The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-10-15
DO the People Want a Change !

1t seems now to be understood that, il
General Hancock he chosen President of
the United States, there will be change
in the financial policy of the country, be-
cause Hancock and the men around him
are pledged to so many dangerous isms
that he could not stay the tide of the in
tlationists and the tiat-money statesmen,
even if he would.
A man is controlled by the company
which he keeps, and when Hancock tele-
graphed to Plaisted, the fiat-money cam
didate for governor of Maine, his con-
"glorious result" he passed the Rubi-
con of sound finance into the quicksands
and perils of an irredeomable fiat-money
currency.
Senator Conkling has written to the
Burlington HaWkcyc letter in which he
summarizes with mastery hand what has
been done by the Republican party for
the business interests of the country,
and he shows how nearly all that has
been gained after fifteen years of tribu-
lation, anxiety and sacrifice on the part
of individuals, would be periled by the
election of men who have been and are
committed against the financial policy of
the Republican party.
He thus sketches what has been done,
aud what vast results may he thrown
away by n change:
Looking over the country to-day, one IL most
struck by the condition of the aboring, produc.
ing, and commercial interests. They are all
thriving. Indeed, their rise and progress of
late is well nigh fabulous. After the bubble Of
unreal buoyancy burst in 1874 bubble result
ing largely from the vast issue, because OF the
war, Of currency, with its depreciating and cor
responding fictitious nominal prices-all indus
tries, enterprises and interests We're, as rule.
ruinonsly depressed. The heaviest share Of in
| jury fell, az it always does in such epochs, on
labor. Men who had laid up money-capital-
ists, ~ they are sometimes called--fearing to
hazard their means in such shifting and uncer-
tain times, waited for the evil days to pass
by. Money was locked up and boarded, or put,
chance. StagnatiOn, Of course, followed. The
country was full of men ready to put their skill
and brains and hands to work. Those who saw
| promising business opportunities, II they haol
capital of their own, hestated to embark it, but
| q Far larger number, whose capital consisted OF
honesty energy and ability 10 40 were paia-
lived because others would not risk results
made uncertain by the general disturbance OF
values and securities, and by schemes for still
| further unsettliHg oil money standards with
which our politics were rife. Industry and Ia
Dor In all the walks Of life were smitten griev'
Ousy.
Recently oil this is changed. Capital no
longer shrinks and hides. Every branch of oc'
cupation hourishes. A fair days work CON-
mands a fair days wages readily. Enormous
crops, at good stable prices, have made great
harvests, not only for farmers and laborers, but
for millions Of men and money engaged in the
carrying trade and in other trades. Our pro-
ductions sold to the Old World, which used to
be paid for In our high interest bonds, and in
manufactured articles returned to us. are nov
paid for by millions in gold. Immigration pour'
In, spreading over new fields from which wealth
will spring. Fixed, stable money has taken the
place Of the juggling, fluctuating paper prom
ises, The taxes inflicted by the rebellion have
been, in great part, dismissed. The interest
bearing debt has been one-third paid, The in
terest charge-the worst and hardest feature o.
all debts-has been halved.
When schemes Of reputation aud ruiniou
imitation met their death ut the hands Of tn
Republican party, headed by President Grant
all lenders d money in both hemispheres notes
the fact, Immediately our credit rose, and Il