Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-03-15
A COUNTRY JAKE" TALKS.
He Quotes Some Statistics for the
Benefit Of "Free Trader"
sALEN, March 12, 1894

Of the JOURSAL you publish 8 column
OF ignorance and mendscity coming
from q correspondent to whom you re-
fer a. free trade Democrat, You owe
an apology to the Democratic party.
While that party is in its present sore
straits submit that you should not
saddle upon it the responsibility for all
the refuse that 10 being discharged from
the sewers Of Populism. Your cores
pOndent starts out with the assumption
that great national crime has been
committed, and then proceeds to be-
labor the imaginary criminal with a
wealth Of epithet and display Of ig-
norance that is apalling. Like many
a cheap lawyer before him,it has never
occurred to him to prove the corpus
delicti until after bis case has been sub
mitted. Performances Of this kind
only delay the cure Uf real and sd-
mitted evils. Arrogant and extrava.
CANT statement never carries con vic
ton, and il has become a proverb that
one who is himself dishonest or a GRIM
inal can discourse with the greatest
fiuency upon the shortcomings Of
others. Our statutes haYe the follow
ing upon the subject Of criminal libel,
viz: "If any person shall willfully, by
any means other than words orally
spoken, publish or cause to be pub
lished OF or concerning another any
false and scaBdalous matter, with in
tent to iDjure or defame such other
person, upon conviction thereof he
shall be punished By imprisonment 10
the county jail not less than three
mouths nor more than lone year, or by
a fine not Iess than one hundred dol
lars nor more than five hundred dol
lars" The humblest citizen OF the
state Of Oregon may invoke this provis
ion Of the Ia - 10 his behalf, yet your
"free trade Democrat" is at perfect lib
erty, without risk Of any kind TO give
utterance 10 the most Infamous Iibels
upon our public servants and cer-
tain classes Of our business men with
o1t shadow Of evidence, although
these libels may be such as to provoke
suspicion, distress aud discomfort if
not open violence among the people.
Many men have paid penalties impOeed
upon them by the criminal courts for
Offenses that are not comparable to
that Of your correspondent. / have
his article into several
heads. Hear him.
lst. "our national debt today is only
one third what it was in 1865 and it
would take to pay this third nearly
three times the amount of our average
products as the whole public debt in
1865" That is to say our average
products were nine times as high in
s65, as they are now. This is news
indeed, and when we consider that in
he meantime we have been living
lnder protective tariff which Is sup
posed to raise prices, it is positively
astounding.
ID. "The editor of the Courier Jour
nal says bushel Of wheat now would
1uy as much as q bushel would in 1855,
)ut he is 30 blinded by his gold standard
goggles, or dishonest as to omit to state
hat 1t takes about eight times as much
v heat now to buy gold dollar as it
lid In 1855, etc" The expressions
blinded" and dishonest" are both
7orcible and decidedly Populistic. The
prevalence Of blindness and dishonesty
among Democrats and Republicans is
almost as striking as Is its absense
among Popullsts. Now let us see who
"a blind and dishonest. The official
average price OF wheat in
he United States in 1865 in U. s.
Is reported at 81. 95 per bushel.
Gold in New York in Jan. 1855 was at
\ premium OF 23S although in the pre-.
,edinR July II was as high Rs 2S5.
Let us give Free Trade Democrat"
lowereI the advantage OF the lower
tigure, and call II 233. At thst rate
wheat worth Sl,a5 in currency was
worth SO cts. In gold. 1t ia probable
hat not far from 90 cts could be got
'or wheat In New York today and you
,ould take your pay for II in either gold,
silver or greenbacks. Now will your
correspondent who so detests blindness
md dishonesty please explain how he
igures that sit takes eight times
Is much wheat 10 buy a gold dollar
now AS 1t did In 1885"
3rd. "All the hundreds Of billions
If debts public, and private, are to be
paid In gold AS the sole standard now.n |
Hundreds Of billions Is good. The
otAl public debt Of all the nations OF
he earth Is reported at less than thirty
billions. The private debts must there
ore be terrific. And all payable In
gold. We know OF a good many In
salem who would be glad to take either
,reenhaeks or silver on what is coming
o them.
4th. people are led OF by low tArti
A. "a a. ]