BETTER TIMES!
lETTER TIMES! When will better times come.? How
can we bring- them about.' These are questions which
agitate the mind of everybody. They have been an¬
swered in very different manner; yet to no avail. Times,
instead of improving, grow worse. Hundreds of thou¬
sands have lost or are losing their dearly gotten property; as
many more of the middle-class are hardly earning their expenses,
and are growing p6orer ; a million or more of workingmen are out
of work, and many of them have been so for years ; many others
expect to be so any day ; many more work only on half time, but
at greatly reduced wages. Cases of starvation are reported ,all
over our country ; suicides were never so frequent; crimes are
being committed in the hope of finding food and a home in some
prison; beggary, which formerly was almost unknown in this land
of plenty, is a constantly growing evil; the number of persons who
in spite of their utmost aversion, receive public charity has in some
of our states increased many fold within a dozen years, and is on
the increase everywhere, while the spirit of benevolence is visibly
on the wane, and gloom or despair is taking hold of the masses of
the workers and driving them, in some places to riotous proceed¬
ings, even to bloodshed and plunder.
What is the cause of all this.? We must know the cause if we are to
find a remedy. Some used to say it is depreciation of our currency;
on the contrary, others said, it is that we have not greenbacks enough;
some will say that our protective policy is the cause, and others,
ihat our duties are not high enough. Some find the fault with the
Republican party, others with the Democratic party, and show
good reasons for so doing ; and others again charge several, or all
of these agencies with the blame, or name still other causes.
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