The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-14

been largely at their beck and call, and
has patted them on the back in all
their struggles. This arises from the
fact that the Cabinet is not directly ac-
countable to Congress. That so many Of
the leading men Of the principal silver
| producing country in the world should be
| so anxious to register a black mark
against that metal in its service in the
cause of the worlds coinage, might well
be looked upon as phenomenon, were it
not known that the possessors Of gold
desire to enhance the value of that metal
and to depreciate everything else. There
can be little doubt that the general efforts
at decentralization of silver, partially sue
cessful as they have been, and the in
creasing demand for gold, combined with
the increasing. scarcity of the more valu-
able metal, are responsible for the gem
eral dizziness all over the world. This
dizziness is the result of lower prices, and
lower prices mean dear gold. Silver,
equally with gold, is legal tender, as far as
standard dollars are concerned, for all
debts, public or private. But the sue
cessive Secretaries of the Treasury have
not so considered it. They have con-
tinued to accumulate it in the Treasury
vaults and pay out gold. A reversal of
the process would advance the price of
silver in the worlds markets, keep down
the price of gold, and keep more of the
latter in the Treasury. For large pay
ments silver certificates form very de-
sirable medium. In view of the general
dullness of trade and the low prices, it
seems to us desirable to increase rather
than diminish the silver coinage. What
is needed is to obtain It's circulation
among the people, accompanied by its
concomitant of silver certificates"
The ironmasters of San Francisco hav-
ing had virtual monopoly of mining and
pumping machinery on the Pacific Coast
for over quarter of century, feel hurt
and injured because manufacturers at
Chicago, Denver and Kansas City, not to
mention Pittsburg, Philadelphia and New
York, are now competing with them.
They want protection against the cheap
labor of the East, while clamoring for
protection against the pauper labor of
Europe" These men fail to intelligently
appreciate the operations Of a protective
tariff, and, narrowing things down, every
man of them would like to have a tariff
specially made to suit himself The plea
that wages should come down because
the cost of living is lower in California
than during the Spioneer days, is on the
same plane of contracted intelligence.
What is it that reduced the cost of living?
Was it laber or capital? Most undeniably
1t was labor. Capital locked up the bulk
of available lands in California against
beneficial occupation; labor, buoyed by
hope and backed by strong hearts and
willing hands, went out into the State
where it could, and the fruitful soil re-
sponded to its efforts, filling the land with
peace and plenty "from the Sierras to
the sea-" But what share had the iron
masters or capitalist class in all this?
None whatever. House rent, clothing
everything except food products-are far
too high in San Francisco. The sympa-
thy of all honest and intelligent men must
be on the side of labor in the San Fran
cisco ironworkers strike.