Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1900-09-20
THE PROSPERITY ARGUMENT.
Washington Post, Ind.l

Washington Post, Ind
Mr.. Bryan essays stupendous task IL
his effort to prove that the all-pervading
prosperity in which every class of citizens
is sharing, is a sham. 1t is never advs'
able for public man to butt his head
against a solid wall of notorious indisputa.
BILE facts. The statistics of the nations
and the peoples finances show, beyond
the shadow of doubt, that there has been
an immense and entirely unexampled pro-
gress since 1896. The fact that such sta
tistics prove Mr.. Bryan to have been la
boring under a delusion when he was 60
ing up and down and across the country
| foretelliDg awful disasters in case of his de-
feat, is not good and sufficient reason
why he should treat them with contempt.
The lessons of experience should be more
proftably utilized.
The immense gain in our export trade,
the large increase in wages, the addition of
one to two millions of workers to the act
| i've LETS Ct our industries, the substantial
prosperity of the farmers, the abundance
of capital, the transfer of the worlds mon
etary center from London to New York
all these are facts that should not be ig
nored and which should be cause of con-
graduation and patriotic pride to Mr.
Bryan, even though their coming discred-
its bis 1896 forecast.
In one or more of his recent speeches
Mr.. Bryan has said to the wage workers {:
81 want you to take the cost of what you
buy as laboring man and measure it
against your wages and see if the trusts
have not raised the price of what you buy
more than they have your wages"
That was a risky challenge, for the facts
were and are at hand to prove that the
workingmen have been prosperous since
1896 beyond all precedent. The New
York Press shows that the workingmen in
1894, measuring the cost of what they
bought against their wages, earned so
much less than they had to spend to keep
from going hungry that they ate up not
only all their wage earnings, but more
than $37 900, 900 of their savings banks
deposits; that from 1898 to 1894 the wage.
earners we're paying 80 much more for
bread and butter than they were able to
earn in wages that they were compelled to
dimished their savings banks deposits
from $l,7S5, 150,957 to $l,747 1861 ,2S0.
The Press further submits that since the
defeat of Mr.. Bryan in 1896 the wage
earners of this country have earned so
much more than they spent-that is to
cay, to use Mr.. Bryan's expression, meas
uring the cost of what they have bought
against their wages, they are SO much bet
ter-off-that in 1899 they had increased
their savings banks deposits to So, 230, 1856,
954. That was gain in surplus earnings
put in savings banks alone of more than
$3.50, OO0, 900 over 1894. And, as if all
these stockdolagefs were not enough, the
Press shows that the returns from New
York and other States thus far received for
the year ended June 80, 1900, indicate
that the total savings banks deposits today
are more than $500, 100000. That,
says the Press, means instead of loss of
$37, 100000 year, such as the wage
earners suffered in their savings in 1894,
gain since then of more than three-quart |
ers of billion of dollars. All that is in
addition to many millions expended in
buying homes, canceling mortgages, in
vestments in building and loan associa-
tons and other properties-all that $780,
600, 900 in savings banks alone since 1894.
The Press says this "means that the wage