The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-03-10

cheap money. Wnen n loans are
repaid, they wish them to be repaid in
dear money, or in cheap goods. There
fore they wish to retain power to alter
the standard of value. They want the
amount of currency to be small, so
they may corner it, and thus make it
DEAR. and, hence, they oppose any
plans for supplying an abundance of
currency, either in the form of notes
based on silver, or on land or crops.
The farmers and all other workers
employing or employed-should sup
port Senator Stanford's bill, which, if
passed, will supply a sound currency
that the usurer will be unable to
corner. WIN. HARRISON RILEY.
Mr.. EDTToR:-I have been pleased
with many things you have written
since you took charge of The PROGRESS
sIvE FARMER, and especially with your
fearless criticism of the partisan action
of Democratic Alliancemen, in exclud-
ing Republican Alliancemen, from
their caucus. But in your issue OF
February oath, commenting uponsilver
coinage, you say:
eff thinking men will sit down and
ask themselves the question, Who are
the men that oppose the free coinage
of silver ? they will find that they are
without exception the men who have
stolen the wealth of the country in the
name of the public credit, and a few
men and newspapers whom they own
soul and body. The motive which
moves. them to express a most rancOr-
GUS and bitter hatred of silver money
is the fear that any increase of the Cir
culatiOn will lessen the value of their
stolen swag, and so loosen in some de-
gree their bandit grasp upon the finan-
cial windpipes Of the people. Some
causes should perish by the very mean
ness of those who uphold them; and
this gold standard is n such
cause. Any one knows that these men
are not to be trusted upon any questions
of financial reform. For no measure
will suit them that compels them to
be honest men and earn their livings
by useful labor, as other men To-"
Now I fully believe you NEAR to be
fair and honest and to speak the truth,
but in this you r. greatly mistaken.
Why don't you ask who pays the
lobby men about Congress, who +
working secretly and openly to get
the free coinage bill passed Who
has paid farmer advocates to write and
lecture among the farmers to deceive
them upon this matter Who will re-
ceive the lions share of the swag if
the free coinage bill passes When
you get the right answer to these ques-
tions you will find the real big niger
in the wood pile.
A few silver kings own all the silver
mines in the United States, and free
coinage means a sure market for their
products at the rate of $1.26 per o.,
which would add to their net profits
$15, 600, 900 to 500, OOO, 900 per annum.
At this time Uncle Sam is buying $54,-
100000 per annum at from SO to $1.O2
per OF. which gives him a profit of, say,
$13, 500, 900, all of which would go into
the pockets of the silver kings in and
out of Congress under the free coinage
bill, while now it goes to the govern
ment or the people. If all the mines
yer owned by the people, as they
should be-, then free coinage would
mean something besides fraud and
humbug. 1t seems to be natural for
the human mind to take in myths and
humbugs, and the greater these are the
more greedily and freely are they
taken in and the more tenaciously held
on to.
The things that would do the farm
ers the least good, or the most final
harm, are now run after with a blind
infatuation which must lead to defeat
and very likely to great disaster in the
near future.
Partisan bummers and capitalists
are using hypocrites and traitors to
fool and mislead the unthinking masses
of the industrial armies and setting
them to chasing abusive and delusive
moonbeams and thereby to keep them
from demanding and getting reforms
that r vital to their interest and sue
cess. Look at your own Legislature.
You try to get the rate Of interest down
to 6 per cent and fail. Why An hon
est and intelligent Legislature should
have made the rate 8 per cent. with
in ten days after it's opening. The devil
fish sucking power of interest has rob
bed the farmers out of so for every
ten cents the tariff has really ever
taken from them and the middle men