HARD TIMES FOR THE RICH.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 63, 12 September 1908, Page 3

HARD TIMES FOR THE RICH.

MILLIONAIRE'S LAMENT: "It is .really ', harder : for. persons' who have had an income of £50,000 a year to come down ■ to> live on; a £10,000 a^year-liasi'Sjiliaii for a man earning. £3 a^veck -to accustonyTiimseif to live on £2," said Sir Ttuyyes; ant Fish,, the . banker, ; who ' has '•. left ior a motor 'toitr in' Europe, his first* holiday for five years (says the NewYork • correspondent of ihe London. Daily Mail). : ' Vi ■ • '. : "..<. "There is no indication of a revival of business. Wealthy/V persons _at Newport are not paying cash in their ordinary exijenditure,. but are stretchy ing credit "as far as possiUler 'Thert>= are mam' unable to find the needed ' cash. ..,'.'. ■■>..'. The- railroads this year will show big gross earnings, but the net pro--fits will be; small, due to the excessivo wages demanded by' labour. ' There are signs of splendid crops, . but tiho farmers will get most of the profits. The army of unemployed will grow^ . Rich men who stay in the country will be hea vily,. bled,. oxx, the,.pJLea that the election of some . candidate who will restore normal conditions must be ensured. I look for a louder chorus of the /hard tinies'- cry." ?■. Asked : if the demand for '^capital;' were not increasing, he said j <( Yes, : ! by charity organisations." :? Under headlines, of -an "optimistic and roseate hue. the New York "World in a recent issue published figiires gathered f roni all parts of. the country which in reality show how gehnine. and widespread is the insistent cry of "hard times." . •It staies, on the authority of New York -labour leaders, that iir.'tlio'

bnilcliiig trades alone 84,000 men are idte. This estimate makes no reference to the. enormous number of workpeople of other tardes who had jo employment for months. It is a pitiable .si-ibt just now to walk through tiu- parks, squares, and o.pon s]>aces of Now York and see tho, • bi-nche .; ' crowded with thousands of idle Vycrkinoii. According to figures supplied to the AVf)rld, v at Trenton, New Jersey, .1110 nuinljor of unemployed walking 1 lie streets is 3000 more .than' Vliroe, months ago, when the lack of '-m 1 ploynu'iit was already unprecedented. 'Mj Chicago, according to the. World, the unemployed have been reduced since the autumn' from 90,000 to 40,000. Conditions at Pittsburg are slowly improving, but at Cincinnati thero are 25,000 still out of work. .Indianapolis has 15,0tJ unemployed, •while at St. Louis 75 per cent, of tho industrial population is idle. In Western Massachuesetts 30,000 aro either idle or working reduced timev

Generally speaking, times are "as hard as they can be in the Easter-n States. ■ ■■'■-■ ' '■'.•■"■

Conditions are most hopeful in tlio West and Northwest. In the Son eh a slow improvement is no.ticV»,bl'3. Yet, despite the depressing state. of affairs, bankers and capita Jiffs tire eVcvywlievo proclaiming', that.prosper ity has been restored , and the newspapers are aiding and abetting them, to the. best- of their ability, suppressing the real truth in the hope of influencing the election campaign. ■„*■■.• . .