The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1900-12-20

to spare. The potato crop, one OF the
five largest crops on record-211 900 900
bushels! Twenty-Five million two
hundred thousand swine slain, and yet
SO many hogs left.
The Story of Prosperity.
But now give you the comparative
exports and imports, which tell the
story of national prosperity as moth
ing else can. Excess of exports over
imports, 1914 100000. Now let all pes
slmists hide themselves in the dens
and caves of the earth, while all CRATE
full souls fill the churches with doX-
ology. Notice also that while other
countries are at their wits ends as to
their finances this nation has money
10 lend. Germany, we are glad to see
you in Wall street. If you must Dor
row money, we have it all ready. How
much will you have? Russia, we also
welcome you into our money markets
Give us good collateral. Meanwhile,
Denmark, will you please accept our
offer of 100000 for the island of ST.
Thomas? My hearers, there is no ma
ton on earth with such healthy con-
dltion Of finances. We wickedly waste
an awful amount of money in this
country, but some one has said it is
easier to manage a surplus than
deficit.
Besides all this, not a disturbance
from st. Lawrence river to Key West
or from Highlands of New Jersey to
Golden Horn of the Pacific. Sectional
controversies ended. The north and
south brought into complete accord by
the Spanish war, which put the Lees
and the Grants on the same side, YER
monters and Georgians in the same
brigade. And since our civil war we
are all mixed up. Southern men have
married northern wives, and northern
men have married southern wives. and
your children are half Mississippian
and half New Englander, and to make
another division between the north
and the south possible you would have
to do with your child as Solomon
proposed with the child brought be-
tore him for udgment-divide it with
the sword, giving half to the north and
half to the south. No, there is moth
ing so hard to split as a cradle In
other lands there is compulsory mar
riage of royal families, some bright
princess compelled to marry some dis
agreeable foreign dignitary in order to
keep the balance of political power in
Europe, the ill-matched pair fighting
out on small scale that which would
have been an international contest,
sometimes the husband having the bal
ance or power and sometimes the WIFE,
The Question of Wages.
Again, in this international compar-
lson there is not land whose wages
and salaries are so large for the great
mass OF the people. In India four cents
day and find yourself is good wages;
in Ireland, in some parts, eight cents
day for wages; in England, 81 a day
good wages, vast populations not get
ting as much as that; in other lands,
SO cents day and 25 cents a day,
clear on down to starvation and
squalor! Look at the great popula-
tons coming out of the factories of
other lands and accompany them 10
their homes and see what privations
the Woodworking classes on the other
side Of the sea suffer. The laborine
classes in America are 10 per cent bet
ter off than those in any other coun-
try under the sun, 20 per cent, 40 per
cent, SO per cent. The toilers of hand
and foot have better homes and better
furnished. How much wages do you
get?' is a question l have asked in
Calcutta, in St. Petersburg, in Berlin,
in Stockholm, in London, in Paris in
Auckland, New Zealand; in Sydney.
Australia, in Samoa, in the Sandwich
Islands, SO l am not talking an alb
straction. The stone masons and car
penters and plumbers and mechanics
and artisans of all kinds in America
have finer residences than the major
ity of the professional men in Europe.
You enter the laborer's house on our
side of the sea and you find upholstery
and pictures and instruments of music.
His children are educated at the best
schools. His life is insured, so that in
case of sudden demise his family shall
not be homeless. Let all American
Workingmen knew that while their
wages may not be as high as they
would like to have them. America is
the paradise of industry.
Expenses of Government.
1t is said that in our country we
have more dishonesty in the use OF
public funds than in other lands. The
difference is that in our country al
most every official has a chance to
steal, while in other lands a few peo-
pie absorb SO much that the others
have no chance at appropriation. The
reason they do not steal is because
they cannot get their hands on it. The
governments of Europe are so expen-
sive that after the salaries of the royal
families are paid there is not much left
to misappropriate. The emperor Of
Russia has nice little salary of S.
100000. The emperor of Austria has
yearly salary of s4,0o0,OOO. Victoria.
the queen, has salary of $2,200, 000,}
The royal plate Of ST. James palace is
worth $10,000,000. There is a host of
attendants. all on salaries, some of
them $4,000 a year, some $4,000 year.
Comptroller of the household, mistress
of the robes, captain of gold stick, lieu
tenant of silver stick, clerk of the
powder closet, pages of the back stairs,
master Of the horse chief eouerrv