The record-union., 1896-09-27
Wage Farmers and Silver.

The industrial history of the world
is filled with instances that demon
strate that the wage Garner will be the
greatest sufferer from the evils of a
deprecated currency. Not to speak at
present of the stoppage of enterprises
that will inevitably result from the
adoption Of an unstable standard of
value, from the fears and uncertainties
for the future of a country whose mon
ey system and industries will then be
| in the hands of politicians whose car
dinal doctrine is that thrift is not nee
essarily the gain of skill and industry,
but may be promoted and compelled by
legislation, not to speak of the thou
sands of WOrkingmen who would find
themselves without employment on the
day after the election of Mr.. Bryan, it
is the universal experience that at a
time of inflated prices wages are the
last to rise, and they never rise so high
that their purchasing power is as great
when commodities are highest as it
was when commodities We're lowest.
This is the story of industry in all
times and in all countries. 1t was
true of our own country when our cur
rency was deprecated paper and more
recently it has been true of Chile, which,
after seventeen years of bitter expert
ence with the silver standard, has lust
adopted the gold standard. In the
course of an able and exhaustive re-
port on the Resumption of Specie Pay
ment in Chile" to which we shall have
occasion to refer more than once during
the present campaign, Edward H. Stro-
bel, our Minister to Chile, has presented
some interesting statistics of the course
of wages during the silver period
The peso is supposed to be worth 45
pence. but in 1915 it was worth AZ
pence, in 1885 it was worth 26 pence,
ard in 1895 it was worth but from 13
to IL pence. During this period while
the money of the country was depre-
ciating, and when therefore its purchas-
ing power was growing less, wages in
creased. but not nearly at the rate at
which the peso decreased. In 1879, for
example, some mechanics received from
3to 413 pesos day; carpenter received
form 3 to 4 pesos; a laborer from 115 to
III pesos. In 1895 the mechanic who
had received from 3 to AZ pesos received
from Az to 6lh, while the carpenter
received from to ;, and the laborer
from pa to 3. But the higher wages
were not worth nearly so much to the
for while in 1879 the peso was worth
nearly its full value, in 1895 4@pesos
We're equivalent to 1.19, and 60 pesos
We're worth only 2.46 pesos of full value
| The laborer, instead Of being able to
buy the necessaries of life to the value
of nearly IL pesos with a days wage in
1890. procured goods to the value of
only about 50 of a peso, although in
| the first instance his days wage was
II, pesos, and in the latter 2ll pesos.
When he received IA pesos his daily
wage purchased for him food and other
commodities of the value of about l. 20
pesos; in 1898, when his days wage was
3 pesos, it purchased only 113 pesos
worth of goods.
We do not recite these facts because
they are new and exceptional. On the
contrary, they are the most modern in
stance of a universal and unchange-
able law, and If by any unhappy chance
Mr.. Bryan should be elected President.
and If the communists and Populists
should control the House of Represen-
tatives. and Congress should enact a.
free coinage law, the wage earners of
our own country would again suffer the
hardships that prevailed in the United
States during the war, and that have
been so recently experienced in Chile
H2rper'S Weekly.