OCR Text |
Show "Lean and Fat Years" For seven years, under the administrations adminis-trations of William McKlnley and Theodore Roosevelt, labor and capital have been piospeious, with practically practical-ly no Interruption except the interruptions inter-ruptions of their mutual dllTcrenccs.j Eight years ago the Republican par-i ty marshaled Its hosts In the shadow j of Industrial depression In the shadow shad-ow of closed foctorles and suspended I banks. j Wo weio tunning In debt then at every lick of tho clock, accumulating an oveidraft In our Treasury, fed by selling bonds and drained by an end-! end-! less chain, reciultlng Coxey's anny 'and leading Coin's Financial School. j The veais were lean and the earth was lean, and lean-faced men, as night came on, came out of their hiding places hi the alleys of depression and i lifted up strange voices on the curb and In the deserted market places, i preaching the doctrine of the dlscon-l tent and "larding the lean caith", with promises of things to be gained by depreciated money and national dishonesty. Out of the ruins of that time we have built up the shining edifice of prospeilty and "scattered laughter with a. spendthrift hand." And yet nothing has happened nothing but a Republican Administration. Thcie Is something about tho Republican Re-publican party that sends things up above par, and something about the Opposition that sends things down below be-low par. Abovo par Is sunlight, summer, sum-mer, hope, and plenty. Above par Is the llicllght dancing on the walls of contentment to the song of the kct tie singing on the hearth of Plenty. Below Be-low par Hunger and Want and Bankruptcy Bank-ruptcy sit blooding by dead ashes, while the candle of life sputters down to the shape of a winding sheet. It Is possible to go below par again. A very little ballot In the hands of a very small majority will do It. |