The vidette. (Iuka, Tishomingo County, Miss.) 1912-1967, 1919-10-16
DOWN WITH PEssIMISM-
Up WITH Tie oPTiMlsT
An Encouraging View of the General
Outlook in the United States.
The Nation Is Living In More Riot
Jus Luxury and in Greatest Ex-
travssanee in Its History.
Manufacturers Record.l

Manufacturers Record)
Let no one be discouraged by the
spirit of unrest throughout the land.
However dark the clouds may some
times seem, the mists clear away at
last and the sun shines with renewed
brightness.
Labor strikes are threatened almost
daily, but many laboring men are
showing keen appreciation of the
conditions under which we are living
and are opposed to the radical lead
ers-an extremely hopeful sign. In
solar as labor men are willing to in
crease their efficiency and production
they are fully entitled to high wages.
Neither the iaboring man nor the
farmer nor the average salaried man
has ever been adequately paid as a
whole. The unrest of the hour is the
inevitable struggle of the crysalis as
it seeks to throw off its old shell and
become a butterfly. Eventually, out
of the struggle win come a larger,
broader life, closer friendship be-
tween all classes and a more har-
monious cooperation between en-
ployers and employees, between the
rich and the poor, the educated and
the uneducated. This will be found
ed not on so-called charity or philan-
thropy, but on a fair and honest
recognition each of the rights of 9TH
ers.
America is not geing to the dogs,
despite all of the Bolshevistic and
Socialistic agitation, all of the parlor
Bolshevists and all the wild theories
of long haired and short-brained men.
When tempted to be discouraged
as to the condition prevailing in this
country at present, we should remem-
Der the difficulties through which we
have passed in former years. To
do this we need only to go back to the
free silver craze OF 1885, which swept
a large part of the nation off its feet
and brought about condition which
looked like we were headed for chaos.
At that time the fearful denunciation
Of the "piutocrats" and the money
bags" and the Shylocks by Bryan and
others of his ilk more seriously
threatened the country than even the
Bolshevistic agitation of the present
hour, for the simple reason that the
agitation of that time had its foun-
dation in the desperate poverty of
the whole country, whereas the agi-
tation of the present has no such
foundation, but on the contrary, has,
as against it, the Astounding prosper
ity of the entire nation.
We are talking much today about
the high cost of living, but, broadly
speaking. the nation is living in more
riotous luxury and in greater extrava-
gance than ever before in its history.
In 1896, on the other hand, the nation
was living in desperate poverty. Then
the farmers of the entire country
were practically bankrupt, and all
business interests were stagnated.
Hundreds of thousands of men walk
ed the streets begging in vain for
work. Soup kitchens to feed the
starving were in evidence everywhere.
In the West corn sold at Is to 10 cents
bushel and was burned for fuel, be-
cause it did not pay the cost of haul
ing to the railroad and the freight
to the market as compared with wood
or fuel needed for warmth. Cotton
sold for AZ cents pound and the
entire year averaged less than 5 cents
pound. Wheat sold for several
years at from 4o and 50 to 90 cents
bushel.
Every wheat grower, every corn
grower, every cotton raiser grew
steadily poorer under these prices,
and there was nothing in sight ex-
cept absolute bankruptcy. Millions
and tens of millions of farm loans
could not be paid, nor could even the
interest on them be met.
This desperate condition of the
farmers, did not, however, help the
city population. 1t is true that farm
products were abnormally cheap, low
er than they had ever been in the
history of our country, but wages and
the earnings of business men were
so extremely small that there was far
less ability then on the part of the
city people to buy the low-priced
food-stuffs of that day than there is
now to buy the high-priced food
stuffs of the present.
Mutterings of discomfort based on
the appalling poverty of the farmer
and the mechanic and the day laborer
and the business man were heard
everywhere. Even revolution was
threatened, because-a very large part
of the people. not understanding the
reasons for these conditions, felt that
they had been Brought about by fiscal
legislation for the express purpose of
enriching the banking interests at
the expense of the producing inter
ests. But the banking interests were
suffering like ali the other interests.
We were then passing through an eco
nomic period of extreme depression.
The low prices of farm products were
largely due to the fact that for years
the production of croDs in proportion