The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1891-12-04
How vRnY HoNEar.
Very Fensy to . sAvIoek ArraiEae4 o.
the Side OF IatsxrIty.


the side OF Iatsxrity.
The opponents of free silver coinage
shout loudly for an honest DOLLAR
They never had such a spasm OF in
tegrity before The dear people
must be saved from the demagogues.
The dollar must contain one hundred
cents" 1t is the old cry of wolf
wolf" but the wolf this time is dressed
in sheep skin and doing the shouting
himself Never before, say the Re-
publicans. would dollar purchase so
much Of the necessities of life They
might have truthfully added that
never before in the past three
decades did il take so much
hard work to earn the dollar.
a high priced dollar means cheap
commodities Cheap commodities
under the present system means low
wages and poor returns from legiti-
mate industry. The people want a
dollar that will do something more
than purchase the necessities OF life.
They want dollar that will pay debts
and taxes aud in earning the dollar
to Hquidate n debt they don't want to
give any moro hard labor than they
would have to have given at the time
the debt was contracted There are
two kinds of debt; one in dollars. the
other in hard work. For instance q
farmer borrows 81. 900 at q time when
wheat is 81 per busheL Five hundred
bushels of wheat would pay the debt
The farmer pays the interest from
year TO year; the money power con-
tracts the volume of currency; as
the volume contracts the purchas-
ing power OF the dollar increases;
the relative price OF farm products
decrease, and finally the price OF
wheat falls TO 81 per bushel and the
former concludes to pay his debt. At
the time the debt was contracted, IL
the farmer wanted 81 he gave one
bushel of wheat for it Now that the
debt must be paid. the farmer for ev-
cry 81 must give two bushels of wheat.
In other words, when the 81 900 debt
was contracted FIVE hundred bushels
would have paid it or the product of
twenty-five acres at twenty bushels per
acre. But under the contracted cur
rency and dear dollar regime it takes
one thousand bushels of wheat or the
product of fifty acres at twenty bush
els per acre. The farmers debt stood
still reckoned in dollars but doubled
in hard work. Notice how the dear
dollar works in paying the fixed sal
airy of a county officer In eastern
Kansas in 1866 wheat was 81 so per
bushel. Let the salary OF a county
treasurer be So. 900. Then twelve
hundred bushels of wheat would have
paid the taxes TO meet that alary.
This year wheat is 10 cents per bushel
in Kansas Let the salary remain the
same and it will take four thousand
| bushels of wheat to meet the taxes. or
three and one-third times as much
labor in the wheat field to pay the
same salary as 1t would have taken in
1866. Now, apply this to the fixed
salary OF all public officers. for the
! people pay all the taxes that pay all
| the salaries The point to keep in
mind Is that the county treasurer's
salary, remaining the same in dollars.
! increased in purchasing power three
and one-third times under the dear
| dollar idea while the farmers labor
to pay the taxes to meet the salary In
| creased three and one-thi I'd times.-
| Nonconformist