Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-06-10

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Are Impoverished.
People with small incomes-farmers,
clerks and neutrality-suspicious. hus-
band their resources and savings, for a
period OF business depression would
seem to be impending. The Associated
Press sent out a warning on May 10,
which was published in the evening
newspapers of that date and the morn
ing newspapers of the next day at the
| head of the financial news. The report
after stating the unprecedented col
lapse Of the stock market says:
''The conviction is growing. however,
| that the cause of the staGnation in the
stock market is deeper lying than any
temporary factor and has to do with
the gradual emerging of the conditions
of general contraction in iDlsiness and
| industry in all directions"
Hard times always follow n boom,
and business depression means that the
man must seek the job and not the job
the man. The reduction in wages that
commenced last fall VIII surely be
more accentuated as the demand for
labor becomes less and the railroads
and other great corporations reduce
their working force Indeed, this reduc
ton has already commenced, for the
New York Central railroad has ordered
all its departments to cut down eX-
penses and the men employed to be re-
duced to the least number necessary to
carry on the business of the road. 9th
er railroads will likewise retrench. and
this will cause stagnation in the labor
m l.nf han hn il
the job" he is compelled TO accept what
the employer offers when he knows
that thousands are after il.
This breakdown of prosperity which
the prOtectionists boast is produced by
the protective tariff is the outcome that
has been fOretOld by the Democrats.
The goose is slowly dying that laid the
golden eggs, and the few have the gold,
and the many will now have to suffer.
But the deception that the Republican
leaders have practiced on their follow
ers is still being continued. for on the
same day that the Associated Press
sent out its pessimiStic report on the
business outlook the Republican state
convention of New Jersey in the plat
form adopted declared that the pro-
tective tariff has brought the greatest
prosperity to capital and labor" Re
publican platforms are VIGOROUSLY i'm
reliable. and the idle men in the pro-
tectcd Industries. in the silk mills. the
wooden mills and other factories run
ming on short time in New Jersey. the
GO,OoO Idle men in the textile field in
Philadelphia alone, are facts that dis !
prove the reliability of the New Jersey |
platform besides the general contrac- |
ton in business" that the Associated |
Press announces.
Prosperity has vanished from so
many industries and 50 many homes |
are restricting their expenses that |
there must lie something wrong with |
the system that the Republicans are |
boastinG of.
The New Jersey platform, however, |
told the truth about the prosperity the |
tariff has brought TO capital If it had |
been frank enough to acknowledge |
that capital meant the trusts. AS |
long as the trusts and combines can |
keep up the price of what they produce |
they Will still have a measure of pros
perity, but with falling wages and |
men out of work even the trusts will |
suffer. for the capacity of the people to |
money they earn. In curtailing ex-
penses, luxuries and then clothes are |
the first items cut of, and the present |
depressed condition of the textile mar
ket tells the tale. In the Journal OF
Commerce, May IL. the headlines Of
the article on the dry goods trade say:
Buyers Still Cautious-Not Dispos-
ed TO Commit Themselves to Liberal
Purchases-A Waiting Period on All
Lines-General Belief That Were
Prices to Be Announced on Lower
Basis Buying Would Be Sufficient to
Cause Speedy Reaction-Many Lines
Selling al or Below Cost Today The |.
same newspaper on the same day pub
lishcd n dispatch from Fall River.
Mass. which says: The plan of run
ming the mills four days a week which
has been tried for the past five weeks.
has proved disappointing. Some of
the agents at least strongly favored
Il reduction in wages. even though IL
was pretty well understood that Il gen.
eral strike would follow such a move.
Other manufacturers favor shutdown
without a reduction. There is general
apprehension over the situation" \
number of other dispatches in the
same issue OF the Journal OF Commerce
indicate similar conditions at other
places. Resolutions by Republican
conventions that prosperity reigns SUI
preme and the protective tariff is the
cause of 1t IS mere blun when the
facts show that business is depressed
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