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IEE COUNTY JOURNAL.
YO Vil
HARD TIMES COMING.
LONG.PERIOD OF BUSINESS DE
PRESSION CERTAIN.
Advocates of a Protective Tariff,
Which Has Enriched the Few at the
Expense of the Many, Will Try in
Vain to Delude the People.
- People with small incomes, farm
ers, clerks and working mien, should
husband their resources and savings,
for a peried of business depression
would seem to be inmrpending. .The
Associated Press sent out a warning
on May 10, which was published in
‘the evening newspapers of that date
and the morning newspapers of the
‘next day at the head of the financial
news. The report after stating the
unprecedented collapse of the stock
‘market says: . :
. “The conviction is “growing, how
ever, that the cause of the stagnation
fn the stock market is deeper lying
than any temporary factor, and has to
‘do with the gradual emerging of the
conditions of general contraction in
business end industry in all direc
tions.”
Hard times always follow a boom
and business depression raeans that
the man must seek the job and not
the job the man. The reduction in
wages that commenced last fall will
surely be more accentuated as the
demand for labor becomes less and
the raiiroads and other great corpora
tions reduce their working forces. In
deed, this reduction has already com
‘menced, for the New York Central
railroad l»as ordered all its depart
‘ments to cut down expenses and the
:men employed to be reduced to the
Jleast number necessary to carry on
;the business of the road. Other rail
roads will likewise retrench and this
«will cause stagnation in the labor mar
ket, for when “the man is seeking the
job” he is compelled to accept what
\the employer offers, wilen he knows
‘that thousands are after it. ,
! is breakdown of prosperity
‘which the protectionists boast is pro
‘duced by the protective tariff, is the
outcome that has been foretold by
the Democrats. The goose is slowly
dying that laid the golden eggs and
the few have the gold and the many
will now have to suffer. But the de
ception -that the Republican leaders
have practiced on their followers is
still being continued, for on the same
day that the Associated Press sent out
its pessimistic report on the business
outlook, the Republican state conven
tion of New Jersey in the platform
adopted, declared: “That the protec
tive tariff has brought the greatest
prosperity to capital and labor.” Re
publican platforms are notoriously un
reliable, arnd the idle men in the pro
tected industries, in the silk mills, the
woolen mills, and other factories run
ning on short time in New Jersey, the
160,000 idle men in the textile field
in Philadelphia alone, are facts that
disprove the reliability of the New
Jersey platform, besides the “general
contraction in business” that the As
sociated Press announces.
Prosperity has vanished from so
many industries, and so many homes
are restricting their expenses, that
there must be something wrong with
the system that the Republicans are
beoasting of.
The New Jersey platform, however,
told the truth about the prosperity the
tariff has brought to capital, if it had
been frank enough to acknowledge
LEESBURG, GA., FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1304.
‘that “capital” meant the trusts. As
long as the trusts and combines can
keep up the price of what they pro
duce, they will still have a measure of
prosperity, but with falling wages
and men out of work, even the trusts
_will suffer, for the capacity of the
people to consume is measured by
the amount of money they earn. In
curtailing expenses, luxuries and then
clothes are the first items cut off
and the present depressed condition
of the textile market tells the tale. In
the Journal of Commerce, May 11, the
headlines of that article on the dry
goods trade says:
“Buyers Still Cautious,” “Not Dis
posed to Commit Themselves to Lib
eral Purchases.” “A Waiting Period
on all Lines—General Belief That
Were Prices to be Announced on
Lower Basis Buying Would be Suf
ficient to Cause Speedy Reaction—
Many Lines Selling at or Below Cost
To‘Day.” The same newspaper on the
same day published a dispatch from
Fall River, Mass., which says: “The
plan of running the mills four days a
week which has been tried for the
past five weeks has proved disap
pointing. Some of the agents at least
strongly favored a reduction in
wages, even though it was pretty
well understood that a general strike
would follow such a move. Other
manufacturers favor a shutdown with
out o reduction. There is general ap
prehension over the situation.” A
number of other dispatches in the
game issue of the Journal of Com
merce indicate similar conditions at
other places. Resolutions by Repub
lican conventions, that prosperity
reigns supreme, and the protective
tariff is the cause of it is mere bluff,
when the facts show that business is
depressed and growing more so.
REPUBLICAN TARIFF PLANK.
It Is Giving the Managers of the
G. O. Party Much Anxiety.
Senator Aldrich says the Republi
| cans will revise the tariff when it is
necessary to do so, but as the senator
manages the Republican tariff pro
gram any in turn is controlled by the
trusts, the time for revision is cer
tain to be in-the distant future. Those¢
of us with small incomes, at the
merey of high trust prices, have seen
the necessity for tariff reform ever
since the combines boosted prices be
yond the ability of the poor man to
pay. The Rockefeller group of in
dustrial trusts, with whom Senato®
Al'lrich is connected, will hardly cone
sider it necessary to revise the tariff,
unless to raise it to a higher plane.
| The last Republican platform for lowa
declared that: ‘“Duties that are too
low should be increased, and duties
thit are too kigh should be decreas
ed.” That was the plank adopted teo
compromise the differences between
Gov. Cummins ard ‘“the stand pat
ters,” so that each could point to it
’with pride. The foliowers. of Gov.
Cummins, who believe that the tariff
shelter trusts, could gquote that part
of thg plank which promised that, it
| duties were too high and were foster
| Ing the trusts and allowing them to
l rcb. the Jlowa farmers, the duties
would be reduced. The stand’ patters
{ on tiie other hand, who proclaim that
| high duties bring prosperity, doubt
i less feel that still higher duties would
| bring out even greater prosperity. But
| this juggling with words that gave
] both factions a chance to approve the
platform, did not lead to any revigion
of the tariff -BBy Congress, and in fact
| the Jowa delegzation led by Senator
Allison agreed to “let well enough
alone.” That is the trusts and cor
porations had more influence with
congressmen and their constituents,
for Gov. Cummins, who believes in
tariff reform, was elected by a large
majority, which shows that most of
the people of lowa favored revision.
The Republican leaders are now try
ing to agree on tariff and trust planks
to be incorporated in the platform to
be adopted at Chicago, and the same
juggling with words, that will allow
both factions to stand on the platform
is certain to be presented to the vot
ers. Senators Aldrich and Lodge are
said to be preparing the planks,
under the close supervision of Presi
dent Roosevelt, and the voter that
will not be able to find what he wants,
will be hard to please.
~Yet the fact remains that the pro
tectionists and trust interests will
write the platform and also control
the action of the Republican national
convention and as éyery;revision of
the tariff by the Republicans has re
sulted in-’increasing duties, it i 3 cer
tain that, if the Republican party
wing the election it will not be
considered necessary to rvevise the
tariff and more certain that if any re
vision is attempted the protection the
trusts now enjoy will be maintained,
Dun’s index figures for May show that
.high prices for all the necessaries of
life are still maintained and yet
wages are declining, with a vast num
ber of workers unemployed and many
“imported industries running on short
time and yet the high tariff, which the
Republicans declare produces prosper
ity, is .in full working orde® The
price of many farm products is fall
ing and yet the cost of living shows
but little, if any decrease. The beef
trust, the coal trust, the salt trust, the
oil trust, the sugar trust,. and the
minor combinations are paying large
dividends, fostered in most cases by
the protection the tariff gives them.
It would seem, therefore, Senator
Aldrich to the contrary notwithstand
ing, the Republican national platform
should declare when the tariff will be
reviced and if the revision shall pro
vide for higher or Ilower duties,
especially on trust products. !
- Another Scandal Exposed.
There would appear to be a most
abominable scangal in the Navy de
partment brought to light through the
bursting of two eight-inch guns of the
lowa. The Naval board of investiga
{ion reports that: ‘“When the forging
of the guns were being machined at
the gun factory defects developed, the
defects being described as numerous
small ‘breaks’ in the continuity of the
metal and also ‘minute sand and slag’
spots. The forgings were thereupon
rejected by the factory.” So far well
and good, but the manufacturing com
pany evidently had great influence
with the officials, for it protested and
another board examined the forgings
and again rejected them. But on fur
ther protest of the manufacturers still
another board was ordered and it
i found that “the ‘defects that are re
ferred to as existing are common to
all in a larger or smaller degree, but
neither the sand or slag spots or
breaks are serious enough in the pres
ent stage to cause us to recommend
thdir rejection. The bureav of-ord
nance, it is shown, approved and ree
ommended acceptance of the forgings
with a ten per cent. reduction, the
department approving but ordering ac
! ceptance at contract ‘price.”
! Now why was ten per cent. deduct-
ed from the price if the forgings were
sound and-fit for the important part
they were to perform? If the forgings
were weak and unsound they should
have most certainly been rejected by
the bureau of ordnance. Not only the
lives of the sailors were jeopardized
by the bursting of the guns, but if that
had happened in battle the safety of
the country might have been at staie.
The whole matter looks bad for some
one high in authority, for the possibil
ities of grafting by ordering the ac
ceptance of worthless material throws
suspicion on fhe last board who exam
ined the forgings and upon whoever
appointed it. The disgraceful scandal
certainly requires a thorough investi
gation, and President Rooseveit, if
ot too much occupied with politics,
should order it and see that no guilty
man escapes.
1 Prices Geem to Be Rising.
; When the irrigation bill was pend
} ing in congress it was promised that*
the desert could be made to blossom
\ as the rose for about $5 an acre. Later
the country was informed that this
was the cosf to private water com
\ panies, which had taken all the easy
jobs, and that government irrigation
would cost $lO an acre. The state
} ment just made by the interior depart
ment is that $27,000,000 will suffice to
irrigate 1,000000 acres.
TEXAS FOR JUDGE PARKER.
Harmonious State Democratic Conven
tion Held in San Antonio. '
The Texas state democratic conven
tion finished its business at San An
tonio Wednesday. Omne of the strong
est delegation ever elected in the state
was chosen and ingtructed to vote for
Judge Parker and % vote as a unit
on all questions.
A feeling of party unanimity and
earnestness ruled throughout. The
plasform adopted wag short, embrac
ipg merely an enunciation of demo
cratic fundemental principles.
' JAPANESE PLAN ATTACK.
ißussians Learn That They Will As
gault Kal Chou from Two Points.
‘ According to reports received at
‘the Russian headquarters at Liao
Yang, the Japanese intend to attack
either Kai Chou or Ta Che Kiao from
two sides.
Their armies continue to advance
gouth and west. The leading detach
ment of General Oku’s army has occu
-Ipied Senuchen and Japanese scouts
!have appeared in the vicinity of Kai
Chou. Constant skirmishing is in
progress hetween them and the Cos
gacks who are observing the move:
mentg of the enemy. :
GEORGIA FARMERS TY MEET.
State Agricultural Society Will Gather
in Hawkinsville, August 17.
~ The arfnual convention of the Geor
gia State Agricultural Society will be
" held in the city of Hawkinsville Au
gmst 17 and 18.
A numbers of prominent lecturers
will be present. An linieresting fea
‘tur‘e will be a report from each of
the society’s district vice presidents
'on the organization of farmers in
[their respective districts, Labor ccn
ditions will bg, reported on.
NO. 4.