Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1896-10-20


| cd will find nn unwilling ear. He who seeks
| To borrow money In order 10 replace the old
mortgage with "a now one will be told that this
| - no time for loans. except. perhaps. upon ex-
orbitant conditions. The mortgageor may find.
| too, that his bond Is payable in gold coin. and
| he will have to buy the gold at the premium
| then ruling. Foreclosures will ba the order OF
| the day. The mortgsgoor who seeks shelter un-
| der the laws delay will at any rate further
| burden his property with the cost of legal pro-
| ceedings. Everywhere anxiety, embarrass-
ment, sacrifice, loss and distress even before
| Mr.. Bryan could ascend the presidential chair
Bryan's Bimetaliism.
After five or six months Of such deadly
CRISIS Mr.. Bryans extra session OF congress
would begin and give us free coinage. Then.
| as Mr.. Bryan solomnly promised Us In his
| great Now York Grafton, free coinage viii give
| Us bimetaliism. bimctallism will give US an
| abundance OF money, and all win be right.
Bimetallism? What IL bimetallismf 10 IL .
monetary system In which the two metals chr
culato together for all tho purposes Of money
| on n parity with each othor upon "A txod legal
rntio. which IT our ease is 10 !. Evidently
10 have bimutallism gold must bo on hand
| a. well silver.
How will Mr. Bryan gt the gold back from
| the money ppwerf Evidently he must oeef
an induc,megtf What inducoEcntf To bo
| sure. the mints viii BE- open 10 gold rs we'll as
silver. But who Will offer gold bullion 10 have
u coined into dollars for circulation when he
can have silver dollars with the same LEGAL
tonder power nc half the pricef Only an idiot
would do that. Of cours., gold will be offered
only when tliu silver dollar j. up again ~ the
gold standard. There Is the rub. But here
Mr. Bryan steps In with n theory which Is q
curiosity In statosmAnship. lie said in his
New York speech: ANY purchaser who stands
-. FsFafEs Esfss tsls
at u certain price can prevent that article from
falling below that price. so the governments
can fx "a pric. for gold and silver by creating Z
n demand greater than the supply" And
again. "When mint price u thus established,
10 regulates th" bullion price, because any per
SON desiring coin may have the bullion con
vert.d into coin at that price. and any person
desiring bullion can secure 10 by melting that
COIN.
Would Bc silver Monometailism.
What l. this to mean that under free coin
age the government viii purchase silver bull
lion and pIy certain fixed price for ~ II
-. then Mr.. Bryan, the great free coinage
apostle. do,s not know what FREQ coinage Is
LIT Us remind him. II means that the owner
Of silver bullion may take ~ Ia the mint and
have It c.dncd and returned a. him in coined
pieces, NJ many dollars FOR ~ much weight of
pure silver IL do.- not mean that the govern
mont Stands r,ady % purchase the entire
supply - silver at a certain price The gov
ornmont dO,s not purchase n single ounce Of
H. IL mcr IL receives the bullion, stamps 10
and returns 70. And a. o. aXing price, as
soon ~ the government s'pIs holding mp tho
silver dollar go the cola standard. as u would
with Mr.. Bryan's election, the silver dollar.
measured ~ its purchasing power. VIII ho
worth not . cent more than the market value
Of the SILVER contained In H. II the market
. sh.f 4. N t,tfnt and
present nt the uint ~ cents worth %: bullion,
you get back not a gold dollIr, but "A silver
dollar worth iust 20 cents. You might. instead
| OF taking your bullion 30 tho mint. sell u In
the market for ju.t the sam" amount ut non
ey. Indeed. bullion gwnoTs, unlcs, they have
vomc special rra-on FOR taking their bullion o
tho mint will take 10 b. the market and sill
10 theru. a. they very extensively DO IN al
countries IN whtnh there i free silver coinage.
Why should they noti Because, II they have
,hcir bullion coined. they set legal tender dol
lars for it. Why. II thoy sell IL IN the market
thoy get there legal tender dollars likewise.
IL will therefore be- - mere question os special
convenience whether they take 10 10 the mint
or tO the market. And In the market, accord
ing o. all human reason and experience, it,
price viii. temporary fluctuations notwith'
standing, remain ON the whole very near u
the figure of the cost az which it can in large
quantities De- produced. Nr. bryan'- strange
imssiniugs have therefore proved only that
when he speaks ~ government purchases OF
silver and fixing prices and creating a de-
mand greater than the supply, he simply does
not know what free coinage Is.
Every sensible person, ! trust, viii now ad'
init that free silver coinage In the United
States alone viii make b!motallism, the equal
use Of both gold aud silver money, uttorly
impossible. her" a. wei as abroad. IL VIII
confirm Europe IN gold munomctallism and
condemn us 70 silver monom"taI!isin-ths ex'
elusive Use % silver a. money and OF paper
based upon silver. No doubt this IL what ths
silver men are really aiming At
How Free silver VIII Work.
Let us now consider how It will affect the
yari0us interests Of the people The first
blessing We aru promised 81 hOw from FREQ
conagc l. a general rise Of prices This means
that the silver dollar VIII buy less than the
gold dollar did. and this for the reason that
IL II no longer worth a. much ~ the gold dol.
lar. Evidently the promise of bimetallism, OF
silver rising % It's old price on the one hand,
and the promise of higher prices owing to a
less valuable silver dollar on the other hand
do not gu together. The one or the other is q
fraud. Of course the fraud - the promise OF
bimctallisIn The rise of prices owing 20 the
debasom"nt - the dollrr Will begin nc once
A. soon ~ gold Gcpart- and We slip on the sill
yer basis. Bread viii H. dearer. milk. coffee,
sugar. tea. meat, vegetables. Will be- dcnrer :;
clothes shoes and hats VIII be- dearer: rents,
furniture. coal. AcruScne-in short every ar
ticle the price uf which can b. raised by the
sollor.
High prices arr a two edged sword-handy 20
the seller, but unpleasant 10 the buyer. They
press, ~ cOu.s., hardest upon those who are
compelled 10 buy most IN proportion 20 their
income or their earnings And who are thoy'
The poor pc, pie. What rich family spends
upon the actual neccssaries Of life, the indis-
pensablD food, clothing and shelter, Is vory
little cornpar, with it, income. Most OF it,
expenditures 20 for things that are not neces
sarios and m.y b. clasSed as luXurics the pur.
chasing Of which may be- suspended or post
poned without hardship. But the poor family,
thu wage earn"rs family, Is Obliged 10 spend
u very large Lart q Its income from day 10 dny
upon food. clothing. shelter, heat and light,
that cannot be- temporarily dispensed with
without hardship. From rise III the prices
Of the uccesssiries % life the poor people there
fore suffer by far the most.
Where the Wage Farmer VIII Come In.
How stands the case Of the wage earners
whoso product can be raised IN price proper
tomato b. the debascment OF the dollars As
the dollar falls In value the manufacturer or
the merchant marks up his goods. The work
ingman or the clerk. finding himself hard
pressed by the rise In price Of the necessar'es
of life. applies for "a corresponding increase
Of wages. The head Of the factory or the
mercan tile establishment admits that some in
crease Is called for. ''But, says he, "you are
not the only person in trouble. The value OF
our money j. huctuating. We hardly know
what IL Is toiay. We surely do not know what
IL will be next week. Profits are excessively
close anyhow. We make u sale OF purchase
al L. - Tor
wo may find that IL was at loss. We hardly
venture 20 make "A contract TO be filed at u
future time, Dscausc We can make no safe cal.
culations. We can increase your wages a lit
tie, but not much. For that you viii have 10
wait until things are more settled. Besides,
this silver free coinage has thrown all busi-
ness into dreadful confusion, and there are
plenty of people out OF employment who
would do your work for less than you get
now" And so the wage Garner has 10 be sat
iseed with a little increase OF pay and wait for
more while the advanced prices OF necessaries
prey upon him.
Is this mere conjecturei II Is the experience
Of every country that has been cursed by
rise Of prices through money OF nuctuating
value. defy any one 20 show me In the whole
history OF the world "A single exception, Have
We not, during our civil war, witnessed II with
our own eyesi In ls62, when our irredeemable
paper currency had begun 10 depreciate, the
average wages OF labor rose only 3 per cent,
while average prices rose IS. In 1853, when
wages had risen i0la per cent, average prices
were 10 per cent higher; in 1854 wages had
risen 2jA per cent and prices gO11; in 1855
wages had advanced IS per cent and prices III
above what wages and prices had been in gold
in 1851. In other words, the laboring mans
wages had lost in purchasing power more than
30 cents In every dollar. Every country la
boring under similar conditions tells the same
story. What reason in the world Is there 70
assume that this universal rule will not oper-
ate in the case Of free coinagef
And what have the apostles Of free silver
coinage to any 10 this? Hear Mr.. Bryan him