October 22, 1892, number 345, and the extensions of existing plants, 108. ’The new capital invested amounts to $40,446,060, and the number of ■additional employes, 37,285. During the first six months of the present -icalendar year, 135 new factories were built, of which 40 were cotton mills, forty-eight knitting mills, twenty-six woolen mills, fifteen silk mills,^four plush mills, and two linen mills. Of the forty cotton mills, twenty-one have been built in the Southern States.” This fairly describes the happy condition of the country in December, 1892. What has it ibeen since, and what is it now ? THE THREAT OF FREE TRADE AND ITS EFFECT. The messages of President Cleveland from the beginning of his ’second administration to the present time abound with descriptions of the deplorable industrial and financial situation of the country. While aio resort to history or official statement is required to advise us of the ^present condition, and that which has prevailed during the past three years, I venture to quote from President Cleveland’s first message, Aug. "8, 1893, addressed to the Fifty-Third Congress, which he had called together in extraordinary session. “The existence of an alarming and •extraordinary business situation,” said he, “involving the welfare and ^prosperity of all our people, has constrained me to call together ih ex- Ttra session the people’s representatives in Congress, to the end that 'through the wise and patriotic exercise of the legislative duties •with, which they solely are charged, the present evils may be mitigated and •^dangers threatening the future may be averted. Our unfortunate ^financial plight is not the result of untoward events, nor of conditions related to our natural resources. Nor is it traceable to any of the afflictions which frequently check National growth and prosperity. With plenteous crops, with abundant promise of remunerative production and manufacture, with unusual invitation to safe investment, and with : satisfactory assurances to business enterprises, suddenly financial distrust and fear have sprung up on every side. Numerous monied institutions have suspended, because abundant assets were not immediately ^available to meet the demands of frightened depositors. Surviving -corporations and individuals are content to keep in hand the money they .are usually anxious to loan, and those engaged in legitimate business ■are surprised to find that the securities they offer for loans, though heretofore satisfactory, are no longer accepted. Values supposed to be fixed are fast becoming conjectural and loss and failure have invaded •every branch of business.” A STARTLING CHANGE IN BUSINESS CONDITIONS. What a startling and sudden change within the short period of •eight months, from December, 1892, to August, 1893 ! What had oc- <*urred? A change of administration; all branches of the Government .had been, entrusted to the Democratic Party, which was committed /.against the protective policy that had prevailed uninterruptedly for .more than thirty-two years and brought unexampled prosperity to the •country, and firmly pledged to its complete Overthrow and the substitution of a tariff for revenue only. The change having been decreed by Ahe elections in November, its effects were at once anticipated and felt. We can not close our eyes to these altered conditions, nor would it be 10
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