The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-01-12
way TBIs SEASON or rRosPERrryY

we are now enjoying such revival OF
business as has never before existed,
and that we are having such q season
of prosperity as will bring plenty, COM
fort and happiness to every home, no
matter how humble or how poor be-
fore.
g For all these blessings they say,
we must give thanks to the Republi-
can administration at Washington,
without asking what it has done to
contribute to the business activity of
the present time.
On this question Hon. Joseph w.
Bailey, in discussing the financial bill
in the House of Representatives, gave
the administration the real circumstan-
ces which have led q to revival of
trade. Among other. cogent reasons
given, by the Democratic member from
Texas, he said: ... 7n..a. ..
"A circumstance which has con-
tributed most largely to the business
activity the past three years, and which
has been entirely overlooked by gem
tlemen on the other side, is the fact
that many purchases which under ordi-
nary circumstances would have been
made in 1893, 1894, 1895, and 1896, have
been made in 1897, 1898, and 1899.
This has happened in this way: The
low price of. farm products in 1898, 1894
and 1895 rendered our farmers unable to
provide for anything except the most
urgent necessities, and every article
which could be dispensed with was
left in the manufacturers warehouse or
upon the merchants shelf. For the lack
of patronage the merchant could not
patronize the manufacturer, and an
almost unprecedented stagnation of
business ensued. With the better prices
which prevailed in 1897, 1898 and 1899
all this was changed, and the farmers
not only found themselves able to pro-
vide for their current necessities and
comforts, but they also found them
selves able to make purchases and
improvements which had been needed
for years, but which had been postpon-
ed for the lack of means. When the
exchanges which, under normal condi-
tions, would have covered six years
were crowded into the last three years,
the necessary result was a greatly in
creased activity in all lines. Particular
illustrations of this phenomena are
within my personal knowledge, as they
are within the knowledge of every
gentleman on this floor. / have I'm
my mind now an extensive cattle owner
who determined in 1893 to subdivide his
large pasture and supply each of the
with wells and windmflls
He did not attempt, however, to exc
cute his purpose under the low price
of cattle which then prevailed, but inn
after the advance he made
the improvements which he desired to
make and which under normal condi-
tions he would have made in 1893.
1T is, Mr.. Chairman, almost impossi-
BILE to overestimate the extent to which
cases like this have contributed to the
revival of business for which the Re-
publican party now so loudly claims the
credit; and If Republican leaders were
wise enough to look beyond the pre-
sent, they would understand that with
the return of low prices the old con-
dition of stagnation will renew itself. |
Perhaps the men who now control the |
destiny of the Republican party are
foolish enough to suppose that the |
prices will not fall, and 1 sincerely |
hope that they will not; but much as
hope they will not l know they will, |
and know too that when they do fall |
there will come an ebb in this tide of |
That may happen next year |
in time to exert a decisive influence |
upon the Presidential election, or it |
may not happen so soon. 1t will hap |
pen, however, whenever the wheat and |
n hn ,ol
both in this and in other countries |
the fact that the |
wheat crop of the world has been short |
for three years, and the surplus has
almost been exhausted, still, sir, if the |
crop of next year should be above an
average throughout the world the |
price of wheat will fall again to so
cents at the farm of the United
States; and whenever the cotton |
crop of the United States shall ex-
ceed 100000 bales, with an average
crop in the other cotton growing
the southern planter, will
be compelled again to accept cents a
pound for his cotton.
Whenever the purchasing power of
the wheat growers in the west and of
the cotton planters in the south, is
ny OU CtHl WHEAT anu
cent cotton, then, sir, you will witness
a misery which will again extend from
our agricultural section to the in
dustrial centers of this land. The
farmers constitute nearlyone- of
those who must buy and consume
goods, and whenever
their purchases diminish the effect is
felt in every manufactur-
ing and commercial establishment
within the Union. Under the operation
of new and infamous system it may
happen that the trusts will be able
to maintain their prices, but IL that
shall be true, the one certain result will
be to injure everybody except those who
control the trusts, and the chief
sufferers, next to the farmers, will be
the laborers who work in the factories
Itmustneyerbe forgotten by any man
who seeks to comprehend this question
that the income of every man limits
his purchasing power, and he is a
yaIua bic Customer or otherwise, ac-
cording as his income is large or small.
xNfIn ta 4,