Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-10-26

were compelled 10 discharge IS large,
perhaps larger number of Iaborers, who
knew no other employment. than were
emptied cut of the silver mines in Col
Crado, and private subscriptions 10
Milwaukee, clothed and fed thousands
of such unfortunate persons. The
owners Of the iron mines get 10 assis-
tance from the government. except a
tariff but this didn't appear to help
them. 1t stimulated home produCto on
to such an extent that the supply was
twice as great as the demand could
swallow or digest.
But what moved or justified the silver
lords to dismiss their employees while
the government was continuing to buy
OF them. and yet continues TO buy, and
must, as the months roll round. con-
tinue to buy monthly more than four
million of ounces "a ,ilver bullion es,
continue these purchases till the last
ounce of silver is wrenched from these
dsemboweled mountains and piled in
the United States Treasury. Why have
they dismissed their men?
Their Senator's in Congress consider
themselves as fully competent to defeat
all anti.silyer legislation. and the will
Of the people by mere wind pow er, but
they found it was necessary to discharge
their employees, "who had worn OUT
the best part Of their lives in their
service, even though the government
continues to make the enormous pur.
chase of their bnllion-amountiug 10
So, $50, 600 per month.
do not think that the people who
live in sight of the Rocky Mountains
can do their respective states more
serious damage than TO proclaim before
the world that the boring after gold
and silver is their dominant occupation.
as essential to their existence and pros
perity as the very air they breathe or
the flour and potatoes they consume.
When cotton was king. the overthrow
Of the slavery dynasty cost us millions
in lives and treasure. With most in
dustral occupations, even that Of ra:s-
ing cotton, gold and silver are sought
after s the means, not the end Of their
labor, but the gold and silver magnate,
If successful in the great lottery. leaps
at once upon the end Of his life's pur-
pose. and finds himself in the presence
Of the glittaring dust, concealed from
human eyes till in our times we had
learned to break the granite walls that
guarded these natural vaults, with
dynamite In those regions of the
earth where the precious metals are the
overshatowing business, we also see
the contact Of colossal wealth with the
most abject poverty and restitution.
The millions have been summarily
elected from that neither world which
they opened, and though worn down
with age and labor they must seek o,her
employment. Silver mines are worked
in Mexico, Peru, Spain, North Germany
and Norway without any aid from their
respective governments, and if the
mines in Nevada and Colorado will not
produce silver enough to pay for their
working, and some profit to their
owners, they ought to be abandoned.
Where wealth is so unequally distri.
buted as it is in state or country
where the extraction of the precious
metals is its principal reliance for sup
port, you have the foundation for an
aristocracy, a plutocracy, which easily
grasPs political power and uses it with
sagacity and never firing diligence to
advance its own selfish ends.
You may take Senator Stewart, of
Nevada. as fair example of the men,
bers of a silver clad oligareby that
commands thousands of retainers, and
BOW defiant, and so far successfully so,
throws down the gage of battle with the
authorities of the union. There is no
end OF secession as long as they can
conquer. Between five and six millions
per month must be paid them as the
price Of their loyalty. This is fixed by
treaty as between independent powers
! The only wrong that the RpnublicsnS