The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1904-10-28
DISTRESSFUL Tim ES
HARDehiPS THAT FOLLOWED
DEMOChACY'S SUCCESS.
Lesson that Should Be Held in Vivid
Remembrance So that a Repetition
Of Industrial Disaster May Be
Awrted.

The inauguration Of a Democratic
President in March, 1898. marked the be-
ginning of the most distressful times
ever known in this country.
In the preceding November the major
it's of the nations working people had
seen fit to try the experiment of better
ing their condition through intrusting po-
itical power to the Democratic party in
both the administr ativ We and legislative
branches of the government. In ex-
change for the confidence and power thus
given it, the Democratic party gave,
within six months, the working people
Of the country the most frigntful dose OF
general calamity it had ever experienced.
Within less than one year after the, in
dustrial workers had decided, in Novem-
Der of 1892, not to let we'll enough alone.
prosperity had set Like the sun, thers
was a vast army of unemployed men.
and starvation and misery reigned among
tens Of thousands of previously we'll TO
do.
The suddenness and completeness with
which this BILE change in 1893 was
wrought in the fortunes Of the American
people furnished a fearfully bitter lesson.
But it is a lesson that il is better for
us to hold in vivid remembrance at this
time rather han learn it all over again
by taking another dose of Democracy.
A search through the files Of almost
any leading newspaper in the United
States during the four winters following
the Democratic summers Of 1898, 1894,
1895 and 1896 would show graphic &C
counts Of the heartrending and awful
want that followed the closing of the
mills, the wrecking OF banks. and the
destruction OF confidence by the Demo
cratic party.
Testimony from Union Labor.
The following resolution charging the
Democratic party with direct responsible
ity for the fearful suffering Of labor,
was adopted by the Union La Dor Club
OF Chicago. and was printed in the news
papers December 10, 1898:
From the midst Of the most prosperous
era that the people OF the United States
merged to the depths Of despair. In our
own city 1000 o men and women are bat
thing with starvation and cold We are not
alone In this; from every point Of the COM
pass In our fair land comes the wall OF
woe from freezing men and starving women
aud children. Never before In the history
men, women and children dependent on the
cold charities OF the world for subsistence:
never SO many factories Idle: never So many
attempts to reduce wages. For these cal
antilles there Is a cause to which we were
hitherto careless and Indifferent, but which
we now thoroughly understand and appre-
ctate. The suicidal policy OF free trade,
which Grover Cleveland at its head pro
poses to establish regardless Of the suffer
lag. 1t may. engender., Is now thoroughly
understood by the working people, and un-
less we. that are most Interested In its
preservation. awake ourselves and speak
4n trumpet tones that policy VIII be pushed
to the utmost extremity.
w. G.. Pomeroy, vice president Of the
American Federation Of Labor, well
coined the thirteenth annual convention
to the Chicago City Hall December II,
1899 in the following language:
"In the name of the homeless wan
derer, in this desert Of stone and steel,
that wayfarer whose wolhsh hunger
hounds him ever onward, whose sleeplesS
eyes wildly seek shelter and slumber,
whose black despair grows darker and
darker every hour, whose heart grows
faint for want of food, whose shiyering,
shrunken form grows sick at the sight
of his own shrunken shadow, whose soul
Is dead, l welcome you to the city. whose
motto is, Il will"
A Terre Haute, Ind. telegram Of De-
cember Ii to the Associated Press said:
AT a meeting Of the Citizens Relief
Commute this afternoon, the subcommit-
tees appointed to make a canvass Of the
unemployed in Terre Hante reported by
wards, showing nearly 1900 men out OF
work"
An Associated Press telegram from
Boston, December ID, said: "A circu-
lar was issued to-day to landlords by the
associations for the unemployed, assert
ing that $4,000 workmen, having as many
persons dependent upon them. are unable
to find employment, and asking that no
rent be required of such until they are
employed. Another appeal, addressed to
the citizens of Boston, asks them to see
that the city provides work. A move
ment is On foot for a procession of the
unemployed ON the Common. and 4 meet
ing in Faneuil Hall mex Tuesday"
Sleeping In the City HAIL.
Chicago Inter Ocean, Dec. IS, 1909
That contingent Of ''ths army of the
unemployed which has found shelter for
q few nights in the corridors Of the City
Hall returned to its old quarters again
last night. bringing along many recruits.
The night before. forty or more of the
dodgers thought to regale themselves with
sandwiches, but were set upon by their
less fortunate and famished comrades,
WuU q UlOOA AAOL was PICCIVlI0JCu
which called forth police officers to Quell
1t. Not understanding this ~ruction, the
chilled aud starving applicant was not
refused lodging room last might. He
came up to police headquarters obviously,
but was admitted.
At 10 o'clock the long 6rst-foor cor
ridor from Washington to Randolph
street was covered with men and boys.
fast asleep on the cold, damp pave
ment. Men were half reclining on the
stairways, and the poor wretches on the
door had others standing over and about
chem, envious Of the place upon which
they lay, cramped, drawn up. and crowd
cd by others who shared their missr-
able bed.
Last night Mrs. Helen NJ. Cougar
Thought to give Editor Stead a lesson in
the problem Of unemployed and proposed
distribution OF 1000 sandwiches among
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