; that
capital is being driven away and man.
ufactories built up elsewhere, all be-
cause the laboring men in that vicin-
ity are insisting upon how they shall
sell their labor.
/ The facts are that the same hard
times exist throughout the entire
country. The Chippewa Falls wis.,
Sentinel. in late issue, bemoans the
fact that on every side in that place
may he seen stores boarded up, and
the signs ''To Lett throughout all the
residence district. The same condi-
tions exist in Eau Claire, Hudson, and
all the towns between St. Paul and
Chicago, and in all the larger cities
of the country.
! Except the Republican papers that
come to our office, that are trying to
bolster up the present administration,
the universal concensus Of opinion and
observation is that there never were
so many mortgages being recorded as
now, never so many chattel mortgages
issued, and never so many foreclos-
ures being published in the newspa-
pers as at the present time.
The truth is that were it not for the
revenue coming in from the publica-
ton of foreclosure sales many of the
country papers would Immediately go
under. This legal advertising is now
almost the sole support of great num-
bers of these journals. The papers in
the larger cities are being equally
hard pushed, and with the paper trust
now bearing down upon them, many
Of them will either go to the wall or
escape bankruptcy by effecting con-
solidation with other papers.
And yet the average business man
is ready to catch up the phrase and
repeat it, that "the labor unions are
running the town.
The truth is that national bank
and money TRUST of the country have
so Frustrated the business everywhere
as to leave nothing to ruin.
This money trust opens bank,
paints the word "Nationa'' in gold
letters on the windows, and expects
the general public to furnish the mon
ey by bringing in their deposits, so
that the officers may do a banking
business.
Does anybody know how reliable
the managers of that bank may be? ?
Does anybody know how much money
they have? A bank inspector is ap-
pointed to report that they are all
right. These bank inspectors reported
II national banks perfectly sound, and
very soon afterwards all these banks
failed, in the month of July, 1898.
Does this money trust give any Sc
curity when they open bank to the
depositors? Not at all. Did the 500
banks that failed in the United States
in 1898, causing a loss to depositors
OF hundreds of millions of dollars, give
any security to the people when they
put their money into these banks :
Not cent
Nor can they be made to give Sc
curity. An earnest effort was made
some time ago to get Il postal savings
bank established by which people
could feel assured in placing their
money in the bank that they would
not lose it through bank failure. Many
congressman were pledged to that is
SUE. People voted for them on the
promise that they would use their
best endeavor to secure safe place to
put money in Il postal savings bank.
What has become of those congress
men? What about the postal savings
bank?o
Why, these congressman are as ef-
fcctually swallowed by the money
trust when they get to Washington as
ii minnow is eaten when it drops in
among a school Of big fish.
The postal savings bank is now an
absolutely dead issue, and the money
trust will see that it is kept dead
while the workingmen are compelled
to hide their little savings about their
premises or blow them in to the sa-
loon. And "the labor unions are ruin
ing the town.
During the past six years twelve
banks established in Duluth by the
money power. have broken to pieces
and the depositors lost in. them hun
drcds of thousands of dollars. 60,
II These bank failures caused a loss OF