Omaha daily bee., 1890-10-11


Der of your city council and perhaps not as
much, for IL they are republicans, they may
be able at least to WELD some influence
through the republican represents
if not in the lower. And if there are any
other things to be dtne in the distinctly
there are any other cities in this district need,
ing postofllce buildings, if you need new land
offices or anything requiring the expenditure
of money IN any direction you will have no
possible chance Of securing appointments or
appropriations through McKeighan.
But we will be told that Mckelghan is q
great financicr; that the policies he
will advocate in the national legislature
men of Nebraska unbounded prosperity.
Every man, woman and child is to have all
the money they ask for. Farmers will be
able to borrow money at per cent The re-
peal of the present tariff will give You free
trade, and you will be aole to buy in the
cheapest market and sell in the dearest
Now, what will it be in reality! What
would be the effect of two or three, or htteen
McKeighans in house composed OF 800 mem
bers with republican senate and repuO,
liCan PRESIDENT Why, nothing, 1t would
be like the dog barking at the moon Nc
Kelghan would scarcely be known in the
committee even If he appeared before them
and so far as his financial pOlicies-or falla
cies, call them-are concerned, they would
simply be cmptied into the congressional
waste basket
The fiat money theories that Powers and
McKcighan have been ad vOcatiug in tine state
that is. the thOry of fiat money-have been
exploded long ago way back as 1872. When
George Francis Train was a candidate for
president Of the United States on fiat money
platform there were only about 5000 voters
in Nebraska willing to subscri be to such wild
cat schemes
MclIeighan, KEN and Bill Dech and other
candidates of the new party everywhere
iOf h-sl TO ln old
of 1861 right after the war; when they say
there were so many more dollars per capita
in circulation; when the laborer got ESQ or
S3 a day, and the farmer got 81
bushel for his wheat. Let us
take look backward and see how the
prosperous old times worked. In the mid
die of 1865, when the contending armies
marched home from the battlefield, million
of destroyerS Of property came home and re-
sumod ordinary avocations wherever they
could find employment. When they came
they found most of the places filled, and
wherever an old soldier was given place
another man was crowded out SO presently
we had a country full of unemployed
mem in avery short period the men began
to wander all over this land in quest of en-
ployment. Then began the tramp period.
There were tramps everywhere, Tramps on
the public highways; people could scarcely
go with safety from one part OF the country
to another In every little city and big city
shelter in the jails sometimes rather than to
sleep on the sidewalks under the open skies.
The legislatures were obliged to enact laws
to protect the people from these tramps. This
was in 'those good old prosperous times"
when the laooring man got 81 day.
And about this time what were the prices
of things that the labOrer and farmer had to
buyi l went to work the other day to inves.
tigate for myself and see now prosperous the
man was that got $3.50 a day and | found this
t.1tn nFn oil | ~ NpnG ma pinl
man and wished to buy calico dress for his
wife he would pay from 40 to 90 cents yard
for calico. A calico dress with hooks and
eyes and one spool of cotton (Which was 30
cents) cost $40; today You can buy the same
dress for 10 cents, In 1866 one sack OF Hour
cost the laborer $3.50; today he gets it for
$3.50. Coffee was 45 cents pound, today it
is 30 cents; in 1866 four pounds of granulated
sugar sold for dollar, today he can get twelve
pounds for dollar; candles were 40 cents
pound, today they are 10 cents rice was sell
ing at 20 cents pound, today it is s cents a
pound; vinegar was 90 cents gallen, now it
is 30 cents; tea was $3.50 q pound, today it is
Sl.0O; syrup was S2.2O gallon, now it is 30
cents; d washboard sold for 60 cents, now it
is 25 cents; one caddy of matches sold for
81 80, now it costs 40 cents coal oil was SELL
ing at Sl.40 n gallon, now it is 10 cents; soap
was IL cents pound, now it Is cents; an
ordinary bedstead cost $40 to S25, now he can
buy one for 50 to So; other furniture
monest kind of an overcoat cost $50 to S25,
and now can be bought for s. to 50. In 1860
all the clothes that the laboring man had to
clothe himself and family was three times as
high as it is now, and some of it five times as
high, during those good old times of pros
pemty.h
And whenever you wanted to give receipt
to anybody for 10 cents you had to put a
stamp on it; if you had check to draw on a
bank you had to put on stamp if you
IN m n n mi nf tXr
there had TO be stamp on it; If you wanted
to take out a life insurance policy
there had to be a stamp on it;
if you wanted to send a message by
telegraph, you had to put on stamp Every
bottle of medicine had stamp on it, every
box of matches had a stamp on it, every
photograph had stamp on the back. There
Were stamp duties on tea and stamp duties
upon coffee. In addition to that, there was
an income tax levied on wage workers and
salaried men, and on all classes These are
the good old prosperous times that the gem
tleman wants to return to. ], for myself,
don't want to see them again. l think the
laboring man can better afford to work for
Sl.5O and Sl.75 day, when dollar is as
large as cartwheel and will buy more
things than it ever did at any other time
in the history Of the United States, than to
go back to the time of $3.50 per day and be
almost starving and half the time out of en-
ployment Applause
Look at the condition of the mechanic OF
1866 and 1890. The highest price ever paid in
Omaha for skilled labor was 81 day to brick
layers for ten hours work; today he gets $3.50
for eight or nine hours work; the machinist,
the blacksmith and carpenter get almost the
same wages today that he did in 1866. The
printer earns more today than he did twenty
five years ago; and the men of all trades
without exception are getting within
90 per cent of the wages that were
current of 1866. And / want to say right
here that the laborer of today Is better off
than he ever was. He is better clothed and
better fed; his children so to better schools
and his family wears better materials; they
live in better houses, have more leisure and
are better off in every respect, and their con-
ditiOn has oeen improved under republican
administrations and under republican rule
| for twenty-five years. Applause What
are we promised when the day of
jubilee has Gomez We are promised great
| things, but what kind Of prosperity win we
get when the stock of currency is watered
| in this country and the dollar won't buy any
| more of the neccssaries of life than it did at
| the close of the war; They say to the debtor
| class their salvation is in getting more money
| into circulation. Inevcr had any money to
| loan. i belong to the debtor class. believe
/ | am paying more interest than any one man
| in the state of Nebraska; but | have
| borrowed good money and / propose tC
| pay back the kind of money L bOr
| rowed; If had borrowed wheat / would
want to pay my creditors back in wheat, anc
| if had borrowed corn, would want to pay