People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-07-29
NUMBER A

tiOn as to them would be unfair. Sol
propose when this bill shall come up
for cOnsideratiOn-for | introduced it
in good faith-to substitute $4,000 for
$500, and to reduce by % per cent the
salaries of all persons receiving any,
thing in excess of 50, 900 from the Gov
eminent. That will not affect the peO-
pie who are doing the labor of the Gov
eminent; it will only affect those with
! large fixed incomes.
My object in calling attention to this
is the fact that as prices go down we
are creating a favored class with fixed
! incomes. That favored class will fight
for contraction the same as the bond
holder will fight for contraction to en-
nance the value of his income.
| When | first came to the Senate the
salaries of Members and Senators were
! $4,000 year; judges of the Supreme
| Court received $4,000 year; and the
President of the United States received
| $4,000 year. | remember that once
in those times | called upon the venCr-
able Justice Nelson, and found him i'm
the National Hotel with two rooms,
very SMALL for himself, wife, and
daughter. He had to do all his work
in those two rooms. After some talk
with him | asked him it he was able to
live on his salary-fOr we were talking
about that-and he said he could not
pay his bills on his salary however
economical he might be; that prices
had gone up SO he could not live on his
salary. [ found members of Congress
complaining that it was impossible for
them to pay their bills and live on their
salaries. Prices then were high. The
salary of the President of the United
States was very small for those times
| In consequence of these facts | be-
came an enthusiastic advocate for in
creasng salaries. We began with the
iudg es of the Supreme Court. [ had
an ally in the then Senator from Wis
cOnsin, Mr.. Carpenter, who espOused
| the cause with great earnestness, and
we succeeded in raising their salaries,
and finally the salary of the President
of the United States was raised to $50
600. There was no difficulty in raising
the salaries of members of Congress.
That came first. Those salaries were
raised to correspond with the them
range Of prices.
Now we find that prices have gone
below what they were in 1860, or when
these salaries were fixed, and as they
stood before Congress raised them.
The prices Of commodities have gone
and [ say that it is not in good keeping
for officers who are serving the Repub-
lie to maintain this high range of saIa-
ries while prices are being forced down
by the legislation of Congress, for they
are being forced down by the legisIa-
ton of Congress. In forcing the coun-
try to go to the gold standard we are
forcing prices Gown, and we ought not
to profit by our own wrong.
The President of the United States
is receiving salary of $4,000 year.
That salary is more than 100000 would
have been in 1871 when his salary was
increased. II it were put back to $685.
900 it would have greater purchasing
power than his salary had in 1860. L
say $4,000 would now have greater
purchasing power than it had in 1860.
Congress raised all these salaries on
account of high prices. They should
now be reduced on account of low
prices. The President is interested i'm
maintaining the gold standard to the
extent of $4,000 year.
Because gold is worth hundred per
cent more than it was in 1871 we are
told all around that every President
will veto a silver bill. It will put
money in his pocket to do so. He has
large salary and large interest ILL
the question. All good citizens hope
he will not be influenced by such con-
siderations and there is no foundation
> for the assertion that he would veto a
silver bill.
This comes home to the people of the
country, in view of what has occurred
in Pennsylvania. The disease at Home
stead was falling prizes. The Carne-
gle Company said the price of cOmmo-
dities had gone down, and therefore
they must reduce the price of labor to
correspond. If wages must be reduced
to correspond with falling prices, why
should not the compensation of high
salaried officers share the same fate, /
ask If the feudal lords of wealth can
in moment organize their armies and
make war to put down wages, and if
that war can be justified, how much
more are we called upon to surrender
our salaries if we insist that legislation
shall put prices down?
The evil Of the gold standard first
fell upon the farming community. Our
! farmers were regarded as a brave and
independent portion Of citizens. We
relied upon the farmers to resist en-
. or0achments Of centralized power or
, any other power while they were pros
porous. But you have robbed them of
, half their estate by reducing the value
of their farms. You have driven them
from their farms and made tenant far
mers Of 30 or 20 per cent of them and
, the process is going on. They have
lost much of their power in the body
, polite.
Who, then, will resist the encroach-
ments of the gold king? The labor or
CARNATIONS Of this country are at
! tempting to resist. They will get out
side of the law. They will ultimately
be crushed, because nothing can with
stand the iron hand OF contraction
This resistance has been tried in other
civilizations.
But as the money disappears feudaI
. slavery follows. These men may re-
{ sist for time in this country, but see
how they were treated in Germany u
month Or two ago when they were as
; semb1ed to protest against reduction
,, of their wages. The imperial army
fired upon them without notice, and
they had no redress. Europe is mill