Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-01-06
4,p,oTsr AND PROSPERITY.

The man OF wide reading has noticed
these days fulsomeness of praise fol
pur pros perous times that is often sur
feiting In its effect Recently we no
ticed an editorial tribute to the present
golden era which closed in the follow
ing burst of eloquence:
"What manner of man Is ii who
lifts up hisfyoice for change, with
these things staring him in the
face: IL he Is not mendacious, he
certainly is a political idiot, and he
Is doomed to continue as one crying
in the wilderness, for there will be
mighty few who will have patience
to listen to him.
Picking up another paper we noticed
The sage Of the Topeka Capital COM
& shents on a kindred subject in the
course of his remarks upon the Stand
ard Oil monopolys 45 per cent dividend
On 500 100000 of watered stock as fol-
Bows:
what the people learned last
summer at the hands of the an
thracite coal trust. the oil trust Is
only giving more emphasis to. The
great combines are determined to
squeeze all Of the juices Of the pres
ent prosperity into their own
mouths, leaving the dry rind to the
public. What the millions of pro-
ducers and consumers are getting
out of phenomenaily good times is
the great boon of being allowed to
work, whereas diving hard times
great proportion were idle. But the
development OF trusts and conf-
bines has enabled these new giants
of industry to put up prices to such
an abnormal extent that 1t is im-
possible for the workers to lay by
out of their earnings for rainy
day to come, Every wage Garner
knows that this is precisely the sit
uation. While thousands are at
work who six or eight years ago
were idle, and are therefore infin-
ttely better off, 1t is doubtful
whether those who were then at
work are nearly SO well off In pros
porous times as they were during
the industrial depression, while the
pockets of trust promoters and
capitalists are bursting
Again, the press Of that same day
Contained a report of a noted socialists
public address in which he said:
ut is obvious to every student OF
economical conditions that the
world is rapidly approaching an in
dustrial cataclysm. Such a conser-
vatiye authority as the New York
Evening Post, after presenting an
exhaustive review of the financial
and industrial condition of all ma
lions, reaches the conclusion that
feeling of apprehension and a fear
OF collapse are the dominant notes
in the industrial world of the pres
ent day.
The cause of this threatening
state Is the fact, always foreseen,
that the capitalists have impover-
fshed the masses until the work.
man is no longer able to purchase
what he makes. The result will be
the ruin of both capital and labor
and period of overwhelming dis
tress to universal humanity"
Here are three wide and VARYING
views from apparently sane writer's
and 1t will be useless argument to class
any Of them as political idiots" The
truth of the matter is. this prosperity OF
ours still affords room for improvement,
and will bear discussion toward that
end. The T.-R. is not afraid of the
industrial cataclysm" predicted by the
socialist orator, with a proximity nc
greater than that of the crack of doom
and we will take our chances with the
other fellow if either experience mus,
beAmet, but there is no denying the fac,
that there is a great deal of truth in
what the republican editor of the To-
peka Capital has to say There is more
10 this question than "Haye We Not