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About The Wickes Pioneer (Wickes, Mont.) 1895-1896 | View This Issue
The Wickes Pioneer (Wickes, Mont.), 21 Dec. 1895, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn85053310/1895-12-21/ed-1/seq-1/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
A. ,al, a. WICKES PIONEER. VOL. I. \Free Coinage of Gold and Silver at the Ratio of 16 to 1.\ WICKES, MONTANA, SATURDAY. DECEMBER 21.1895. NO. 20 KOEGEL & JOHNSON PROPRIETORS Billiard Hall and Saloon. Our Specialties Specialties are: _ Chase's Barley Malt. Bottled Beer, .V.25 Per Case. WE HANDLE TIIE FINEST BRANDS OF Winos, Han, 61(1d1 3 6, ON THE MARKET. A SHARE OF YOUR TRADE IS SOLICITED. •••• KOEGEL & JOHNSON, MAIN STREET Wickes, - - Montana. WHAT IS THE MATTER EX CONGRESSMAN BARTINE MAKES A LUCID PLEA. The 'Demonetisation of Silver la 1*5 Has Reduced Values Just One -Half If 'Good Times Return to Cs It Witi 'Be Through Bimetallism. He who does not appreciate the fact that the industrial and business situa- tion is unnatural and unsatisfactory, must be a careless observer indeed. Everybody knows that in 1893 this country was struck by a financial cy- clone that had never been equaled in Its history. Money vanished from sight, and credit utterly collapsed. Factories closed, mines suspended, mil- lions of honest workmen were -turned Idle into the streets. Business was completely paralyzed, and everything was at a standstill except the produc- tion of the bare necessities of life. Even these were sold at prices ruinotia to the producer, and the hardest kin I of hard times held the nation and its people in a grasp of iron. With its se- verity only slightly abated, this condi- tion has lasted until the present time. What was the cause? The republican protectionist general- ly - claimed that It was the advent of the democratic party to power upon a free trade platform. Some of them inti- mated that the \Sherman law\ may have been a very slight factor in de- stroying public confidence, but all in- sisted that the main cause was the threat of free trade. Mr. Cleveland anti the gold wing of the democratic party took the position broadly that while high protection Wag la a degree responsible, the chief cause was that \infamona measure\ known as the \Sherman law.\ The United States government was adding about $4.000.00o a month to the currency in treasury notes based upon silver bullion and this addition to the money supply was itetually Igo it was said) producing a money famine. These notes were of full par value, sometimes even commanding a small premium, anti yet it was seriously urged that the People had no confidence in them. which lack of confidence had plunged us into flnancial convulsions. We were told in the most dogmatic way that the repeal of that law would Immediately restore confidence, stop the exports of gold, anti send a flood- tide of prosperity rolling over the land. The whole power of the administration was brought to bear to force the repeal. The democratic party broke in two en- der the pressure. The republicans voted mtrongly with the gold wing of the democracy, and the last vestige of legislation sustaining and upholding silver as a money metal was swept from the statutes of the United States. Two years have passed since then, and still the flood -tide of prosperity lags on its way. It Is not pretended by anybody at this time that the repeal of the \Sherman law\ restored pros- perity. But it is loudly proclaimed that good times are now coming by !Nips and bounds. This, however. merely a prediction. and it may he lald tenderly away with many others com- ing from the same source, for future consideration. The trouble with the reasoning of the gold sophists was that they took too narrow a view of the situation_ The financiers and business men of New York, oppressed by the difficulties which surrounded them, looked only at the immediate present, forgetting that during the previous four or five years almost every civilized country on earth had passed through the same ordeal. For years the mtorms of tinaneial dis- aster had been sweeping over Europe, shaking the flank of England to its foundations, and carrying desolation even into far-off Australia. Finally it burst in all its fury upon us. The shock was heavier here than In any other country. because of the enormona magnitude of our product lye enter prises and the extent to which they are eondueted upon the basis of credit. The United States Is in fact the great - cat of all debtor nations. • Our gold went abroad, not because we were gem -basing sliver, but because other nations, driven to extremity, had to have the gold. It is commonly agallilled Icy the oppo tient!' of silver that everything•was all right In a monetary way until about the beginning of 1893 That shows a very superficial enderatanding of the real situation. The truth Is, cod It is tecognized by every 'muting neonomi it Oh both aides of the Atlantic anti upon both sides of the silver question, that the entire period from 1873 down to 1893, with only temporary spurts of ap- parent prosperity. had been one of ex- traordinary buaincen depression. In — - lggit the Queen of England appoiated a commission to investigate the situa- aids, and after the most exhaustive re- search the commission made its report, In which It was shown that nearly every industry is the United Kingdom was In a most grievously depressed and un- healthy •condition; that vast puntbers of workmen were unemployed, sad that the prices of nearly all the staple prod- ucts of the country had so fallen that there was almost no profit in business. It was also observed as significant facss that this depression had set in about the year 1873 and that it existed in all the leading commercial nations, differ- ing only in degree. The United States commissioner of labor in his annual re- port for that year (188e) adverted to the same state of facts, and laid stress upon the circumstance that while Eng- land had been the greatest sufferer, this country stood second on the list in the order and extent of the depression. The most conspienotts feature of this strange conditior. was the circumstance (denied by nobody) that nearly all of the great staples of commerce had lost about one-third of their money value. This decline has continued until now the wholesale prices of commodities in general are front 40 to :itc per cent be- low those of 1873. It surely requires do argument to show that business de- pression must inevitably follow a steady and general fall of prices. The- orists may talk airily about the beauty of cheapness, but no practical business man ever yet gathered comfort from a fall in the price of the goods in his hands. Nor has any producer ever been benefited by a cheapening of his product. A fall of prices means re- duced profits. Reduced profits mean a curtailing of expenses. This to turn Means a discharge of employes, a cut- ting of wages, and retrenchment In every possible way. Discharged em- ployes and those who have suffered! a !eduction of wages, must themselves economize, and in some cases they be- came an actual burden upon others. So the effects spread from one individ- ual to another and front one industry . to another until the whole vommunity feels the blight. Sooner or later con- stantly falling prices are certain to pro- duce a financial crash. All debts must be ultimately paid out of products, and if the prices fall too nmeh the debts simply cannot be paid. When the crash does come it is bound tic be a severe one, because it strikes people at a time when their ability to pay has already been crippled by the low prices of what they have to sell. When the storm finally clears away it is found that mel- Medea of struggling debtors have been ruined, that tens of thousands of small estates have been wrecked, while a few gigantic fortunes have been built up at the money centers, which always protect themselves it the expense of everybody else. Now, it is clear that about the csr 1873 something took place that affeetel values and business In an extraor- dinary way. It IA equally clear that It meet have been something of a very general char- acter to affect so many dIfft•rent na- tions and peoples 80 far removed from each other. What was It? Wee the indumtrial system of the world revolu- tionized by the invention of machin- ery? Certainly not. Everybody who can read ought to know that inventions and in provements in machinery had been going on with great activity for more than half it cent dry before that date, and that the iniprovements have been no greater mince. No amount of fine -spun theories. spe- cial pleading, or juggling with words will dispose of the cold historic' fact that in 1873 the United States and Ger- many both demonetized silver and adopted the gold standard'. That sushi action on the pert of these two nations largely Increased the demand tor gold and correspondqlgly enhanced Its value., must be obvious to any person who does not blindly close his eyeS to the great economic law of - supply and demand.\ Gold being made the standard, and its value rising cinder the increased de- mand. other values which were mewl - tired in gold fell in exact proportion. Other nations followed the example of the [tilted Sti:tes and Germar.y. gold rising higher and higher with the ever- increasing demand, iinch prices falling lower and lower as gold wont tip. In 1878 the Bland -Allison art was passed. under which 2,000,000 silver dollars were coined each month. For a (line the fall in prices was checked, but ether elements of currency con- traction v.twe at work and tbe decline soon began again In 11190 the \Sher- man law\ eas (staged. Icy which some- thing over 4.000.000 was added to the currency eat It month. and again came a slight ads anoe of prides. But finan- vial trouble' were abroad The great 1101130 of Daring had Just failed, the Bank of England was In Imminent than ger, and nearly every monetary center of Europe was struggling for gold. As before stated, the rutted States was li ce !greatest debtor nation in the world. It also her' a larger stock of gold than any other except F'ranc'e. England. In her distress, unloaded great blocks of Americ an seriiritler•awl took away from $771.000,000 to 100400,000 of our itold Thom the forms from other countries; c'onveecl upon em, atm we were compelle to withstand their com- bined shock. Vall street was In dis- tress, and s appealing to the UnIted States tree ury for help. TRICKS IN MINING. HOW THE BUYER IS OFTEN BAMBOOZLED. Th. Great Diamond Swiudie tryItI. from Kimberly Were i'lante.1 lo the South of the Il•sert. anal 1.5011 the kxpert. Were Dec•Ived. Burr once every 1 decade sehemers anti bunco opera- tors in mining claims come to the front. Sometimes it is the discovess of a lost alexican m I n e, burst irg with gold nuggets. Around the new anti sometimes it ly_r i o s a i jin t i iiarn go l o d nd mi m ne in i e ls . heard the old story of the dying Mexi- can, who attempted to reveal the site, but died in the attempt. This gives the \local coloring:\ the schemers send out PrOSPeCt011t who dig a hole and secretly bring valuable ore front a genuine mine, and bury it. When the gold ore is dug up the lechness of the mine is proved- to the satisfaction of the • Western investor, and he buys the hole in the ground. After this scheme has been worked a while there is a lull and when the robbers have been ifergotten by the public a new lost Mexican mine is discovered. The same Old game is now being played in the Mejare Desert, for the benefit of the iill ise men of the East, many' of whom em to believe that gold grows as flowers that bloom in the spring. e false reports of these scheming neo men bring out a . number of ospectore, restless mining men who are ever hunting for the rich Ileitis. which, like the mirage they often see In Their wanderings, is ever beyond. They' trudge along over the sandy, trackless desert and when their provis- ions are exhausted they sink from ex- hrustion, thirst 11.111 , 1 hunger and die on tpe burning Hands. 'These false reports have whitened the desert with the bones of thousandm or prospectors, besides causing the financial ruin of many too eonfiding Investors. One of the most gigantis 1 , ;,/seroes ever perpetrated in the far West was the \Great Diamond Swin- dle\ of a quarter of a cent cry ago It was hatched in San Francisco. with a portion of the plot in Kentuok; The Sic Francisco conspirators mecured the aid of a \Kentucky gentleman,\ one - Colonel Ilarpending.\ SO:110 of them purchased in London a few bushels of crystals from the South Africa dia- mond MSS.. and, ender the guise of prospe,s,es. visited a l'etOOte portion of the desert. The expedition was con- ducted secretly and at night these dia- monds were \planted\ in a district of several acres. The schemers reterned. lc -shed the land as mining and mineral lands and then kept quiet for several months. Finally they sent out a \prospect- ing\ expedition to \tineover the stuff,\ :is detectives would say. Reports of the discovery of diamonds In the sands of the desert soon reached San Francisco. The conspirators shrewdly circulated the reports. yet pretended that they knew nothing of the facts. Specimen finite were exhib- its ( ' by export:4 nr1,1 reported to be of the \purest rays.\ The city was thrown into a fever of excitement and specula- tion ran high Many sold their Mining properties at a sacrifice, thee bearing the market and ruining others. and many mortgaged real estate and houses Inc order to buy stock in the \diamond fields.\ Millionaire speeulators Sr companted SOMP of the speculators to the fields. and with a spade they bur- rowed in the sands and turned tip dia- morel's So plentiful were they th t by digging with a pocket knife die monds were found. Some of these were worth front $100 to $:,00 each. They had been carefully planted anti locat- ed by the conspirators. and these oc- casional tech finds led to the belief that there must be many others One man tine:tithed about a quart of these crti tale, greatly resembling diamondle. and among them were several gement , stones There could be no doubt about that the millionaire's own expert Wail on the. ground and saw the diamonds taken from the earth and pronounced them to be without a flaw Ilto the expert and the milll(malre were both deeelv nd AS 10 IIOW the MA - Moods came to be there. The million - aired took $40.000 a ort h of stock On their return to San Francisco the ex- citement grew into a frenzy Even the late kt I'. Ralston. then caahler of the 'Intik of Californin. was a vietins It Is icelleved that he invested $100.000. Finally there was a quarrel among the conspirators as to an equitable .11 vision, for there is no such thing ax - honor\ among a cettrain class Thd , diamond bubble' burst. the conspiitte; e as exposed. Inc clue missintime the 'Kentucky rolonel ' Was \1411 relied Rant.\ He lied invested about sioo.000 In a new Kentucky home and bad purchased all the lands adjoining and was preparing to veiny himself as a foodal lord. Lawyers and detectiv re: were sent on to interview the colonel amid his palatial eurroundings and they finally induced hint to disgorge a Portiou of the money. Some of the California conspirator s. however, could not be forced to dim gorge, us they worked somewhat in, the background. They, however, soon left for New York, where a few of them yet remain, working their - CilTrOiTIC mining stock on a gullible public. THE CAUTIOUS MAN. Ile HAS a little Con aaaaa anal Ex- plains Why Ile is Si' Cautions. It was on the tias trip o; One of the Norfolk boats, and the strange: on deck moved about among the pussengers with a very evident desire to know who his fellow -voyagers were, yet with quite as evident a purpose not to com- mit himself by giving sway incontin- ently to his curiosity. After some time he found a man sitting off to one side, and with him he entered into et:rivers. - Don. They talked Washingtss : scenery and delights of river travel, and one thing and another for awhile, and then the cautious mite got :trotted to the subject which most interested hire. \There are some very nice loolzing people aboard',\ he said, glancing around the deck, \and some not so nice looking.\ \Yes remponded the other party, also glancing around. \I'd l like to know someth . 7 about Bottle of them.\ the cautious aarn pro- ceeded; \but being a stranser, I don't like to ask too many questions. A mall can't be too cautious, I think, when he im traveling, in making commeats on his fellow travelers.\ \I've hoard ahont some very embar- rassing cases,\ said the other party. \So have and for that reason I ant that much more particular. Still lat like to know who :tome of these people are.\ \Who for instance? I know a fee of , them. and I guess I'm safe enough to triad.\ ''Well,\ said the cautious man, as Faired by this, \thertes a lady over there by the door.\ \Which one? That one that Is talk- ing fourteen ways for Sunday?\ \She seems to be talking more than the law allows,\ ventured the cautious man. \The one that's got a dress on like a three -sheet circus poster, trimmed with rainbows and Easter egge?\ Yes.\ laughed the taut lout; man. \Complexion like a tanbark walk?' \Rather.\ \A bonnet that would fade a carpet?\ \Unless it was warranted carpet: yes.\ • \Got a jaw on her that would cut a nail in ten?\ \Yes.\ \Acts liko she owned the steamboat?\ \Somewhat dictatorial, I should say.\ \Got a voice you could swarm bees on?\ 'Sounds that wa.y at this distance.' and the cautious man laughed with tine- tion, for he loved to know about peo- ple. The other party got up and took a more critical look at the !achy in ques- tion. \Do yon know who she is?\ asked the cautious man. \I'm- Cr,\ hesitated the other party'. \I seen) to think I ought to, she's my wife. Come over anti let me introduce you. What did you say your name was?\ Bet the cautioita man hadn't said and didn't Kay, anti he removed himself with such precipitancy that the other party laughed as though he enjoyed it. Washington Star. Th. Theory of Rain. Dalton was the first, not indeed to seggest, but to render certain, that rain is ratified, not by any alteration in at- mospheric pressure but simply anti solely by a diminution of temperature Ile made 'dear that alien motet air Is cooled, below what ee know as the dew - point, the aqueone vapor In a very fine form condenses Into larger particles, forming clouds, and upon further con- densation giving drops, which fall :IP rain, an enormoum weight of water , thus falling: from it cubic mile of air. I for Met:time. which is a minute fraction of the whole over any locality, no tette than 140,000 tons o( raln or snow fall - mug, If the air. at 95 degrees of 5111111MPF heat, has taken up all that It can, anti precipitation is brought about by the temperature falling to the fieeeine point. MleN OF NOTE. Mrs. Carlse, a tic' of the secretary oh the treasury. has itocome an expert bi- cyclist. %Viten she passed through New York Mrs. ('beside nil wore it black silk skirt, a lavender waist and :a black tempts with a green feather It telt and Eat he c were dressed in white Elizabeth sae,' eimipe jots down the titles of he, :Is i s, In a little nos OUR LAUGHING GAS. PARAGRAPHIC PUNCHES FOR OUR LEAN READERS. fitutly in Fruit I Itejltrenator Mod•rit Arg..naot au.1 dude litodern Golden Fleece ..!artIng I Ate ha Life --t loafing I.Noglattsr. IIESS canning free, An apr011 .;o- • it I I purpie- stained and red.— Almost envelops her from foot to head. Ilar sleeves are rolled; her dainty - wrists are bare; A pure white cap adorns her golden hair, Which, with the cheeks aflame -eye!' bluely gray. Complete.; a picture that—what shall I say?— That's simply cute! She's eannIng fruit This week. She's making jam and jelly too, And water -melon picklee—jest a few. She stirs and tastes, and tastes and stirs, to tell When things are done, and makes the jelly \jell\ Just grand. Anil, all in all, it's qua* an art, For some things 111118t be sweet and others tart AlMetes to suit She's eatiniug fruit. Preserveb of almost every kind slw's made, And now has started in on marmalade! And as I watch her, to my heart there comae. A fragrance sweet—born not of cook: 1g plums Hut burning love! I've this regret, you see: Th t Dorothv's not canning fruit for me, While canning, fruit. • lames l'orirtne Chaliss ill T. iiih. Un thi• \The young man at the end of tire Able Is an author, isn't her asked the abservant girl. \Yes.\ replied the hoetess. ''you can tel at a glance, can't you? He doesn't seem amused by the trifles at a hieh all the rest of its laugh.\ \No. That's just what I noticed. He doesn't seem aroused by anything. lie just waits tintil he thinks nobody watching him and writes them clown on hls etiff.\- Washington Star. Sin /lope or Relief. - Flow muell will yon take rot i nit i n- fernal accordion?\ dentandled the red- faced citizen who thaust his beatl out of the second -story e initow.\ ''It wouldn't do you any good to buy It, mister.\ answered the dejected musi- cian on the sidewalk. \I've ell more of 'em at home.\ And he went on playing the \Honey- moon !larch.\--Chit-ago Tribune. 31.1sif it nonce. PrOSpeethd. linlger- Yea. I think the rooms will do Ity - the say, 1 hope no one in thediouse plays the piano? Prospective landia,13 My youngest, sir, but she's only a beginner. A Rejnven•lors (vol.) Ind a bottle of milk his been placed to (Mem: there's 3 baby In the house• First Went , : Wandlorei Well, Jim- my, an' how dec t* taste\ See'int; War Wanderer (in eestacyl Don't speak tor me, Tom, it takes me book, which ehe Ilea with her, and !cask thirty years! (Falls; asleep plot conies to her ft 0111 tin% to (lay. 'hg 'I would' WW1 a. is , ) mon crOOn- It It co niemorailda of each story as the , _ __,_, N l'arialan iMpel say.; that EMMA Cal% 0 s marriage is eot far distant. Nlis Francis Ilra. ken. of chl, ago, has beet, :mettle!, I .'••tutty state factory' jn- sped tot of 111 , 1o,a hs Gov Altgeld r vet t, turrrl$,,i t. the Parts !it uist. hat' pr ,aN s that she 11{IP eat fled about $ '00,1041 0 with het %rd., and $3 1 ! 000 to 3 'Of eet ment in a Roil mine %t present ro paid $110 night by her manegt - ,e ghe love she you'd not hs r , e 1 . . Ss- • eitbin't consent to be rm. mate I did some noble deed. , ii vied out some project greet \lei though I spoke my love anew She treated me scornfully' What greater thing, pray, conk' I do Teel ea!, the maid to marry me?
