PREFACE.
STATUE OF COLUMBUS AT CHICAGO. 1893.
The New World in 1893 celebrated the discovery of America by Columbus, during a period of depression brought about by the destruction by law of one-half the precious metals as primary money. So blighting and destructive is the effect, the people are being reduced to poverty and misery; the conditions of life are so hard that individual selfishness is the only thing consistent with the instinct of self-preservation; all public spirit, all generous emotions, all the noble aspirations of man, are shriveling up and disappearing as the volume of primary money shrinks and as prices fall. Honest labor seeks employment it cannot find, and hungry and shelterless, our unemployed are seen daily around the Columbus statue, without hope and in despair.
