Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1896 — Hard Times. [ARTICLE]

Hard Times.

What has caused the "hard times” through which we are passlug? Almost every’ oue lias his theory about it. One man says It is the gold standard, another that it Is the danger of free coihago; one that it is because tariff duties are too high, another that it is because the duties are so low as to flood the country with foreign goods, nnd these are only examples of the wide diversity of opinion that exists. Perhaps the strangest theory of all, yvhich nevertheless .seems to have many adherents, is that the bicycle lias caused it; It is reasoned out thus: Hundreds of thousands of persons have been saving every spare penny to buy a wheel, and have thus kiHed other business. Men, women and young people of ivotb sexes wear their old clothing, economize in food and resort to other means of saving, and thus the business of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker is seriously diminished. Watches, pianos, jewelry, books and other articles not necessary in the Strictest sense of the word used to be the favorite luxuries; now all these things are neglected for the bicycle. The market for horses was greatly injured by the substitution of electricity for animal power in moving street-cars., The trade certainly bad another serious blow when the bicycle became the popular mode of locomotion. In all this there is an element of exaggeration, but it cannot be denied that there is a measure of truth in the theory. That is, the demand for bicycles has probably intensified the bad times. But neither hard times nor good times are a result of one cause. It is a mistake to fix upon one peculiarity of the situation and say, remove that and all will be well. So far as the bicycle is held responsible for the business depression, it is sufficient to point to the fact that the wheel-craze is quite as prevalent in Europe as it is in this country, and yet business abroad is in an excellent condition.—Youth’s Companion.