Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1896-08-27

lue't oi Wherc Ull5 lfhDOref VIII come IN, or
rather of where he will go out. There is
one paragraph i'll his speech which, whcth-
er 1T was the result of an unconscious
into candor or whether it was
q contribution made in the stress of logical
discussion / am utterly unable to say.
But it shakes Il flood of light upon the
whole purpose underlying this Populist
agitation. Wage carners, Mr.. Bryan says,
know that while a gold standard raieas the
power of the dollar, it also
make it more difficult to obtain possession
of the dollar. They know that employ
1hent is less permanent, loss of work more
probable and unemployment less certain.
Ii that means anything, it means that
cheap dollar would give him more employ
mcnt, more frequent employment moro
work and chance to get unemployment
after he was discharged. Well now, if
that means anything sn the world to a sane
man, it means that if the laborer is willing
to have his wages cut down he will get
more work.
High Wages and Prosperity Go Together.
There never was the boss of an estab-
hshment yet that meant TO make cut in
wages that did not say that. l have never
yet heard of anybody who attempted to cut
down the rate of wages telling his lnen
that he did it because he liked to do it,
They would tell their men, If you do not
stand such a cut in wages, ! cannot en-
ploy you more than half the time. -
And that is what Mr.. Bryan proposes
for the lab6ring masses of this community
that they take Il dollar of less purchasing
power so that employment will become
moro certain and the chance of rc-cmploy
ment more frequent. If it We're true that
reduction in the rate of wages would In
crease the chance of employment, | would
not blame MIR. Bryan for telling the truth,
because, however unralatabc the truth
may be, conceive it T. duty of any man
who attempts toaddress his fellow citizons
never to shrink from u statement of the
whole truth whatever may be tho consc-
quences to himself.
But, as matter OF fact, a diminution
in the rate Of wages does not increase the
scope of employment If this audience has
done me the honor to follow me while
explained the principle on which wages
were fixed, it must he clear that the moro
abundant the product the higher the
wages. There cannot be an abundantproti-
uct unless labor is extensively employed
You cannot have high wages unless
y.
department of industry, and that is why
claim that the wages are the one sole test
of a country's condition; that high wages
mean abundant protection and abundance
necessarily means prosperity.
Farmer Tempted to War on Labor.
Mr.. Bryan, ON the other hand, would
have you believe that prosperity is id
vanced by cheapcning the rate of wages,
but the fall in the rate of wages always
comes from narrow production and
narrow production means there is little
demand for labor III the market When,
after the panic Of 1878, the price OF la
Dor fell to 90 cents a day. it was hard
or to obtain labor, than when the rate
of labor was 50, and the difference between
the Populist who seeks to cut down the
rate of wages and. the Democrat who
seeks to project it is that the Democrat
believes the high wages and prosperity
are synonymous, and the Populist wants
to cut the rate of wages in order that lie
may tempt the farmer to make war upon
his own worllingmcn.
/ Well, but the Populist tells us-and Mr.
Bryan leads the van--that it is the creditor
that he is after; that the creditor is the
person whose debt he wants to cut down
And Mr. Bran makes an elaborate argu-
ment to show that when his system of coin
age shall have been completed, his stand
ard CT value shall have been changed, then
the debtor will have an option as to whic'
metal he will pay his debt in-that is to
say, he shall be permitted by the law to
commi an act of dishonesty.
Part of Money In Measuring Debts.
In order that you should understand
just how u change in the standard of value
enables men to cheat their creditors you
-havo to consider the function which money
plays in measuring debts. If l had paid
$40 for ten yards of cloth to be delivered
| to me next week, and in the interim the
government should pass law declaring
that hereafter the yard measure should
consist of 1S inches and that all existing
contracts should be settled in that system
OF measure, y would be cheated out of haif
of the cloth for which l had paid. If, on
the other hand, owed cloth merchant
for ten yards of cloth which he had deliv
cred to me, and which was payable next
week, and l the meantime the govern
mcnt would change the standard of value
and cut down the unit of coinage one-half
then would scttlc that debt for So, ant,
the cloth merchant would have been cheat
ed.
That is just what this measure proposes
to do, and the important question that
arises to the workman of this country is
just who are the creditors and who are tho
debtors in this land. Now, the Populist
loves to say that the creditor is person
who Expresses the western farmer Heloyes
to paint him as loud of dress, coarse of
feature, gau@y of ornament and with !
cruel expression on his face. He loves to
declare that the money lender and the
creditor are always synonymous express
sions, but, us Il matter of fact the creditors
OF this county are not the bankers; thev
are not the s,o-called capitalists They arc
the laborers, aud it is at the expense of la
Dor that this change is made.
The Banker IA Debtor. the Laborer a
Creditor.
1 remember i'll discussion in the house
of representatives l was advancing the
| proposition Ghnt banker, in the nature
of things, was a debtor, and 1 was inter
rupted by Nr. Bryan, who put to me ii
question which contains exactly the san
! statement as that which he made here in
his speech a week ago. He asked me, 81
would like to ask the gentleman whether
it is not true that every solvent bank has
for every dollar that it owes either some
body's note or the money in the vault and
re al