Year: 1875

going around preaching the gospel o
poverty and I9in tina: it may be wortl
while to take an account of stock, aDd
see whether it Is fact that we are re
ally poor. In the first place we have
not only houses, but even moro houses
than we at present use. 1t cannot be
said that we have an excess of houses,
for there arc many people poorly
sheltered, who will presently want
better houses and will fill up all there
are. 1t is certainly fortunate that we
have them ready, so that we need not
waste time in building them when
they are wanted. Then we have u
S reat abundance of food crops so large
that we shall sell enormous quantities
this year atgocd prices to other nations


Certainly an excess of food is a misfor-
tune; more bread than a man can eat
does not make him poor. Then we
have just what looks like an excess of
means of transportation, We have so
many railroads that for the nome nj
thft have not all enough to carry
Surely that is not misfortune. Nobody
was ever ruined by good road pass
irg near his door, even if he did no.
ACIh di q x W USE 1t. hItIl
we go to work again we shall at any
rate have roads TO transport or
products, and shall not have TO stop
and build them. Finally, we have just
now what see MS an excess of people to
I &c all the e things. But can a country
nave too maay peoplep 1t used to he
sad that every emigrant was worth
ten thousand dollars to the country
But natural laws have not changed.


When, in the old times, a colony
settled in the We tern wilderness they
had first to collect and transport their
imembers to the place; they had then to
make earring and build houses the n
10 O1cn fields and raise crop; then to
neiShbors, All his was thoug'l 1T
expens and hard wor':. Ven it
was all accomplished the people
gathered together, and not having the
fear of Mr.. Phillips or Mr.. Kelley
ueforc their eyes, had a dance and
were jolly, and thought they had
conquered fortune, BUTT now seems
they were just on the verge of utter
poverty and ruin. They thought they
were prepared to enter on a career Of
prosperity They had the means in
their hands-shelter, food, people tools,
q sufficient road. Well, that is just
where We stand as q nation. We are
rich in all means of creating and pre-
serving wep'tl. We have superb
outfit. But uiluckily we stand with
our hands in our pockets. Why?


There is just one reason. We have
n ~ nrra III Al.
OF prosperity in the greatest abundance,
and, IN spite of what some people pre-.
tend, almost everything is cheap. Clo-
thing, of the kinds worn by the mass of
the people, Is now as cheap as before the
war. Almost all kinds Of food, except
wheat, are a5 cheap as before the war,
or nearly so. Transportation, which is
so vitally important an element TO in
crease the value of products by faciIita-
ting exchange. is cheaper than before
the war. The wages of skilled labor are
still somewhat higher than before the
war, but common labor Is nearly down
to old prices. Finally. house rent re.
mains higher. Shelter is about the only
necessary of lite which has not fallen
nearly or quite to ante war prices. There
is an actual surplus cf all things which
We need to make us prosperous. Unfor-
luAtslClJ IL Ia llOL uScNl W DTOuuNt Z.
Enterprise is dead. Confidence in the
future is fatally shaken Nobody dares
undertake new works. Hence there are
/ many idle hands. Consumption is less
| ened because production has been check
ed. People stand looking at each other ;
| and men who have money who would, if
| they dared, be only too glad TO use il in
| new adventures. so dread the uncertain
future that they prefer to let 1t lie idle
in the banks or lend it at two or three
per cent. per annum.


There is but one reason for this-no-
| body knows how much or how little the
| dollar may be worth year or five years
hence, which now he would like to in
vest in some business, or factory, or mill
| or other work by which he would hope
| to gam, and by which he would hope to
employ the hands now idle. All values


are unsettled by the condition of our
currency. Congress may at any time do
| what would make a dollar worth seven
ty-tive or even fifty cents, or what would
bring it to its true value of 100 cents
| To-day our legal tender dollar is worth
but eighty-five and three quarter cents
Tomorrow, or next week. by the trick


of speculator, it may rise TO ninety oi
fall 10 seventy cents. But before a man
who has has accumulated something
hazards it in q new enterprise, unless he
is a gambler, he counts the cost; he


wants TO know how much he is going Il


get back: and if there is an even chance


that his dollar. which he puts in when il


is worth eighty five cents, shall be wortl


but seventy or sixty, or perhaps forty


by and by, he naturally prefers to keel
lit in hand, ready to turn it into gold anC


bury it whenever there is prospect that


Mr.. Phillips and Gen. Butler may carry
the day. He lets it lie in the bank, OIL
he lends it on short time at low rate
and accepts n greatly diminished income


rather than risk it. And he is undoubt-


edly rig't.


But give him assurance of stability


Ly putting the currency en- the only sta
ble basis it can have-on a gold basis


which is recognized all over the world
and ne eagerly launches out into new
ventures, for he ia hungry for an increas


ed income; he will be rash rather thai


prudent. Is will summon worSmel


around him tlom every part Of the cot n
try. The demand will be SO sreat tina


W. res, instead of going down, must &,


up; there will be more people with tn


l'eans to buy, AMI consumption will in