Year: 1877

Il correspondent of the Pioneer
Press, who signs himself ''Old Busi
ness,' writes to that paper letter
which shows that the labor outbreaks
have emphasized the doctrines of the
Independents ina remarkable manner.
We quote an extract or two. He says:


In your editorial of Sunday on the
logic of starvation as exemplified in
the present railroad strikes, occurs
this sentence: ssThere is an element
in the situation with which political
economy does not concern itself-the
element of hunger" And that is pre-
cisely what / have been restive under
for many day, that our statesmen
and political economists, if we have
any, do not properly concern them
selves with the great peril of the
present moment. Will nothing short
of universal bankruptcy, distress, and
occasional starvation all over this
g reat country open their eyes to the
fact that they do not understand the
situation in which we now are, and
the condition to which we shall all be
brought, and the causes operating to
produce them, and the remedies to
which we must at last resort





Here is the cause Of all our woes:
We are, las a nation, head over heels in
debt, and we have fixed time at
which we will resume specie pay
ments without regard to our present
or prospective ability to do SO. It is
this piece Of fatuity that is crushing
the life and hope out of railroads,
banks. insurance companies, merchants
and all classes and conditions of men.
And there is no necessity at all for
this haste in the matter. Some spe-
cialist, some theorist obtained the at
tention of congress and the press and
the thing was done, and ever since
the nation has been under a pressure
greater than is known in hydraulics.
We are SO much like a flock Of sheep
If some fool of a bell-wether jumps
into perdition, the whole flock, for
sooth, must follow. National vanity
has had something to do with it. 1t
was such an achievement to put down
a rebellion, and repair the waste and
loss Of thousand upon thousands Of
millions, and leave no legacy of debt
to our children. 1t was like Chicago
attempting to rebuild herself in a
year, and then with complacency ask
the Judgment of the world il there
was another such city. The money
she borrowed to do it will sweep her
tenantless stores worse than the con-
hagration.





Another set of comfortable political
economists having read the ''wrath of
nations, &C., say, ooh, we must fix a
day for resumption, and if we can't
quite do it, we can fix another day.
1t is this threat, this notice of fore
closure, that has worked the mischief
and ruin we behold. This has occa-
stoned the unprecented shrinkage of
values, the boarding of money, the
stoppage of enterprise, the paralysis
of trade. And yet we follow the bell
wethers, go where they may. / hold
that one man is about as good as
another. The great Creator only
sends an exceptional man into this
world once a century or so. the rest
are all an average lot, and differences
are not of natural birth, but of edu-
cation and circumstance. Now am
as modest as most men hope, and yet
feel constrained to say that believe
that know as well as Horace ThOmp-
son, or Secretary John Sherman when
we are able and ready to resume spe-
Gle payments, and that / and every
other man can fix future day for
that event as well as they. / don't
mean to imply that Mr.. Thompson
agrees with Secretary Sherman either,
for l believe that he does not.


Now take our Minnesota statesmen.
They are an average lot. They COM
pare favorably with those of any
State. What does Senator Mcmillan
know specially of finance Has he
made it study Has he had more
practice, experience and observation
than the rest of us! Has Senator
Windom! Has Bill King shown that
he excels as financier Have Aver
i'll, Strait. Dunnell or Stewart /! Oh
they are all blind leaders of the blind
Let us do our own thinking. Repeal
this resumption act. though perhaps
it viii do no good now, but repeal it
because it is wrong in theory. wrong
in assuming an ability, a wealth that
we have not got. Repeal the silver
act and ..give us a rest We are
governed too much. Let US alone and
we or our children will work out a de-
liverance from this debt. But give
rs time. time. interest we can
pay, but let the principal alone