The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-11-01
DEMOCRATIC PARTY RESPON-
SIBLE FOR THE DISTRESS
WHICH MARKED ITS AD-
MINISTRATiON
FACT is CLEARLY SHOWN
The Financial Disturbance Of Five
Years Ago Not Due to Adverse
Republican Legislation Nor to Any
Cause for Which the Republican
Party Must Answer.

With an audacity which can only be
explained by the desperate situation
which makes a resort to even the
most improbable of theories a polit
ical necessity, the Democratic cam
paign text book charges the Repub-
lican party with responsibility for the
panic of 1893 and the hard times that
ensued. 1.-THE Republicans have been
trying to make the country believe"
says the text book, that the panic of
1898 was brought about by the Demo
cratic bill which was passed in 1894"
And then the text book writer pro-
ceeds to make merry over the absurd
ity of charging an effect in one year
to a cause that did not transpire until
the year after.
Well, here are the facts: The last
year of the Harrison administration,
1892. was the most prosperous the
country had enjoyed up to that time.
Labor was fully employed. capital was
actively seeking investment, and the
farmers were getting good price for
a big crop. So far as industrial and
commercial conditions were concern
ed, there was not a cloud In the sky.
Republican speakers and newspapers
tried to persuade the people that they
should let we'll enough alone and that
Democratic success might bring dis
aster. But they would not listen. The
prices of some things were pretty
high. The Democrats declared it was
because of the high tariff and prom
Used that II put into power they would
revise the tariff lin the interest of the
plain people" There was little ex-
pectation throughout the country that
Harrison would be defeated, and bust
ness doomed right up to election day.
But Harrison was defeated.
How the Panic Came.
And then what happened? Why, in.
stantly, men who had money which
they were about to invest locked it I'D
in the vaults and said I'VE will just
wait a while to see what happens"
Manufacturers engaged In producing
protected articles, realizing that as
soon as the Democratic congress could
get at It their protection would be
reduced, Immediately began to cut
their output to current demands. Who
could blame them for refusing to go
ahead and pile their warehouses full
of goods which might have to be sold
in competition with similar products
made in countries where the factory
wage scale was one-half or one-fourth
of the factory wage scale which they
had been paying? Jobbers and whole
salers cut their orders to the manu-
facturers in the same way and for the
same reason. Retailers all over the
country bought their supplies from
day to day, fearing to be caught with
high-priced goods when the low-priced
flood came.
And so It happened that although
the Wilson bill was not actually pass
ed until late In 1894 the panic began
the day after the election in 1892. II
was not what the Democratic presi-
dent and congress had done, but
what everybody knew they intended
to do that wrought the havoc. Indeed.
II the Wilson bill could have been
passed the day Cleveland was inaugu-
rated the damage to the country would
have been far less than that which
actually occurred.
The Danger Of Uncertainty.
This country is big enough and rich
enough and resourceful enough to ad.
iust itself TO nearly any tariff law nc