Show THE HARD HABD TIMES if thero there is any one whose memory can carry him back to the outbreak of the panic ia in 1873 it must be very depressing to him to contrast the at duration of the hard bard times i with tho t jaunty assurance ice which looked on the panic as a passing cloud it was way held to be the part of a wise mau man and of a good citizen to argue that the panic represented merely a disturbed condit condition lon ion of the public mind and not a depleted condition of tho the public pocket there were even those who thought that the hallucination could be al if the newspapers would only refrain from publishing sensational accounts or using startling head lines while all men agreed that this was tho the greatest most glorious prosperous roua country under the bua sua and that no matter what follies we committed or what ex trava gances we wo indulged in we were certain to be spared the punishments ish ments which have lain in wait for national folly and extravagance 0 since civilization began it has been nearly three years rears since the rotten fabric of worthless credits alad wildcat wild cat oat enterprises commenced to crack and to crumble and in that long history there has haa not been a single day in which the situation has mended ever every y day we have gone to bed poorer than thau we waked up and havo have waked up tip poorer than wu we went to bed the industries connected with iron on which the first burden of the disaster fell were slow to realize that a contraction of business was inevitable but they ha have vo learned that lower wages and diminished profits were morely merely i a part of the sacrifice exacted of them the industries of cotton which rank next in public estimation as the employers of skilled iu in dustny have carried on a useless ruggle struggle rt against a similar contraction cou con trap in their wages and profits and in in their productions the value of real property in cities and in farms herms which represents the accumulated wealth and savings of the nation has undergone a shrinkage fairly represented byone by one ono of I 1 its value three years ago in every department of industry in every form of investment this nation has known a loss and a decline unrelieved by a single gleam of prosperity aud and aud and today to day there is no prudent busl busi business niss nian man who will say bay that he bees seeh s W pro prospect speet of relief no political cdo coo eo who can bas eay that the panic which was looked on as sa a passing aloud has exhausted itself and yet to judge from the popular lar hartono tone tone tono of comment it ibb looks as though we were as willing to deceive ourselves ur selves about the remedy for all this sad misfortune as W WB e y have been to deceive ourselves about the cause even Ever know now when there cau can be no doubt about the cause and when the history of the destruction of value and of theldis thel oss of capital is plainly written in every days record from April igi to september 1873 we pretend to wonder what can be the cause of the hard times and of the general depreciation during wo were constantly engaged in a thorough and systematic work world of destruction the strong handstand haud hand sand and the clear heads that should have bave been at work in the harv harvest jest dest and in the counting room increasing g and nd storing up tip the additions 1 iona lona with which wb ae it god rewards labor were in a the battlefield battle battie nield held and on the march wasting burning consuming destroying from one side of the night fight alone one fourth of the wealth with which we went into the war was spent in making payments for the ork of destruction no estimate estima tb has been made of tho the destruction we did not pay for or of tho loss to our industry by the withdrawal of BO so many hands from production the cost to the other side was surely no loss when we add them both together the estimate is ap pilling appalling but by a strange fatal fatai fatality ityl by an inconceivable blind instead of reckoning up this destruction as a loss we have acted as if it represented rather an enrichment of the tho country and every paper dollar and ana every bond which had been issued issue d as an evidence of property destroyed was considered as an evidence of property created instead of realizing realising rea lising lfting that we had less to spend we followed the delus dolus delusive lve ive phantom of 0 f credit ni far as it would lead us t built raif ralf railroads roads beyond the rower power of patrons to pay for furnaces hor or iron which was not needed mills for fabrics wo we could not afford to wear and now wo we are am finding out by harsh barah experience that building a abbato or ur that will wll wil not pay comes next to destroying a railroad or a mill that does doea pay we ought to be learning this truth but we wear are not we still cling to the delusion that our mlis misfortunes for came without a cause and we blindly hope that they will pas pass away without cause instead of realizing that the property lost and wasted and fooled away is as absolutely gone as if it had never existed instead of realizing that it can be replaced only by hard work and strict economy we hope that the tho evils which were gathering during ten years maybe may be dissipated in a day we flattered ourselves that if we would spend five or six mIllIon mil mii liona 3 of dollars in a show and call it the centennial year we would not feel the loss of the niver fiver or six thousand millions which represent our impoverishment that hope has failed us uland and now the sagacious politician takes tabes the public by the ahe buttonhole button hole bole and says that all that Is needed la Is a change of administration that a change in washington will restore bublic public confidence ete etc etc now do 0 not seek to emulate the 1 clans chins and to io make party capital out of a pure question of political economy even tho the stupidest politician might be expected to know that no matter which way the election turns it will i represent the popular confide confidence nc e and we say that is a very unfavorable indication it is u proof of very abject object imbecility when the toleration of a public hearing is accorded to such nori norf nonsense A nation mation wh which ieh ich spends more money for whiskey than all that ii it i pays to 0 o the tax gatherer fed federal e rh 11 state tat ii aad ald V nau KaU prial may be ver very y thea ready zt to b will sta eta starl start U on thel ai high 4 4 rodd to wealth because smith the upp ointments mentis instead of jone jones but those whose public position gives thema public responsibility ought to know betten better the te chem cheapest st capital fora nora nor for a demagogue got gog dels deis is profession to be used asa aga aga asa catchword catch word it is not nd a bad mige that deml demagogues are compel led to mt virtuous pro profession fess lons but it faa isa laa very bad i ign when the thi people put faith in them and it li it especially hard bard when real grievances and heavy losses sil bil ith as are arr summed up in the words bard time aare sare P are expected to disappear before tha the cheap promises of A political quack chos e who rosally desire to form a juet just appreciation of thel condition of the country would do dellmot weil nob not to mix up politics polities with it and those who do not wish to deceive themselves aboul about the future will vill do well not to base any hopes on relief coming from poll tI clans tie tic fads ians is louis globe dem |