Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1896-05-26

mon cause, and yet In spite OF their organ
| ization labor has had wages partially re-
duced. The best answer | have heard to
that was BY an Irishman in Chicago re-
Gently. A gold standard n3al was eGpa-
tiating on the purchasing power of gold
and saying that wages had not declined.
The Irishman, after listening to him
awhile, said: mister, in 1878 was a sec
ton hand on the railroad, and / got So. so
day. had little cottage, good home
out here in the suburbs, where Nora and
the babies were happy, and l saved 80
week out Of my wages over living and
paid il on our home. Now am getting
s. cents q day as sc On hand on the
same road. If you will tell me how can
save SO a week on IS cents a day, I'll give
you the floor"
Uuorganized labor has declined 80 per-
cent, and tens of thousands are unemploy-
ed and are getting nothing. This makes
tramps; it makes fallen hopes; il makes
discouraged manhood it makes less of
good citizenship in this country. Add TO-
gether the nun Der of workmen organized,
unorganized and unemployed and get
your sum total; then divide 1t into the
wages they receive, and you have rs a net
result the gold standard, measured with
even exactness into the bone, flesh and
blood of the laboring classes Of the United
States. If dear money is good for laborers,
then make 1t dearer and scarcer, till there
Is none left 10 move the wheels of com
meroe.
| The Effect on Farmers.
They say, Admitting lower prices,
farmers can buy everything as cheap as
they have to sail their property for; so
who's hurtY'
The answer IL this: You sell your wheat
the farmers the merchants depend on for
trade sell their wheat for 80 cents. 1t is
true they can go and buy calico and cotton
: goods and many other things proportion
ately as cheap as they sell their property.
Manufactures are being broken up all
over the country by reason of these falling
prices. Less labor is employed for the con-
sumption of those products as a result of
it, but still they can go and buy calico
and cotton goods, it Is true, but here is
what they cannot do: They can't go and
pay their taxes with the same number of
! bushels of wheat that they did in 1878. 1t
takes from two to three times as much of
their wheat and other products. They can't
go and buy anything that Is being held up
| by trust or anything that is working I'M
naturally against the conditions that are
breaking down the fabric of the republic.
| They can't buy any of those.
Arbuckle's trust on coffee will hold up
coffee. You get on Pullman car and you
pay as much as you did in 1878. You pay
as much on street car. You pay as much
salary to the county, state and national
officials, and when say you pay as much,
/ mean you pay as much In dollars; you
pay twice as much in property - your
property-and in many instances you pay
much more than that
How Debtors Are Affected.
Nor can you pay your debts. Take the
| debt which few years ago 1000 bushels
of wheat or about that, would have paid
1t now takes 200 bushels Of wheat to pay
that debt. The load of a debtor is hard
enough to bear without increasing bis bur
den. When you make a debt, you are
counting it in dollars. You are counting
on selling your property for dollars to pay
| 1t with. The debt calls for dollars. You
did not count on falling prices except by
| honest means, nor on having that by
which you measure your property rise in
an ever increasing scale, as 1t has done
since 1873. What has been the result?
Men ran out of money and went in
debt. They contracted debts they never
would have contracted if it had not been
| for selling their property at lower prices.
From about &c. 0OO O00 900, the people of
| this country we're in debt in 1878, it has
grown to about $40, 900, 100000, and it
now is affecting millions of people of the
country and the property with which they
are to pay it in declining in price all the
time. How are they going to pay itP 1t
means annually an interest of over SO, 000,.
| 900, 900.
| The present financial system, based on
enhancing gold, has forced a majority Of
the people in debt, and the machinery Of
the law made for the collection of debts is
| confscating the property of the people 1t
is transferring the property of the people
| into the hands of the few as effectually as
the feudal laws Of Europe transferred all
the lands into the hands Of the few.
Disturbing Confidence.
They say we are agitators and disturb
confidence and are injuring business.
| That is an argument that has been made
| by every selfish despotism in the world.
| Ostracism and an attempt to suppress free
! speech by means of ostracism should never
| find sympathy in a republican form of
government. 1t Is not republican; it is
| intended to drown the voice of the peo-
pie; it Is not the argument of honest men,
An attempt to suppress free speech is
treason in republic. They say it hurts
| business to advocate one of the funda-
mental principles of the republic founded
| by Washington and Jefferson. They are
charlatans who do this They are the
| Malays of commerce. who ridicule the men
they have made poor. If their monetary
system were practical, it would need no
such defense. 1t would defend itself.
The Silver Bullion Owners
They say the free coinage of silver is in
the interest Of the silver bullion owners.
Ask them, II this is true, In whose inter
ests is the free coinage of goldH We now
have the free coinage Of gold. Have you
heard any one say this was In the interest
of the gold bullion ownersP Money is not
local Its use is demanded by civilization.
The question to decide Is, Out of what do
we want to make aour primary money!
And when that question Is settled 1t is
fixed for the benefit Of all our citizens, and
without reference to those who may dig 1t
out of the ground. 1t is fixed, or should
be fixed, for the good Of civilization.
independent Action.