Show STARTLING FIGURES the concentration ol of wealth health in the llie hands of a few men DURING THIRTY YEARS MISRULE this so kallod policy of protection has bas permitted and mado made possible this state of affairs tho the popular commotion ion it at present general throughout the country on account of I 1 the apparent attempt to demonetize silver is but an a n earnest of what may bo be expected when the people come to a full realization of their actual condition and the enormous power already gained by centralized wealth and the class which controls it this question of the currency Is is indeed a momentous one but ie it is only one of oatlie the factors in the problem which the people must solve and that quickly if they expect to preserve the liberties which ire are their inheritance there are many factors in this great problem many forces at work ork ill all operating t quietly and secretly their influences and efforts hidden under the mass of rap rapidly I 1 ly occurrences and virtually unnoted except by it a few extremely close observers and industrious students of economic and social problems the question of the currency alone is a most intricate one but the solution of that is but one step toward the 0 great reat result to be arrived at there is no question but that the effect of our social system is toward the concentration of wealth which is but another term for centralization tio n of and this concentration is rapidly shrinking c into the hands of an extremely small email percentage of the population and that class the one least leapt interested in the general prosperity but entirely absorbed in their own selfish interests the masses are rapidly being pauperized and are drifting into tile the condition of dependents whose condition is entirely entirely y beyond their own control and whose very means of livelihood is in the hands of those hose who prosper and fatten upon what they can squeeze from tile the reduction production of those they have tho the power ower to oppress through the in quence of their concentrated concentrated wealth the tendency is towards a condition of involuntary servitude not compelled by open violence but by jy the force of circumstances brought I 1 about by the controlling conditions con a v t lo 10 ns and situations in the interest of combined wealth and to the detriment of tile he best interests of the humbler and less shrewd mass of industrious producers this ali ils controlling of conditions and compelling tribute of an undue proportion iro portion of the carn earnings ings of the producers this power to control circumstances stances which control the lines of others is made possible through the operation of several of our social and political institutions especially our financial land ani and transportation systems various of our social institutions operate to together 1 ether to bring about abou t one final result and the combination is so intricate the operation EO complex that it requires alie closest observation and most acute reasoning in 0 to unravel the apparently mysterious causes which produced the results from which we suher suffer indeed the question is so broad and eo complex in its make up that it is almost impossible to so ko condense a discussion of the subject as to give even a alight glimpse of tile the vast matter to bo be understood unac the subject of relief for present threatening conditions and the means me ans of future protection involve the reforming of our entire system dyste in mere financial finan chil tinkering is but pa patchwork work the evil lies close to tile the very foundation of our social institutions and seizes hold upon i nore more than one of them one long ion step towards toward a thorough b understanding of the actual condition of the ina matics 0 ases is being made by means of the investigation 6 now going on with regard 0 to the mortgage debt of the country especially as it concerns the homo home ow owner some most startling results are already arrived at and data which are arc invaluable as an aid in coming to a thorough understanding of the subject with regard to tho the condition of the home owners and the probability it y of their future nothing not liing could bo be more startling than the following figures which are arc authentic and from thoroughly reliable liable ic data gathered I 1 red by the government f ali rough az 11 tile the division of farms homes and mortgages 0 forty years year ag ago 0 the united states was a nation of home owners A mortgaged home was the unusual condition while millions of acres spread their broad expanse in the free and fertile west awaiting the coming 0 of those bhoge who chose to l nako make a homo home for themselves free from the claims of any master or superior tod today to d day ay nearly SO 80 per cent of our population ire arc actually or virtually tenants dependent on landlords for the roofs that shelter their helpless ones and tho the wide free west is a dream of the past all absorbed by bv the greed reed of speculators who stand staid as it were armed cap a pie demanding tribute of those who must have sli shelter elter bor or the privilege of laboring for a support tile tho rapid diminution in the number of home owners is to say the least startling in the extreme it is unfortunate that we have no exact data prior to 1880 but huttt it may may be taken for granted that thi the number of moraga mortgaged ged homes was nearly normal while the proportion of tenants was extremely small the E eastern astern states being older and subjected subject ad longer to the effects of the evil coil systems which are arc ruining in us show more clearly than the west the rapid concentration of wealth and power and the stead steady 31 and sure pauperization of the masses we will begin with them connecticut in 1880 reported only 1022 per cent of its farms as occupied by tenants in ili 1890 per cent were tenants and 2560 per cent were mortgaged D ed now the nor nominal ninal owner of a M mortgaged ort farm is virtually but a tenant as in a majority of cases the ownership covers but a small fraction of tho the value therefore to show the actual conditions mortgaged mori farms should lie be classed with those occupied by tenants taking this view of the case in 1890 in C connecticut connecticut 1328 per cant of the farmers w were cre tenants a loss of 03 00 per cent in ten years of her population who lived in towns 71 10 per cent arc tenants and 1476 per cent live in mortgaged homes making 0 SG 86 00 06 per cent of her to town wn population virtually tenants in ili massachusetts in 1880 only SAS per cent of her farmers were hired in 1890 1505 1500 per cent were hired and 2507 per cent were mortgaged showing per cent of her farmers were tenants in ili the towns per cent hire their homes and 1287 per wait are mortgaged showing 8 14 per I 1 cent of tile jo A bo be virtual tenants 1 n b town homes and farms together hired I 1 and mortgaged 0 32 per cent are tenants showing 0 a diminution of per cent in ten years in boston per cent of the population are actual tenants in ili rhodo rhode island in 1880 1988 per cent were tenants in ili 1890 1800 per cent hired their homes and were mortgaged showing that per cent were virtually tenants this is for town homes of farms in 1890 25 per cent were hired and 1429 per cent were mortgaged showing per cent virtually tenants in vermont in 1880 13 1341 3 41 per cent hired their farms in 1890 1800 1702 1762 per cent hired and U 1650 3 per cent mortgaged showing per cent of the farmers to be virtually tenants making a diminution in in farm owners of per cent in ten years of city hot homes e S 5 4 percent were hired and per cent were mortgaged showing per cent to be virtual tenants this startling diminution in the short period often of ten years in a section reco recognized 0 nihed to be a wealth center and having had the i cry longest experience under existing institutions is indicative of what may lie be expected in the newer states if they do not indeed show a more rapid diminution the actual fi figures ures for the western states prove tile the inference to be correct in ili wisconsin in 1880 per cent hired their farms iu in 1890 1800 1310 per cent hired per cent mortgaged showing chowing per cent of the farmers to be virtual virtually ly tenants As to homes in towns per cent hired 1611 per cent mortgaged making per cent virtually virtu virtually all y tenants in montana where land should be cheap and easily casily aca acq acquired aired in 1880 per cent of tile tho farms were hired in 1890 13 40 per cent were hided and 1349 per cent were mortgaged making 2689 per cent of tile the farm population virtually teria tenants ants The ID general average of homes in towns and farms is per cent hired and per cent mortgaged making per cent virtual tenants in tile the south tho the conditions a arc C shown to be the alie same in ili georgia in 18 1880 80 p per or cent hired their farms in 1890 hired per cent mortgaged showing per cent 0 of f tile tho farmers to he be tenants in ili the cities per cent hired and LOS are mortgaged showing per cent to bo be virtually tenants la in tennessee in 1880 per cent of the farmers farm ersi hired their farms in 1800 1 I per cent hired and wore were mortgaged showing shotwill 1376 per cent cent of the farm lation to bo be virtually tenants of homes in cities and towns percentage per cent are hired and 0 per cent mortgaged showing per cent of tho urban population to be virtually tenants in ili south carolina in 1880 1 per cent of the farms were hired in 1870 illo per cent were hired and per cent were mortgaged a showing per cent of ali the 0 farm population to be virtually tenants the general geneal average ge of farms and city homes is per cent hired and anal per cent mortgaged 2 showing in 73 70 3 10 40 per cent to be te nanto nanta these figures are sufficient to give a general iden idea of existing conditions and it will be observed that the percentage L of tenants is very nearly tile the sa bame me in all states now let ti us suppose to illustrate that the average of tenants both urban and agricultural is 70 per cent tile the population in round numbers being this would give tenant families averaging five a fatuity family now suppose eliat alia the yearly rent bs be averaged to per family the amount annually paid in rent would a aggregate regate the enormous sum of 2 0 now then there only onla remains 30 10 per cent of population as free it home onie owners an among lony 3 whom are found the landlords who receive receive this vast sum that is to say 3 3 do 0 families famili ps or heads beads of families of this number probably two thirds own merely the homes they occupy leaving only individual landlords to whom this enormous revenue annually hows flows an average 0 of lil to each of course these rue aie merely arbitrary suppositions and yet they cannot be very far wron wrong they servo to give some idea of existing conditions consider now nov that fifty years year ago there was practically no landlords and that today individuals own the homes that shelter families how long would it take supposing the diminution to go on in the same ratio to pauperize the masses and establish an ar isto cray more powerful selfish and corrupt than ever disgraced any nation of history J A COLLINS |