Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1899-04-14
Washln9ton Standard
OLYMPIA. WASH.
FElbil EVENING, APRIL ii. 1899.
Predictions Verified.


Hard time j. hat a relative term.
alter all and do not moan that
cNcrybody j. suffering from what the
g"ld-hug- rall financial depression.
Not a bit ii it, FL" poor mans
famine j. the rich man. har..t: Pow
,fty ttn.' i Wralth'> iuvi"urating
cordial the same clouds oi adversely,
which oycr>hadow the horizon of
labor, are SPAWNED by the bow OF
promise with yeritable pot OF gold at
the base Of the segment for those who
stand in the bright sunshine OF aiiiu-
encc.
The figures accredited to the profits
OF corporations and multi-millionaires,
the past year. show that it has been a
season OF unusual prosperity for them.
The Standard Oil Trust leads with
hundred million profits for the year
1899, and the Wall Paper trust, the
least OF all, with aquarter million add
ed to its profits from the power Of
combination. The aggregate Of excess
profits OF corporations is placed at
1927 100000. The profits of individu-
al millionaires is no less suggestive.
Rockefeller is accredited with profit
Of thirty millions, and 45 Others are
accorded amounts ranging in from one
to twenty millions, within the same
period. The railroads have made AGO
million, the National and State Bonds
300 millions, street railways 200 mil
lions, gas and electric light companies
22O millions, shipping Is millions.
steel and iron works 70 millions, and
the flour feed industries so millions,
in the same time, making 3 grand to-
tai of $1,773,OOOOOO for the year.
Thus it will be seen that rich people
have been able to add very largely to
their wealth the past year. Nearly
everything owned by them has gone
up in value. Stocks and bonds have
increased in value to surprising ex-
tent, but all this has been attended
with a corresponding empoverishment
of the middle or laboring classes.
The truth of the words of President
Lincoln have been 80 singularly veri-
fed that they seem like prophesy,
while they owe their verifcation SIM
ply to the fact that they were an in
vulnerable premise upon which the
logic of events has built an impregna.
bic fabric. He declared: "If o gov
eminent authorized a debt with Ger.
tain amount of money in circulation,
and then contracted the volume of
money before the debt was paid, it
would be the most heinous crime q
government could commit against a
people" That is just what the single
standard has done. Nine-tenths of
the money of the nation is in the
hands of $4,000 of our 100000 peo-
pie, and they practically control our
finances, our courts and our legisla.
lures. Of the increased wealth of the
country in 1850, labor got Cpl per
cent. and capital 37a per cent; in
1870 these proportions were reversed
and the figures changed to "a per
cent. and 76 per cent. respectively.
In 1890 labor got only II per cent.
and capital SO per cent. How long
must this 60 on before all labor will
be on plane with "The Man with
the Hoe?
This was just the result that was
predicted by Mckinley and Carlisle,
when the greatest crime of this or
any other age" the demonstration of
silver, was first discussed and its eff.
fects presented in their true colors;
before conscience bowed down to ex-
pediency and politicians forced them
selves to condone the wrong. It is a
notable fact that the rank and file of
the Republican party had to be nerved
to the ordeal by homeopathic doses of
the new and antsgonistic doctrine.
1t was only by the promise of interna-
tional bimetallism that it was accept
ed, and under protest at that, as was
shown by a majority Of barely six hum
dred thousand in total vote OF four
teen millions, with all. the power of
wealth exerted in multifarious ways to
accomplish the single object Of REIN
stating the Republican party upon the
ruin effected by the Judas in the
Presidential chair, and the active aid
of his minions in forcing that result
upon the people, for their rebuke of
his exercise of plutocratic policy.
MATTERS seem to have arrived at q
serious pitch at Samoa. On April LIST,
500 of Mataafa's men ambuscaded