Hutchinson gazette., 1900-01-25
AN IMPROVED CLAIM.
EPUBLICAN BALDERp ASH
ABOUT PROSPERITY.
rho Transfer OF Several Hundred
Thousand Soldiers from Field OF Pro-
duotlon TO Field OF Consumption tho
Only Cause OF Activity.

duotlon 20 Field Of Consumption tho
Only Cause OF Activity.
The Improvement In the times Ia due,
according to Republican leaders, to
the policy and action of the present ad-
ilinlstration, but before this claim can
Ec allowed II would be well to inyes'
tignte the causes which produced the
changes in trade conditions During
tho campaign of 1896 Republicans
claimed that McKlnleys election would
rest ore confidence and that the dlffey-
ones would be felt as soon as the rc-
turns were In. Well, Mckinley was
elected, and times grew harder instead
OF better, Then We were told that tho
Improvement would come with his in
auguration. He was inaugurated
March T. 1897, Times were no better,
and We were told to wait til congress-
should meet, Two weeks later con-
gress assembled and confidence seemed
still lacking. Then we were told to
wait for the tariff bill. The bill was
passed In July and began to get in It's
work and still no Improvement In the
times, Tho summer, fall and winter
wore away and still no one was able
to tell the difference between Cleyo-
land panic and Mckinley prosperity,
Then came the war with Spain. This
started activity, and everybody knows
that the Republican administration at
Washington did not relish the prospect
OF war In the spring Improvement be-
gan and times grew better but tho
year following McKinley's inaugura-
tion was the darkest known in COM
mercial circles for many years, Dur
Ing that period and later not one act
Of the Republican party can be given
credit for the change In trade condi-
tions. President Mckinley and his
party are no more entitled to credit
for the improvement In the times than
are dogs who howled at the moon dur
ing that period.
The Improvement In the times can
well be credited to the war together
with the natural reaction always fol-
lowing commercial depression. For
several years we had been going
through house cleaning process, and
while the people were earning but lit
tie they we're spending less. Economy
was the order Of the day, people wore
out their old clothes, ate up their re-
serve provisions, made the old furni-
ture, tools, machinery, ETC., last while
longer, and the result was that all lines
OF trade and manufacturing were the
reverse Of overdone. Loans had been
money had been hidden
and the incomes of capitalists were in
consequence greatly reduced, A quar-
ter OF a million men were employed as
reducing the working force
of the country that much. The govern
ment borrowed two hundred millions
OF dollars and turned 1t loose in the
channels of trade to arm and equip
an army and navy and to transport, to
feed and to clothe its soldiers and sail
ors, Gold poured in from the Klon-
dyke, silver was coined by the mints
crops were good, crop shortages abroad
and the using up Of surplus articles at
home created a demand for our prod
ucts here and elsewhere. Capitalists
tired Of getting no interest on their
embarked in the widest specu-
latlons and organized numerous COM
binations known as trusts, and the
wheels moved Now asked for the
primal cause Of this commercial activ-
lty, l would unhesitatingly reply, the
war with Spain, which necesstated the
of so many men and threw
so much money into circulation among
30 many people Of such varied occupa-
tions. The administration can GER
tainly claim no credit for bringing on
the war, for 1t was literally forced into
1t against its wishes by popular opln-
Ion. When war was declared general
conditions were favorable to trade
revival, and only slight movement
was necessary to bring 1t about This
the war furnished, although the change |
would soon have come without 1t, as a
natural event. Had there been no war
there would be no activity in fields OF
production. No so-called prosperity.