Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-08-15
wage-Earners and Free Silver.
Cstaunton vindicator.)


1t is exceedingly aggrayatlng to hear
men set up a proposition that Is against
all experience and against common
sense, taking the chances Of its success
among the ignorant All over this coun-
try efforts are being made to convince
workingmen. and especially railroad
men, who are sought 10 be organized,
that free silver will reduce wages. and at
the same time the prediction is made
that IL will ruin trade through imitation.
There Is no man now living who ever
saw a redundancy of money without
higher wages. We OF the South know
well enough shat labor went up just as
the currency became more and more in
fiated, and IT. walked by the side of the
Confederate note until II. stood at go 10
/. When -four was so a barrel 1t cost
a man $50 to have l0-cent patch put
upon shoe. 1t was but recently that
Major Myers published In the Richmond
Times a table showing the wages Of the
employees OF the Richmond. Fredericks-
burg, and Potomac railroad before the
civil war, during the civil war, and after
the civil wharf.-the period Of currency in
fiation. 1t showed that the wages OF
the employees were about as much in
fiated as the currency. 1t is not neces-
sary to go back to tradition for what
men OF this generation have seen with
their own eyes. From 1865. when there
were plenty OF greenbacks-the most in
fiated Of currency-brought TO Virginia,
up to 1874, wages were high and work
plentiful, and farms and farm products
sold at good price. Whenever and
wherever there Is plenty Of money in
circulation, the prices OF labor and pro-
ducts go up, no matter whether the
money is to prove worthless like the
Confederate, or valuable like the green
backs
What sort Of money is 1t that is now
proposed to be made more plentiful, bad
or good? 1t is silver coin-the fundamen-
tai money OF the country There is not a
bond that the United States issues that is
not payable in 1T; not one. The govern
ment has refused to make its bonds pay
able in gold, even though a lower rate OF
interest was offered. There is not cur
rency note issued in the United States
that is not redeemable in it-except one.
and that is issued on deposits of gold
and is called gold certificate. The gov
eminent is at the back Of a silver dollar.
just as much as 1t is at the back OF a gold
dollar, and will be equally so under free
coinage. Ii is a dollar that has all the
advantages of a national bank-note' IN
forty-eight STATES OF the Union-it is
worth 100 cents in every one of them.
When a wage-earner gets more OF these
dollars for his work he Is doing solidly
better; when farmer gets more of these
dollars for his products ne is that much
further on his way to get out of debt ana
be able to look the world In the face once
more. When the tax-gatherer calls he
will find that the taxpayer has more dol
lars and can settle with him without dis
tress. The Virginian who has titled the
land can look at his wheat crop in July,
II IL is good one. with satisfaction,
knowing that 1t will bring something"
and not, az now. with the feeling that
whether II Is bad or good II will not bring
enough to do much good. A workman can
then get up in the morning with the GER
tainty OF finding work that day. and both
man and nature will breathe freer after
the years OF contraction. protection. and
suffering under the gold standard.
This Is a great struggle Of the people
who have unwittingly allowed themselves
10 be bound by power whose strength
compared with their own is as nothing.
They intend TO be free. They win make
no mistakes This is their country; no
act of theirs shall bring distress 10 II.
or add TO the years OF misery through
which Il has been passing. They do not
intend to try anything new-they know
nothing of Anarchy. or Socialism, or any
of those modern promoters OF trouble
between classes--they are going back to
the old. old landmarks OF their fathers.
They were moved from the side Of the
road twenty years ago without their
knowledge, and they are going to nut