Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-08-01

public debt of the United States to-day
is q fer greater effective burden ON the
people than it was before the first dol.
lar Of il was paid. Measure it by things
which have TO be sold to pay it, by
pork, corn, wheat beef, horses, labor.
II takes so per cent. more OF labor, OF
land or products to pay interest to-day
than it took five years ago. How IL the
country benefited by nominal rcduc-
ION of Gl0,000,000 If interest. when
,6u reductions has been accomplished
o.,,y by adding so per cent. to the
amount OF labor or property which ii
takes to pay 1t
The
NEXT GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
Of the republican party has been the
accomplishment OF gold resumption.
Do you recollect, my friends, what Mr..
sherman promised You q year ago.
here on Wheeling street, AS the result
OF resumption--that gold would flow
out in circulation, and that We would
have fuller volume Of money actually
current, and consequently general re.
storation of prosperity" Well, we have
had gold resumption for over six
months past. We have had, moreover,
for three years past two unparalleled
favorite comedies, enormous crops at
home and great foreign demand for
our surplus. The republican party did
not give us these two blessings, A kind
Providence, looking down in pity OH in
dustrial distress, inflicted by the ingon-
uiiy OF theorists and usurers, relieved
its asperily by bounteous harvests
OF home and eager markets abroad.
But for
OUR sELT.IEFLIcTED TROUBLES
these great crops would have flushed
our country with exuberanL prosperity.
But in spite Of these good providcnces,
in contradiction Of AL pledges Of gold
resumptionists which led people to a
patient but longing endurance OF their
trials, promised property has not
come. The paper dollar is equal to
tho gold dollar, but tho gold dollar is
ingeniously kept boarded in the treas
ury. The money actually current is
no greater now, il rs great, rs it was
one or two years ago. Every little debt
you owe still nettles you; every large
debt still threatens you with the loss OF
your home, your farm, your factory or
your store. Every tax you pay calls
Tor more labor or product than before.
Wages do not increase; laborers still
hunt for employers, instead Of en-
ployers seeking laborers, and il is ut
least becoming apparent that the con-
dition of things lar. year and the year
before is to becomethe permanent con-
dition under the established gold prices
Of labor and property. Fellow
citizens, when the republican party
started to lead people by con
traction to the promised land Of specie
payments, it never talked about good
prices and gold resumption, but only
OF specie payments, which meant re-
sumption in silver and gold, each equal.
ly dollar unit, full legal tender. Con-
traction OF currency and shrinsage ol
values were not thought by anybody to
BIO intended, by stealthy manipulations
Of our currency, to bring prices below
tho bimetalio level, but decentralization
Of silver in Germany and the United
States, and the initial steps Of the de-
monetzing by the states of the Latin
union, practically destroyed the chief
part Of the silver halfof the currency OF
nations, and caused such increased de-
mand for the gold half that tho purchas-
ing power Of gold rose between 1874
and December, 1878, n little over 80
per cent. throughout the COM
world. In other words, the
gold prices Of land, labor and prop
erty throughout tho world sunk over
81 per cent. Our people. therefore,
were not led back by resumptionists to
the bimotallic level of prices, but in
place Of the double standard tho single
gold standard was set up, and that 30
increased in value that II cost any man
80 per cent. more in land or labor pro.
ducts to pay in gold n debt of 800 in
December, 1873, than 1t would have
cost in 1874. That il, so cent. was
added by the reconciliation of silver
to all tho debts and all the taxes pay
able by tho people OF the United
States. | 90 not make this statement,
at random, but from tables Of prices
deliberately prepared each year by the
Nep York PabHc, the highest authority
in the United States on prices Of COM
modities. l have made tho same state
ment twice on the floor of congress,
and no man has questioned its accu-
racy.
MoNoMErALlsM AND plMETALlsM.
The great parties are squarely Mt is.
sue on this question. the Warner bill,
which gave the whole profits of coinage
to the government, but provided for
placing silver exactly on par with
gold in respect Of unlimited coinage
and OF issue Of certificates for silver
bullion, passed tho house after m in
tense and protracted struggle, every
democrat but seven voting for the bill
and every republican but four voting
against it. That bill will pass the seu-
ate next December, in spite of tho OPP
position .of halfdozen national bank
and gold standard democrats. Almost
complete unity of the republican party
In the senate and in tho house against
the bill, with Mr.. Sherman's known
hostility, assures u veto of that great
measure Of relief. The contemplate
cowardice of the republican party of