The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-10-04
THE PEOPLE.

THE PEOPLE.
Nothing could be more presumptuous
than the pretension Of the advocates OF
free silver coinage and Of "cheap money"
that they are representing "the people" as
against the capitalists.
This pretension has not the merit of
originality. 1t has accompanied the
preaching Of almost every financial doc.
trine or scheme calculated to make people
believe that they could get money With
out giving something Of equivalent value
for it, so that they could honestly get rid
of their debts without paying them in full.
When the partial reputation of our ma.
tional debt by paying 1t of in deprecated
greenbacks was advocated, the supporters
of the dishonest scheme were quite sure
that the people were, without substantial
dissent, In its favor. When later the in
flation Of irredeemable paper money was
by the magic of the greenback printing
press to "relieye" everybody of his bur-
dens and 10 pour a flood of new wealth all
over the country, the imitation leaders vo-
ciferously insisted that theirs was the
cause of "the people" and that the peo-
ple's will spoke through their mouths.
And now the free silver coinage men
again parade the interest and will Of "the
people" as the especial warrant for what
they are doing or endeavoriug to
accomplish. But II has, in point Of fact,
turned out that In all these instances the
pretention of the agitators to be the en-
bodiment Of the popular will was false
pretension, supported mainly by a good
deal Of noisy impudence, and that "the
people"-that is, large majority of the
citizens-as soon as they had an opportuu-
ity for expressing their real sentiments,
either directly or through representatives
obeying the command of public opinion,
were found on the other side.
The reason was always the same. The
agitators for reputation, paper. money in.
flation, or free silver coinage always com.
mitted the same mistake as to the condi-
tion of the great mass of people as well as
the motives actuating them. The great
mass of the people does not constitute the
"debtor class" il we may speak of debt.
or class at all. The employer of labor, be
he manufacturer, or contractor, or an
agriculturalis., or merely householder
will almost always owe money in the
shape'of accrued wages to the persons he
employs, but they hardly ever owe money
to him. He is their debtor: they are his
creditors. They are but seldom debtors IA
anybody else, for their small credit hard
ly enables them 10 contract debts. But
they are creditors in various ways-cred.
itors of savings banks, Of insurance com.
panies, of mutual aid associations. The
savings banks Of the country owe about
1900 millions to their deposltors, who are
almost all people earning their daily
bread by their daily labor. 1t Is the cyl
dent interest Of these people TO receive
what is due them not in the cheapest bu
in the best possible money, and they easi
ly understand this as soon as they begin Il
think about it, People of small means
generally, whether they are laboriug mer
or not, are similarly situated. Most ot
them have invested their savings In secur
tiles of various kinds and their interest /!
the same. The hundreds OF thousands o
pensioners, be they otherwise ever so poor
are creditors Of the government and nigh
ly interested in the full value OF the dollal
they receiye. Business men, small ant
great, are ordinarily creditors as we'll a
debtors and their interest as cred
itors is no less than their interest a
debtors, AS sensible men they know
that they cannot expect 10 pay what the.
owe In cheap dollars, while receiving wha
they owe in good ones. The farmers an,
other owners of real estate, whose proper,
ty is encumbered with mortgages ar,
usually represented as the typical debto
class interested in cheap money.
The great mass Of "the people," there
fore, after soberly considering the matter
understand their interest quite different,
from what the cheap.money agitators rep
resent It to be; and even among thos
who do not 80 understand II there ar
very many-a large majority, we trust
who instinctively resent and repel argu
ments and appeals that are addressed L
what may be called the dishonest impulse
OF human nature. So II happens tina
after u period Of thorough public discus
sion Of their schemes the repudiailonisi
and cheap money agitators have Away
found "the people" against them. eth
people" are against them now, as the re
cent two-thirds vote In the house OF repre-
sentatlves for the repeal Of the Sherma
law, which was evidently q mere expires
sion Of public opinion, has conclusivel
| ahovn II /. rneria Waaklu