The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-11-08

| pair. In womens dress goods cotton
alpaca has gone down from Il range of
from to III. cents per yard IN 1850
and 1851 to Ill cents In 1901. CASH
mere fell from 1oa cents in 1881 To I.dO
cents in 1900 ANA 1901. Anthracite coal
| went up before the recent strike from
| S3.3j in 1850 to $3.50 in 1902, but bitu-
mnous coal has gone down from u
range of $3.50 to 81 in 1857 TO $2.Sj in
| 1902.
| "A comparison of retail prices by the
Massachusetts bureau of statistics OF
labor shows that for the thirty years
| from 1872 to 1902 the retail price in that
state for wheat -four had decreased
from $l0.I5 per barrel to $3.50 per bar
vel of coffee, from 3iia cents to 80
cents per pound; of granulated sugar,
| from T. cents to 5h cents per pound;
u. New orleans mollssos. from 20 cents
| 20 9& cents per gallon: of roasting
| beef. from ~ cents to 17is cents per
| pound: of butter. from 1911 cents to
30h cents per pound; cheese, from 1ila
10 16 cents per pound: of hard coal
from $a25 to $665 81 per ton; OF
brown shirtins. from 13 cents to ga
cents per yard; of bleached shirting,
from 16 cents to Sai cents; of prints,
from 1la cents to g cents; mems
heavy boots, S3.9t per pair To Sl.99li
per pair; while there was IL slight. but
very slight, advance in the cost OF
pork and potatoes: that every dollar
az h, IN,
1902, buy far more beef and tlou. ana
coffee and sugar and molasses and
butter and cheese and milk and eggs
ard clothing thun it would thirty years
before.
THE result of this process is Il diff
fusion of wealth among our people,
the contemplation of which make the
comparatively few large fortunes seem
Of tl'itlnG Importance. In the year
1901 there We're G25s.123 separate saw
inSs bank accounts in the United
States. with deposits amounting to s.
a0I ,094. $50. These We're not the ac-
counts Of millonaires but of the peo-
pie who. according to our American
standards. we call poor. These six
millions and odd depostors We're. of
course chiefly in the towns where saw
irgs banks We're accessible. Go out
into the country and you find that in
1901 there We're 5.I39.65I separate farms,
q little more than one farm to every
nine persons of the rural population of
the United States. The great major
ity OF these farms We're worked by
their owners. only 13.1 per cent. being
operated by cash tenants and only
per cent. by managers OF overseers
The value of the farm property was
over 100000, ,OO0. 900.
Taking together the savings bank
accounts in the towns and the farms
in the country, there are owneG by the
plain working people almost an aver
age Of Il farm on bank account for
every family in the United States.
There We're in 1901 1885. .t43 life insur-
ance policies outstanding in the coun-
Try in the regular insurance compa-
MICS. The total insurance under them
amounted TO SS,562 ,139,7iO Every one
of these policies represented money
laid up by people who were not rich
iCi' provision against old age. on for
.he wife ana child. The assets Of these
Insurance companies amounted To ST.
T42,41i,113. All of this was owned by
these fourteen million policy holders.
In addition TO this there We're 2,7e5,22l
persons who held policies in assess
ment companies and fralernnl socc-
ties, ana 1,539,593 who held interests
in loan and building companies with
SiG5, ,3SI ,966 of assets. This steady i'll
crease in the earnings Of labor as COM
cared With the earnings of capital,
this wonderful diffusion o.! wealth
among the men who work with their
hands, has been accomplished in spite
OF the fact that we have been con-
tinually adding to our population by
the immigration OF the poor of other
countries, without means and Witk the
lowest earning capacity, to the extent
OF 11,249,377 since the year 1850, and
these continual additions at the bot
tom of the scale of prosperity and
earning power have continually kept
down the average of earnings and OF
popular wealth,
More significant than all else is the
fact that we have commenced this new
century with over 100000 children
in school in the United States and over
$1,000, 600 of these in the public schools
children of the plain people, of free,
law abiding, self-respecting people,
l., RI nj
ters of their own lines: children we'll
fed. we'll housed, well nourishcd, look
ing forward with clear, bright eyes
through the open gatewuys OF bound
less opportunity in this free republic,
where the highest rewards are to be
where not wealth nor birth nor social
position, but the personal qualities of
the man himself whether he he rich
on poor, are the sole title To the high
est distinction ana the greatest power.
Let Us not in fixing our gaze upon
small evils forget the greater good.
The automobiles are of little account.
Who owns the farm wagons? is the
important question. Let us keep our
faith in American institutions and deal
with the evils that are before us now
and are to come hereafter along the
line of the same benefcent system
which has dealt out successfully with
every phase of the great struggle for
the distribution of wealth in our past.
The capacity of people for self-gov-
ernment is shown by its ability To re-
iart violent and destructive remedies