The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-06-26
A TEXT FOR A SERMON.

a IEA1 FOR Il SEKlMON.
FREE SILVER AND HIGH PRICES.
John Sherman in U. S. Senate, Aug. 80. 1898.
| "If you want cheap money and
high prices, free silver will do it,"
II you want a text for a sermon
there you have it.
Do the people of Minnesota want
the farmers to receive SO cents a
bushel for their wheat or 81? Would
it not be to the interest of the whole
state that the farmers should get 81
per bushel?
Why did John Sherman make that
pregnant admission that free silver
meant high prices? Because he in
tended thereby to scare the con-
sumers of wheat and other agriculture
| al products. He said to them, in eff
feet, do you want to pay more for your
| flour-yOu wOrkingmen-and for your
potatoes and meat? Thereby this VEN
cradle knave strove to array the food
buying East against the food-produ-
cling West, and the mechanic against
the farmer.
But there is really no such antagon-
ism. While free silver would make
high-priced wheat and flour it would
| make higher wages for the working
man. The Plutocrats are prete nding
that good times have returned and
risen, and that therefore wages have
gone up. Here is one of their items,
which are going the rounds of the
| press:
Chicago, June 12-Crane & Co.,
| manufacturers of pipe fittings and
brass goods, announced 10 per cent
| increase in wages to-day. The in
crease affected 1900 men. The firm
| announced that the great increase in
it's own business within the last few
months, and the general business re-
vival, justlties higher acoges.
If then free-silver will produce
higher prices for all producers, it will
certainly produce good times; and
these good times will just as certainly
be followed by an increase of wages.
In fact good times" means higher
prices and higher wages, and bad
times lower prices and lower wages.
decreases he cannot pay his debts; he
cannot continue his business; he no
| longer employs labor and labor
| starves; and labor in turn cannot buy
the farmers wheat, or the miller's
| flour, or the manufacturers cloth,
and the whole community is cast
down into poverty and wretchedness.
What is the remedy? To raise prices
| to their former level. How can this
be done? John Sherman answers the
question. He says free silver means
''cheap money and high prices"
Then for Gods sake let us have
free-silver. Let us put the two mil
lion unemployed men at work. Let US
shut up the soup houses and stop
building Notifications called armo-
ries. An indus trious man, hard at
work, adding every day to the worlds
stock Of wealth and happiness. is a
much pleasanter sight to contemplate
than half-starved tramp, lying dead
on the street, with bullet through
his heart. fired by the armed defend
ers of society,""
And John is afraid that free silver
will give us ''cheap money''-that
means an abundant supply of money.
Well who on earth is there that does
not want an abundant supply of mon
ey except the money-lenders? Mr.. A.
0. Ouren. of Hanska, to-day rich
man, by reason Of his tireless energy,
told us recently of buying a pair of
horses for $500, and by the time he
had paid for them, fe,o gears after
wards, he had paid over 5000 for the
5000. Wasn't that money dear
enough? Wouldn't it have been bet
ter for brother Ouren if he could have
borrowed that 5000 for per cent. and
then it would have taken sixteen
years and eight months for the money
to double itself?
Cheap money! God give us plenty of
| dreadful grip Of the usurers. The rate
| of interest, in fact, should never exceed
the average earnings of the people,
and that is three per cent per annum.
To-day nothing pays like money
| lending. Why? Because money is
| scarce and to get it one must borrow,
| give double security and pay large
rates Of interest upon it.
And great part of the political
| contest to-day turns upon one ques-
tion:-"Do you want the present con-
| ditions to continue, or would you like
to see them changed?"
Those who say ives" are the money
lenders and holders of securities, the
capitalistic class. Those who say no
are the intelligent individuals who have