Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1894-11-01

Intelligent farmer whore he ex-i
poets to come In IL the Peoples.
party should b successful. He
Is bound to answer the Ques-
ton. He Is bound to have some
reason for his acts. He 10 bound
to consider consequences. And
the puzzle is to understand what
any farmer can be thinking Of
who votes for a Peoples party
candidate on their own show
ing. Take only the statements
made BY the Populists Them
selves, set them side BY side,
and whore does the farmer
come In?
The Populist Is . free trader.
He goes farther than. the DEM
ocrat in that direction. He says
that free trade will not hurt
the farmer because the price
Of his wheat Is fixed In Liver
pool, and . tariff can neither
raise nor lower 1t. He says that
free trade viii cheaper the price
Of the things that the farmer
buys, and: therefore he will be
better of in the long run. We
are not now concerned to ask
whether these statements are
true or false. We are accept
Ing them just as they come
from the Populist's mouth, for
the purpose Of seeing where he
and the farmer stand. So we
have 1t settled, for one thing.
that the. farmer who votes the
Populist ticket, and thereby al-
lies himself with free trade.
agrees that the price OF his
wheat 10 hxed In Liverpool. To
that We shall hold him.
The Free Coinage Fraud.
il. =
Now the Populist says next
to the farmer that he Is for free
coinage Of silver and . large
issue Of paper money. he says
that this will be good for the
farmer because there Is not
enough money to 60 around,
aud that is what makes prices
so low. The scarcity Of gold is.
according 10 him, the main
trouble. It has made, the price
Of wheat 60 down and down,
and other things accordingly;
and We can only raise them
again by issuing q lot more
money. That point, again, we
shall not argue at the present
time. Assume that it would
turn out Is the Populist says 1t
would, and then put the two as
sertions which We have quoted,
and which together constitute
practically his whole argument,
side BY side.
This free coinage Of silver il
to be undertaken on our own
account. No other nation is
ready to join with us. The
Populist boots at the idea Of
waiting on any OF them. We
are big enough and strong
enough, he says, to settle our
own monetary system for our
selves. Very well. Free coin
age, then. viii not affect the
volume Of money in Great Brit
ain at all. Therefore 1t cannot
affect prices In Great Britain.
Therefore prices will remain
there what they are now. It
is only prices In the. United
States that will be increased.
Therefore the price Of wheat at
Liverpool will remain what it
was before. But we have Just
heard the Populist declare, In
explaining his position as q free
trader, that the price Of wheat
in Liverpool likes the price in
the: United States. Consequent
~, the price Of wheat remaining
unaltered In Liverpool, it will
remain unaltered In the United
States. 1t must be SO, for the
price at which we sell our sur
plus determines the price Of the
Wuole crop; and Liverpool is the
place where that surplus must
be: marketed. We have 1t dem.
OnstrateQ, then, with no as
sumption whatever on our part,
but solely out Of the Populist's
own mouth, that one of his
notions would counterfeit the eff
tect OF the other, and that,
uLuer free silver, the price OF
wheat In the United States
could not rise above what 1t Is
to-day.
What the Farmer Needs.
The logic Of this conclusion
Is absolute; and, whatever we
rlay think Of the promises, the
conclusion Is q true one. or all
people IN the world the farmerl
is the one who should most
earnestly insist that we have In
ternaffhi1al n, m pfaiiiSm ond thot