Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1902 — ERA OF CHEAPNESS [ARTICLE]

ERA OF CHEAPNESS

Is What Democratic Leadership Ardently Desires. SOUP HOUSE PERIOD PREFERRED To the Condition* Now Prevailing in the Industrial World—Democratic Leadership Endeavoring to Convince the Farmers and Wage-Earners of Indiana That They Were Better Off In a Period of Panic and Prostration Than in One of Prosperity and Employment. The state organ of the Indians Democracy 13 engaged in showing the bituminous miners of the state that they are not as prosperous now as they were under the last Democratic administration. It is not a bit worried by the fact that under the last Democratic administration the miners of Indiana were engaged in a struggle for existence, culminating in the worst strike in the state’s history, and that they are now seemingly satisfied with their contract with the operators. The Sentinel's political correspondent says in a letter from Brazil, under date of Oct. 13:

. “It is true that there has been an increase of wages among the miners, but that increase is not to be mentioned in the same breath with the much larger increases in the living expenses. The lowest wages paid here was 61 cents a ton for mining coal. The miners now get 90 cents a ton. Three tons is considered an average day’s work. The miner who received >1.83 a day when wages was at low water mark now gets >2.70 a day, but his >2.70 will not buy nearly as much as his >1.83 formerly bought.” Era of Cheapness Wanted. —The correspondent then mentions certain articles the prices of which have been Increased “by the trusts” in greater proportion than wages, and, peculiarly enough, the articles in the list which have undergone the greatest Increase in price are not trust-made articles at all, unless the farmers have formed an egg and cheese trust lately. 'Doubtless it would be possible to secure a list of commodities which have increased one-third in price duting the past five years, though even this carefully selected catalogue of articles does not establish this contention. Yet it omits such staples as flour, sugar, rice and coal oil, and substitutes bed comforts, shingles and linseed oil. It includes nearly all the products of the farm which go upon the table, the implied argument being one for a return to cheap prices on agricultural products which prevailed during the only “tariff reform” era this generation has experienced.

The Sentinel takes no account of the increase in number of men employed or the increase in number of days during which the mines have been open This is one of the most important elements In the mining situation, and is a factor of special significance in' determining the comparative welfare of the miners of Indiana In 1896 and 1902. Conditions Now and Then. Taking The Sentinel's own figures for it, It is apparent that the miners of Indiana are Immensely better off now than they were six years ago. It is a somewhat significant fact that while in 1896 Democratic leadership had nothing to commend in the Cleveland era, and insisted that what the country wanted was to get away from the conditions created, now that time has dulled the memories of men a bit, it is instituting comparisons between that period and this, which clearly indicates that what it proposes as a means of relief for the country is a return to the soup house era of 18931897. Persons old enough to recall the events of from six to nine years ago will hardly be deceived by even the most ingenious arguments In favor of such a panacea