Omaha daily bee., 1896-08-18
BRNAN's EVASION,
no" Are wage Enrncrs to BE Ucpc
fted by Free Silver.

4NeW YORK sun (dcm)
Mr.. Bryan's labored speech at tbe Nr,.i-
son square Garden on Wednesday evening"
is remarkable for its failure to answer -
question OF vital Importance to the voters
Oh thls section Of the country That oues-
tIoh Is How are the earners of wages and
Oh salaries to be benefited by change. in
the currency which is expressly intentod
to raise the prices of cotton, wheat norlT
peer, and all agricultural and mineral
products? III
Mr.. Bryan declared, at the outset of his
speech, that the farmers have lost more
than they have gained by the gold stand
ard, and asked significantly: "What shall
II profit us if in trying to raise our credit
Dy increasing the purchasing power of our
uoilar, we destroy our ability to pav the
deDts already contracted by lowering the
purchasing power of the products with
Whlch those debts must be paid?" Ger
.ainly' II the unlimited coinage of silver at
the ratio of 16 to is going to make II
easier to pay debts with our agricultural
products 1t is going to make il harder for
the Duyer of those products to buy them
Inc nearest that MIR. Bryan came to
making the answer desired was when he
said, that while the gold standard raises
tne purchasing power of the dollar it makes
IL more difficult to obtain possession of the
uoilar; and salaries in business occupa-
tions depend upon business conditions, and
the gold standard both lessons the amount
and threatens the permanency of such saIa-
ries." Unfortunately for him. these asser.
tions are untrue.
Ihe country resumed specie payments
upon gold basis on January 1, 1873. and
1t has ever since maintained them. We
appear TO the individual experience of our
readers to decide whether, since 1879, wages
ana salaries have not risen, and whether
1t is any harder to get them paid now than
1t was then. Speaking for The Sun we
assert with pleasure that we are paving
now higher wages and higher salaries than
we were in 1879, and are employing more
men AS to other employers We will let
statistics tell the story
According to the census of 1880 the wear
after the gold standard had become supreme
the number of employees in manufacturing
establishments that year was 2732 595. and
the aggregate wages paid them was S947 =
95S'795, or an average of 1924 each, In 1890
the number OF employees was 4,712 ,622, their
aggregate earnings were $2,2S2<l6,529, and
the average earned by each was $4SS Here
was an increase of nearly one-half under a
standard which Mr.. Bryan says both les
sens the amount and threatens the perma-
nence' of the rewards of labor
Since the census of 1890 a committee of
the senate of the United States, of which
Senator Aldrich was chairman reported in
1894 upon the subject of wages and prices
that in twenty-one selected industries wages
were in money 40 per cent higher in 1880
than they were III 1860, and 60 per cent
higher in 1891 than they were in 1860, while
the prices OF staple articles had fallen be-
tween 1880 and 1890 in some instances one
third.
OF Mr.. Bland's repeated assertions. that
under free coinage the silver dollar will be
equal in purchasing power to the gold dollar
1t is. after this, unnecessary to speak We
leave him to explain to his western farmer
friends how, with the pound sterling worth
in silver, under free coinage as it is now
in gold only 1886 they are going to get any
more dollars for the wheat they export
than they are getting now, and how, if they
get no more for what they export, they will
get more for what they sell in this country
Perhaps some of his bimetaliist friends can
help him out of the dilemma