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' v
PROSPERITY IS
Business Improvement Moves Forward by Great
Leaps and Bounds.
The Doleful Cries of Calamity Howlers C
Check the Advance of Good Times.
Being unable to i-uy that pr-;Htr
has cone again upon the country, the
Popecrat statesmen and organs with
one accord are loudly proclaiming thai
it Is all4ne to the failure of the foreign
wheat crap. The growers of wheat,
the say, are prospering, but other
wealth producers are getting no bene
fits. There is a great deal of difference.
however, between mere assertion and t
wdl authenticated fact. Tbere is
abundant evidence on every iiand that '
all classes of the people, including
wealth producers of every description,
are sharing la the new prosperity. The
failure of the foreign wheat crop could
not start hundreds of idle shops and
factories to operating and give employ
ment to hundreds of thousands of idle
worklngmen. The failure of the foreig-i
wheat crop would not suffice to stiuiu
late all lines of business and produce
a feeling of confidence and security
among investors and merchants
throughout the country.
The failure of the foreign wheat crop
would not quicken the domestic wool
trade, the leather trade, the trade in
print cloths and sheetings, the tin, cop
per and iron trade, the beef, pork and
lard trade, the trade In petroleum,
glass, lead, cottonseed oil, lumber, pa
per, brick, coal, salt, hay, hemp, pota
toes, cord! barley, rye, butter, eggs and
fruit. According to Bradstreet's, which
has kept a record of the business done
.. .r ...
in all lines for the last four years, the
trade in all these commodities and
scores of others has rapidly increased
since July tbe month in which the Re
publican tariff was enacted.
Regarding the stories of Western
farmers paying off their mortgages :n
such enormous amounts, the Orange
Judd Fanner has made careful inqui
ries and says that while it finds the
newspaper statements somewhat ex
aggerated, tbere is unquestionably an
Immense amount of liquidation goiug
on. During the past few years the
farmers have practiced such economy
that the marked improvement in wheat
and other prices has wonderfully im
proved their financial condition. One
great incentive to pay off old mort
gages is the lower interest rates at
which new loans can be obtained.
Causes of Good Timet.
Advocates of the theory that the revival
of busiuess throughout the country is due
to the wheat crop instead of the tariff
found something to ponder over in the
trade reports of Dun and Bradstreet's
for last week. From these it appears that
the farmers have not yet marketed one
tenth of their wheat, but are holding it for
the higher price which the foreign demand
implies. Hence DO per cent of the cash
returns already credited to them in Dem
ocratic estimates has not yet gone into
American circulation, and cannot possi
bly have caused or influenced the general
reojiening sf iron, steel, rubber and tex
tile industries and the increase in the pro
fits of all private business which have
been in evidence since July. The special
points of interest aside from this in the
trade resorts are: An increase since one
year ago sf 34 per cent in the employ
ment of menilers' of trade unions; a gain
of 12 per cent in one month in the output
of pig iron, implying an increased eon
sumption sf iyo,00 tuns; a rise of 5 cents
in the price of wheat; an advance for Au
gust in prices of more than 100 staple
farm and manufactured articles of 3.4
per cent, following a 3.1 per cent advance
in July, and a marked decrease in failures.
ootn in number and the average amount
of liabilities. In this chapter the tariff
plays a leading part. San Francisco
Chronicle.
Ko Time for Croak injj.
The propensity of the calamity howler
to predict misfortune for this country' and
to emphasize the dark side of life, will find
little encouragement by contrasting the
present condition and prospects of the
American people with those of the rest of
the world. For such a comparison will ie
veal the fact that we are vastly better off
to-day than most people-. Wh: other
countries are threatened with distios ow
ing to short crops, we Americans have
been blessed with one of the most abun
dant harvests in our history. While tin
far East is suffering with famine and
while the harvest in Ireland is reported
ruined by unpropitious weather, we in
America are chiefly concerned with the
problem of transporting to market the
surplus products of the farm. While ris
ing prices will bring dismay to tln.se
parts sf the world which are under the
necessity of buying, the American farm-1 u,
er, witn a granary overflowing with wheat
and corn, looks with complacency upon
the steadily climbing grain markets. The
great laws of supply and demand are
working in our favor, and are hound to
bring renewed prosperity to our country.
Detroit Free Ircs.
Why 1H the Croakers Croak'r
Solemn silverites whose knowledge (
affairs is wider than that of most of the
men who voted for Brynu last fall, are
not altogether sHcmcd by the rise in
prices under the conditions existing since
the complete triumph of sound money in
the United States. Some of them, like the
lubugrious Ritchie, of Summit County,
essay the weary task of persuading people
who like the change in the times that it is
the result of famine in India and ruined
harvests in Europe. These icions pa
rade lefore the voters of America the
dread procession of gaunt victims of star
vation in Hindustan, and they quote the
gloomy reports of crop failure in Ireland.
They point to meager grain fields in Rus
sia and to the shortage of 50,000,000 bush
els ia the wheat crop of France. "There,"
they say, "is the source of higher prices
ia the United States. Let famine and
rain abroad be followed by normal weath
er and harvests, and the general level of
NOW GENERAL.
the markets will again be as low and weak
as the price of silver."
This sort of explanation can never be
effective, for two reasons. The first is
that it goes too far for the average voter
to follow with much interest. The second
and the best is that it wholly fails to ac
count for the advance in many important
commodities which have nothing to do
with the harvests in Europe or the famine
in India. Has there been a famine in
hides anywhere? Has the leather crop
failed? What bad weather has made
iron scarce and raised the price of steel?
What is the force that has lifted the mar
ket for wool as far, in proportion to for
mer quotations, as wheat has risen? Why
are lambs much higher than they were
when the Dingley bill was passed? How
about the butter crop? Has that failed
in India? Is the cheese market feeling
I 1P A I W "
, Where fa fhe cotton a fai,ure? Who
has heard of a lumber famine?-
-Cleveland
Leader.
Breidenthal Admits It.
One of the most recent and conspicuous
examples of a Populist who has discarded
the calamity howl for the prosperity
whoop is J. W. Breidenthal of Kansas.
He is the Bank Commissioner of the
State, and less than one year ago he was
a Bryanite, who could see no prosperity
and no salvation for the country unless
the Boy Orator of the Platte was elected
and silver given free coinage at the heav-.
en-ordained ratio of 1G to 1. But Breiden
thal has changed since then. He has
f". - - sw auu "" WUi" uc
has to say to-day:
Never In the history of Kansas has tbere
been as much money with which to pay debts
as we find In the State to-day. The State
tins struck a wonderful streak of luck. Con
ditions brought a good wheat crop; the prices
advanced; cattle are plenty and command a
good price. These conditions found Kan
sas in a good position to profit Immensely
thereby, and we are doing It.
There never has been a time In the history
of the State when the farmers have not
raised enough to live on. Now comes this
magnificent year, with immense crops and
high prices, ami It Is little wonder they are
making the hest of It. The people are mak
ing an earnest effort to get out of debt, and
when they succeed in doing this the Kansas
farmer will be the most Independent person
on earth, because he knows enough to keep
out of debt when ouce he gets started In the
right direction.
Kansas Is to-day the most prosperous State
In the Union. There will be 40.000 home
steads cleared of mortgages this fall. Think
of what that means. The mortgages will
average $1,000 each, which means the ex
penditure of $40,000,000. It means also that
this State Is becoming a Commonwealth of
homes.
If Breidenthal had said last November
that in less than a year 40,000 Kansas
farmers would pay off $40,000,000 of
mortgages, under a Republican President
and the gold standard, his fellow Popu
lists of Kansas would have chartered a
special train to convey him to an insane
asylum. Kansas City Journal.
Cotton's Best Year.
This butchery is sickening. There Is
no hedge, nor bush, nor rock on all the
stricken field in whose slim shadow tome
shuddering silverite may not be found
hiding from the statistician's steel. They
are thickest behind the refuge of foreign
crop failure. A poke in these sets all
sorts and sizes to wriggling. Grandpa
Bland and Boy Bryan, and Teller wail
ing, now that "Christianity and morality"
depend on more business for Nick Hill's
smelter. And as they wriggle they squeak:
"Famine, you brutes! You are gloating
over famine. You are exulting in the mis
eries of the victims of the gold standard
in India and Austria and England and
France. There is nothing in this wave
of prosperity which ouch! is giving us
some temporary embarrassment but a for
eign shortage in wheat."
Let us stir up the wrigglers a little
further. There has been no foreign short
age in cotton. If there had been, it would
not matter in the seuse that a wheat
shortage matters, for we supply 70 per
cent of the world's cotton anyway, and
never more than 2Ti per cent of its wheat.
Yet we are getting an extra 10 per cent
this year say. UVMM.000 on $300,0110.
OlH) for our cotton. These are the fig
ures, just compiled by the secretary of the
New Orleans Cotton Exchange, Mr. Hes
ter: Otmitercial crop.
IK! IV Ml
Value.
...fX!l.!K!4.Stt4
... 29f.095.347
... 27.037.ri3Q
... 2S3. 118.137
... 2S4.763.riU
... 333.82T..712
1 Vlt-Ts
1KI1-,I1
!- 'T a mm
'm
' m "a
lii other words, we have
values and ante-panic prices.
ante-panic
The crop
is worth $2Tt,00O.0)0 more than it has
lieen in the best year for five years. New
York Press.
Southern Cotton Mills.
One of the most encouraging features
f the business season ended on the first
f this month was the showing made by
Southern mining and manufacturing en-
ri irises. Reports from reliable sources
indicate that all of them were fairly pros
pemus. even while similar industries were
depressed in other parts of the country,
the result being due in great measure to
the advantages of the proximity of the
raw material to points of consumption or
manufacture, and to the favorable climat
ic conditions. This was especially true of
cotton manufacturing, which evidences a
growth both continuous and of remarka
ble extent. For the first time the con
sumption of Southern mills exceeded a
million bales. Memphis Scimiter.
Due to Republican Policy.
It is only a little while since the Demo
crats of the country were taunting the
Republicans with the slowness of pros
lerity in returning. Where now, they
said, are the signs of its coming? The
new tariff had hardly been signed and
Congress adjourned before the Itootn was
on in such force as to be undeniable. The
blindest pessimist in the Democratic par
ty had to admit it. Then came the claim
that the shortage of wheat abroad was
the cause of it alLc That was the burden
of Mr. Bryan's Iowa speech.
No doubt the shortage in the wheat and
rye crops of the other grain-exporting
countries has advanced the price of wheat
in this country, but tbe great central fact
In the case is that (here has been sub
stantially the same healthy advance in the
prices of other properties of about the
.. .::...,.., t th. mnrut ThU
rB;tinn was brought out with'snecinl
force bv Gov. Tanner in an interview
jrvn to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
At the time the Governor spoke the ad
vance in wheat had been 30 cents per
bushel, and he added:
But railroad stocks, manufacturing stocks,
nd all Ther stocks of a character to feel the
(Tcts of prosperity have Increased all th?
war from 30 to 50 per ent. u i He former
vafne t the same time t!it wheat has
been making this gain of ;0 cuts a bushel.
Cattle, hogs, corn, cats, redtop seed, all
farm products, have gone up almost. If not
quite, in the proportion that stocks and
wheat have. Bonds and mortgages have en-han.-M.
Taking the vast Interests repn.
screed by stocks and tools, you will find
that the Increase in the tout value made
during the past three mouths Is $1,000,000,
000. The advance on other things, cattle,
hogs. corn, and so on, has amounted to more
than $300,000,000. There Is a grind total
of $1,300,000,000 added to the wealth of this
country. It has been done by the adoption
of a wise and encouraging economic policy
which has restored the conndenc of our
people. Chicago Inter Ocean.
The Iron Barometer.
Among the proofs of reviving prosper
ity, which some people are trying hard
not to see, must now be included the in
crease of 12 per cent in the output of pig
iron within about one month after the
new tariff was enacted. For many years
there have been not a few among the fore
most practical business men who have re
garded the production and consumption of
iron as the surest barometer of the con
ditions upon which depends increase or de
crease of general prosperity. This is in
part because the production is of necessity
months ahead of the final consumption in
finished forms, and is based upon all that
some of the shrewdest practical men in
the country can foresee of the future de-
mand for rails, car materials and other
. .. -S M. - ?f .- . a- - A MB. I rm m njl AlkAB
railway supplies, for freight vessels along
the lakes and on sea coasts, for business
buildings and the structural shapes of
which their skeletons are framed, for ag
ricultural implements and the iron and
steel entering into their construction, for
extension and improvement of farms, and
so for fence wire and wire rods, and for
erection of residences and other build
ings, and so for nails and hardware of all
kinds. When evidence points to material
ly increased consumption in so many
forms trained business men calculate that
better times are coming.
The production of pig iron started this
rear with a weekly output of about 160,
JOO tons, having enlarged to that extent
from 112,782 tons last October, a gain
f more than 40 per cent. There was a (
iittle further advance to about 170,000 ,
ions in March and April, but as the pass
ing of the tariff bill came to be considered '
jaore remote or uncertain and stocssoi un-
Cold iron accumulated the production was
diminished to 164,000 tons at the begin-
ning of July, showing a conservative de-
termination to defer further increase of
output until the conditions necessary ior
future Drosneritv were more positively as
sured. This assurance came with the
passage of the tariff bill late in July, and
the weekly output was slightly raised
Aug. 1, and increased 20,128 tons weekly
during that month. But the output Sept
1 was already the largest ever known for
that month, excepting in 1895 when a
sudden flurrv lifted prices about to those
of 1890 and it was 34,000 tons larger
than Sept. 1, 1S92.
It Cannot Be Concealed.
Once in a while we meet a man who
says that while he sees a good deal in the
newspapers about a revival of business he
finds no improvement in his own condi-
tinn .nil Mimnl iu nnr in thilt of his
neighbors. it is true that the marked im-
iprovement which has been so strongly felt
in the East and in the Southwest has not
. yet reached the Northwest in full volume,
I simply because our harvest is later. Our
wheat crop has only just begun moving to
market. The $100,000,000 which this
year's crop will fetch into this region has
only begun to be distributed. Neverthe
less, if the person who complains that
prosperity has not yet reached him will
look around over the whole city and State
he cannot fail to perceive a very marked
improvement. The banks are in better
shape and are loaning money more freely.
The merchants are full of hope and confi
dence, and manufacturers are making ar
rangements for a full output. Less idle
men are seen, and, in fact, it is claimed
by employment agencies that no person
who is able and willing to work need now
suffer from lack of employment. The in
crease in the volume of business through
out the country is unmistakable. It is
revealed in the statement of weekly bank
clearings, which show a gain of 4o.b per
cent, as compared with the corresponding
week of last year. Minneapolis gam is
43.2 er cent, which may be taken as an
indication that from this time on the re
vival will be felt here in full force. Min
neapolis Tribune.
The Tariff and Farm Prices.
Our free trade friends assert that the
sole reason for the rise in the price of
wheat is the grain shortage abroad. They
are vociferous in declaring, in season and
out of season, that the enactment of a
Republican tariff has had nothing to do
with the farmer's increased prosperity.
Let us look into this claim for a moment.
It is not true, as many of the anti-protection
organs imply, that wheat, of which
we export vast quantities, is the only agri
tultural staple that has risen in value.
There has been a marked increase in the
price of corn, oats, rye, pork, butter,
cheese, hops, hides and potatoes. Lambs
for slaughtering are worth $1.25 per bead
more than they were one year ago. The
value of sheep kept for wool has also risen
significantly since the passage of a tariff
that protects American flocks. These as
sertions are not made rashly. They are
based upon the official statistics of the
Department of Agriculture. It will be
seen at a glance that products of which
we export comparatively moderate
amounts have kept close to wheat in its
upward movement. In our estimation the
tariff has had a great deal to do with this.
Since the Dingley bill became law a huge
army of previously idle men has been set
to work throughout the United States.
Wage earners who had been employed
only part time are now working full time.
No Halting the Advance.
Dun's review, which has been jubilant
in its proclamation of busiuess revival for
several weeks, declares that there is no
halting in the advance; that business
grows better in all ways; that there is a
steady increase in production and work
ing force, and that the power of the peo
ple to purchase is a feature which over
shadows all others. New York reports
show that wheat is not the only commod
ity that is advancing in price, for over
one hundred staples are higher, and there
is a continued heavy demand for mana
faetured goo.U of all Uitlv
BRYAN AS A OEADBEAT.
, AitacKstne corporations aTJ.i
I Ak and Accepts Favors from Them.
He Attacks the Corporations sad The
I T more Mr. Bryan tries to explain
away his foraging expeditions on railroad
passes the more he convicts himself of
demagogy and willful deception. When
the San Francisco papers made public
the fact that Bryan had solicited and ac
cepted favors from Huntington's South
ern Pacific Railroad in the shape of rail
road passes, Bryan's friends at first de
nied the charge. They backed their de
nials by producing the requisition written
by Bryan in which he applies for the free
ticket over the Southern Pacific on ac
count of the Omaha World-Herald.
Upon inquiry at Omaha it developed
that Bryan had severed his connection
with the World-Herald a year previously
and furthermore that the World-Herald
had no advertising contract with the
Southern Pacific and was not entitled to
any transportation for any advertising
done for that road. To parry this ex
posure Bryan retorted over his own name
that he was still a stockholder in the
World-Herald. By this, matters were not
much mended for the reason that as a
stockholder in a newspaper he could have
no claim upon any railroad for free rides
and furthermore that under the interstate
commerce law interstate railroads are for
bidden from giving free transportation ex
cept to railway employes.
The Southern Pacific is not, however,
the only railroad on which Bryan has
been foraging. Mr. Bryan traveled to
St. Louis some ten days ago over the Wa
bash and dead-headed his way with an
1897 annual pass. The pass is ostensibly
issued on account of the World-Herald
but bears on its face the fiat contradiction
of the pretense that it is a business trans-
action. Railroads do" not issue annual
I Dasses in exchange for advertising. In
a - & A m .
the nature of things they could not know-
how often they would be used, for what
distance and how much advertising value
they would represent.
The discreditable part of Bryan's dead
heading over the railroads arises not
merely from the fact that he poses as the
champion of the anti-monopoly forces and
denounces the railroads for discrimina
tion in favor of influential non-producers
as sgainst the common people who must
pay their way, but also because while
amply able to pay his fare he is resort
ing to deception to cover up his accept
ance of railroad gifts. Omaha Bee.
COME, MR. BRYAN.
Try to Be Consistent in Your Theories
and Assertions.
At Atchison, Mr. Bryan made a speech
from which the following are detached
sentences: "Last fall the Republicans
cairl sa?a vaaA iftffit1ii ttrtriicva Ikfwfiiw4 nA
i wanted to lessen the nurchnsiii!? nriee of
e dollar. The price of wheat
and m s governed bv the law of supply
, and demand solelv. The law of supply
an( demand governs the value of a dollar.
If there is a short crop of money dollars
will rise. Nature makes a short crop of
wheat. Man makes a short crop of dol
lars by law."
A year ago Mr. Bryan asserted that the
value of a dollar was not influenced by
any power whatever except the declara
tion by the Government that it was a dol
lar. He asserted in season and out of
season that such a declaration was suffi
cient not only to make every silver dollar
worth a gold dollar, but also to raise every
ounce of silver bullion in the world to the
value of gold at a ratio of 16 to 1. With
such a record as this, how can the man
have the audacity to now come babbling
about the value of the dollar being gov
erned by the law of supply and demand?
He says the dollar has grown too valua
ble because it has not kept pace with the
law of demand. The more money there
is in the eountrj-, he contends, the less
the dollar will buy. Does history bear
out such a alaimV In one of his lectures
Mr. Bryan presents a table to show that
since the crime of 1S73 there has been a
steady diminishment in the price of pro
ducts. To make his theory good he must
also show that there has been a diminish
ment in the number of dollars. On the
contrary, there has been a steady and
rapid increase in the numlter of dollars
since 187o, until now we have a per cap
ita circulation of $24.:t0. whereas in 1873
we had but 518.04. Kansas City Jour
nal. UNAMERICAN.
The Principles of Itebsism Will Not Be
Welcomed by Patriots.
The ferocious hatred for the rich felt
bv men Kke Mr. Debs nml liU Sn;.ii nm.
0cracy is utterly un-American. It argues
jn. ,j,e men who feel and express it an
estimate of the imnortance of wenlth
inveterate that it has destroyed their self-
respect. Apparently they cannot breathe
freely can hardly live, so miserable are
they so long as they see other men far
richer than themselves that is to say, pos
sessed in fat larger measure than thev
of the only thing that they think of impor
tance, lo tliem. the men who have wealth
belong necessarily to a different class from
the men who have not. Not brains, nor
learning, nor character, marks the differ
ence between men, they think, but wealth
only. No men have expressed a more ab
ject deference to wealth than these So
cial Democrats, who wish to kill all who
possess more than a little of it. They
cannot, apparently, conceive of a poor
man being as self-respecting, as respected,
as happy mid n"s useful as a rich one.
It is a fortunate thing for the country
that the Social Democracy speaks out
its mind frankly, and government will be
very unwise if it does anything to sup
press its spirit by putting penalties on its
excesses. A few weak-minded or vicious
men, it is true, may be misled and even
rendered dangerous to society, but the
lest arguments against the semi-socialis
tic, semi-anarchistic pnnoscs of ihe So
cial Democracy that can be addressed to
the masses of the American people are the
utterances of the Social Democrats them
selves. New Orleans Picayune.
Labor and Free Silver.
The Illinois Federation of Labor has re
adopted, as part of its platform, a demand
for the free coinage of silver at the ratio
of 16 to 1. But on this, as on previous
occasions, the advocates of the plank fail
ed to point out wherein labor would be
benefited by the granting of such a de-
maud. No attempt was made to contro-'
vert the specific statements as to where
free coinage would do irreparable harm to
labor.
The workingmen of Illinois have eighty
million dollars invested in building and
loan associations. A change to the mono
metallic silver standard of a free coinage
371-grain dollar would reduce tbe vain
of these investments about 60 per cent,
and labor would lose forty-eight million
dollars on one item.
The working people of this State have
loaned 25 millions in gold valae dollars
to the savings banks. If the carrency
were depreciated 60 per cent, as it would
be were silver coined free at the ratio of
16 to 1, the depositors would lose 15 1-3
millions. No friend of the free coinage
plank mentioned that fact or argued that
building and loan association investments
would be affected injuriously.
The constant experience of the world
has been that when there is a change for
the worse in the money standard the
wages of abor are slow to adjust them
selves to it. The price of commodities ad
vance rapidly. The price of labor lags
behind. Thus there is a real reduction in
wages. Though they may be nominally
a little higher, their purchasing power is
decreased. Chicago Tribune.
Yeas of Silver and Yens of Gold.
It was very unkind on the part of the
Director of the Mint to delay his recent
statement about the comparative value of
the coins of the world until the departure
of those silver patriots who recently has
tened to Japan to learn the true cause of
the demonetization of silver there. Had
they had opportunity to study Director
Preston's little table they might have
stayed at home and devoted their ener
gies to explaining to the farmer why
wheat has gone above a dollar a bushel
while the free coinage dollar has fallen
below forty -edits. Director Preston's
table shows the comparative value of the
silver and gold yens of Japan during the
past decade. One minute's study of these
figures would have been sufficient to show
these peregrinating patriots the true cause
of Japan's action. Here are the figures
read them for yourself:
Value of Value of
Year. Silver Yen. Gold Yen.
isas
18S9
isao
."r.3 90.7
.7X4 99.7
.75.2 99.7
S3. 1 99.7
.74.5 99.7
,ltt.l 99.7
,55.t 99.7
.49.1 99.7
.59.9 99.7
.47.8 99.7
1S91
IS!0
o"
l9J
lcvw
1897 (July)
Work or t!it Dingley Law.
Reports from the little State of Rhode
Island are full of cheer. "The mill situa
tion is better than it has been for five
years," says a special dispatch to the St.
Louis Globe-Democrat. " The Lousdale
company has started on full time opera
tion, employing 5,000 men and women.
In the Woon socket worsted mills, the
200 employes had their hearts gladdened
by the restoration of wages to what they
were in 18U3, which is a virtual increase
of 7 per cent. But more than this,
ground has been broken for the erection
of a new mill in the Olneyville district,
and a plant near Blackstone, which has
been idle for almost five years, will be
purchased by a new company and started
into full operation. It will not require
a microscope to observe that the develop
ment in the mill situation is the direct re
sult of the Dingley tariff law. It means
prosperity.
Political Bird Shot.
Mr. Bryan has not yet issued bis sched
ule of prices for speeches in Mexico.
Those wretched Ohio editors will not
stop talking about John McLean's gold
bond.
The Western farmers are not burning
corn this year; they are burning mort
gages. The silverites insist that the rise in
wheat is due to scarcity only. But bow
about wool?
Wool has made as big an advance as
wheat in the past year. I that the result
of "scarcity" too?
The free traders are not shouting about
that receut sale of American tin in for
eign markets.
Altgeld (to McLean i Why didn't you
take warning by my fate ami keep that
gold bond out of sight?
A bushel of wheat now calls for two
ounces of tine silver. Last year one
ounce was more than sufficient.
Silver has fallen 25 per cent in value
since March of last year and 20 K?r cent
since the November election of 1S1HJ.
Bland, Tillman and Bryan admit that
there is "temporary" prosperity. A year
ago they said even that couldn't come
without free coinage.
Forty thousand farm mortgages, aver
aging $1,000 each, are being paid off in
Kansas this fall. That's "what's the mat
ter with Kansas" now.
Over $2,000,000 in British money com
ing in to San Francisco from Australia to
pay for American wheat! How is this for
British goldbug control V
Was it the "gold owers" of Great
Britain that sent statistician Mulhall over
here to show that this is the most pros
perous country in the world?
Mr. Bryan should hurry up with his
Spanish lessons. If he doesn't hasten his
trip to Mexico, another "crime" against
silver is liable to be committed.
Tom Watson says all the silver men
will have to join the Populist forces. He
thinks the Democrats are going to heave
over the 16-to-l theory altogether.
The silence in the vicinity of Yellow
stone Park, where Mr. Bryan is neglect
ing to speak up about tbe relative values
of wheat and silver, is becoming painful.
The Democrats have laid aside their
usual cry about increased prices under the
new tariff law. They see that low tariff
is no longer popular, even with their own
people.
Will wonders never cease? Wm. J.
Bryan, in a recent article in a New York
paper on wheat and silver, says "those
who advocate free - coinage may be
wrong."
Speaking of the "growth of exports of
manufactures under free trade," will the
Democrats claim the recent foreign sales
of American tin as due to their non-protective
theory?
The fact that the banks have larger de
posits than ever before and that rates of
interest are low seems to weaken the Pop
ocratic theory that this country has not
money enough.
According to Tom Watson, there will
not be a sixteen-to-one-free-coinage man
left in the Democratic party this fall. He
says that the only place for them is in
the Populist ranks.
People who are wondering what the
Democrats will find for an issue in ISKW
should postpone their worry, as there may
be no Democratic party by that time, the
way things are going.
The Kansas farmers are paying off 40
millions of indebtedness this year. How
lucky for the Popocrats that this didn't
happen a year ago. They wouldn't have
carried an elector anywhere.
Is this country really so badly off for
money when the banks have larger depos
its than ever before in their history and
money is loaning at lower rates than at
any time la memory of the present generation?
BEETS AND CAMPHOfi.
SECRETARY WILSON'S
ABOUT THEM.
VIEWS
The Agricaltarist and Arborlcaltarlst
Receiving Special Attention-Wilsoa
8ajs There la No More Reason far
Baying Sagar Abroad than Wheat.
Wonld Keep Money at Home.
Special Washington correspondence:
Secretary Wilson, the head of the De
partment of Agriculture, continues earn
est if not enthusiastic about the practica
bility of putting into the pockets of the
farmers of this country the $100,000,000
that the people are now sending abroad
for their sugar. "The more I think of
this beet sugar business," said be, "and
the more I look into its vast possibilities,
the more I am surprised that the Ameri
can people have been buying such quanti
ties abroad. There is really no more rea
son why we should buy sugar abroad than
wheat. We have in this country land as
well adapted to the growth of sugar beets
as anywhere in the world, and it is a re
markable fact that our ieopte have been
so long in seeing the possibilities aud put
ting forward every effort toward the ac
complishment of this end. Sugar enters
into our consumption to such a large and
national extent that the triumph of bring
ing about the growing of all our own pro
ducts in this direction would be no small
one. The way in which the American
farmers are taking hold of it shows what
a comparatively easy matter it would
have been at any time of late years to es
tablish the industry on a permanent basis,
and as I say. it seems strange that far
sighted men have not seen the advantage
to result to those successfully fostering
it. In my trip through the West I found
farmers generally enthusiastic over the
subject, all of them anxious, and hoping
that the analysis to be made of their beets
would show such a satisfactory percent
age of sugar as to enable them to at once
enter into the growth of the beet as a
crop. In fact, the danger lies in over
enthusiasm; in the large outlay of money
and establishment of plants in sections
where the beet cannot be profitably
grown.
"The McKinley bounty on sugar was
operating well, and if it had continued
would have so encouraged both cane and
beet sugar industries that we would, by
this time, be quite independent of foreign
markets in this respect. The bounty pro
posed for beet sugar in the Dingley tariff
bill would have still further stimulated
the industry, but even as it is, I believe
we are on the way to seeing a good qual
ity of sugar supplied from a great many
points in the United States. The sugir
beet thrives on a variety of soils, being
best adapted to sandy loams of moderate
fertility, and I presume that reports of
our analyses will show great areas in va
rious sections of the country capable of
raising beets containing a sufficient per
centage of saccharine matter to warrant
the building of factories and the planting
of large areas.
"About 2,200 of the farmers of tbe
country have grown beets for tests, and
we are now receiving samples for analy
sis. If everything goes right we will have
a complete report on the subject by tbf
first of the year. This will show the moss
desirable sections for entering into the
beet industry and will enable operators
to erect beet sugar reuncries with some
degree of assurance that the industry will
be a success in their particular sections.
"Any new crop which takes the place
of present crops, and thereby reduces
their acreage, tends to stimulate the
prices received for those crops, by dimin
ishing their yield, ami this is one of the
indirect ways in which a general cultiva
tion of the sugar beet will better the con
dition of the farmer. The saving of $100,
000,000 to the country will give that
amount to labor. Sugar represents labor
almost entirely, from the growing of the
seed to the sugar barrel. The diversifi
cation of our industries to this extent will
have a tendency to help the prices of other
crops.
"The production of camphor," continued
the Secretary, "has been recently called te
my attention, and I think I see in this
connection another industry to be devel
oped and one esitccially advantageous to
the South. We are gathering statistics
now in regard to the area in which the
tree will thrive. It is known to do well in
Florida. In fact, there are now in that
State large trees which were sent dowa
there from this department years ago as
little plants, intended then for shade and
ornament, but they have demonstrated
clearly that the tree grows well in Flor
ida, and what I want is to see whole
groves planted on the rich hammocks and
bottoms of the State, where the soil is
very productive, but not safe from frosts
for the growth of oranges, lemons and the
more tropical products. Every part of the
camphor tree is now used in the extrac
tion of this valuable gum; the leaves,
chips, the roots, everything. AH our
camphor is now imported from the far
East, and if we can keep this money in
our own pocket, we are so much the bet
ter off. The South, especially, is ia seed
of a diversification of crops, and I hope
it will be found that the camphor indus
try will be practicable and profitable."
GEO. MELVILLB.
Last Shot at the Farmers.
The free traders took their last shot at
the farmers in June; they hustled ia ev
erything available on which the new tariff
law increased the rates of duty. The fol
lowing shows the value of some of the
more important farm products ia June,
181)7, compared with June. 1S1XJ:
Importations. June. 1S97. June. 1896.
Cattle $177.Sr $29,815
BreadstutTs 183.210 130.909
Chicory 1.183 8.000
Cotton 592.753 199.413
Feathers 104.0W 8S.32T
Flax 179.4W 92.140
Jute 203.2S4 81.03S
Manilla 324.493 76.498
Fibers (total) 1.273.325 830.998
Oranges 101.115 11.713
Hides 3.8r.;55 1.355.349
Klce 404.711 107.288
Sugar 13.8t8fi2 ll.8ti3.OUS
IScans ........... 33,517 18.887
Clothing wool 2.20t;.901 157.807
Combing Wool l.tiTst.tj-JS 58.239
Carpet wool 1.183.451 430.851
$23,599,015 flS.304.642
Postal Savings Banks.
It is announced that Postmaster Gen
eral Gary, after thoroughly studying the
subject, has concluded to favor the estab
lishment of postal savings banks hi this
country, aud will make the advocacy of
such a measure a feature of his .iacam
bency of the Postofiice Department. He
has not as yet formulated a plan, bat
will do so in his report to be sassaitted
to the President on the opening ef the?
next session of Congress.
