St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-08-14
The Free Silver Craze.

The Free Silver Craze.
H. w. Hoyt, secretary of the Gates
Iron Works of Chicago, is particu.
larly interesting man to talk to
because he personally knows Bryan
and has just returned from a bust
ness tour in the West, through Colo
RADIO Nebraska and Kansas, in the
very heart of the silver country.
Mr.. Hoyt's views of the political
condition of the country are not so
rosy as the tenor of the dispatches,
which are already predicting a recess
sion of the silver tide.
Anybody who imagines that there
will be decrease in the silver sentiment
west of the Missouri river, and, might
almost say, west OF the Mississippi river,
reckons without his host | talked poll
tics with every one met out there, of
all classes, and | found the opinion all
one way. And the people are. perfectly
honest about it. tell you, you can't
imagine the hardship of the farmers life
unless you have been out there. The last
two years they didn t raise a crop, large
or small, not enough to pay the interest
on their mortgages. This year they
have splendid harvests, but what good
are they when they can't get anything
for them, they say. We may believe that
there is something wTong about the dis
tribution, but the farmer does not see it
altogether that way. He cannot get
money to move his crops, and the silver
men at his ear have no difficulty in per-
suading him that therefore there is
trouble with the money itself
ut may be tue that most of the
farmers own their land, but | have found
tlust the contrary. Most of them are
in debt and largely in debt and barely
able to,pay the interest.
Let me tell you the story of a college
friend of mine who settled 10 years ago
as farmer in Southern Wisconsin, which
is one of the garden spots of the country.
He had inherited a good farm, but he
sold it and bought larger one giving a
mortgage. For five and six years he
prospered and was reducing the debt
last. Then came duller times, but he still
paid interest. During the last three
years he has not been able to pay even
that.
Now this man is, or was a sound
money man. He was educated in that
belief. He is, and his wife is, too, college
bred. He is hard and level-headed.
There isn't corporation in the country
keeps its books in better style. have
looked over them, and | have found
what he tells me, that in 10 years the
value OF his crops have been halved and
and even quartered. And economic !
why, he said to me, with tears in his
eyes, we don't spend as much on nick
nacks and pleasure in a year as YOU do
IN week We don't spend anything !
And we work from morning till night
Now this friend OF mine is not silver
man. He is not convinced utterly by the
arguments. But he says that any change
will be welcome to him; it cannot be
worse. There are thousands Just like
him. 1t is wrong to underestimate their
force.
These farmers are terribly in earnest.
1t won't do to call them whiskers and
anarchists Just because they cannot
afford to keep shaver and are unhappy
They are far from being anarchists.
Why, they're chiefly New England or
eastern boys, descendants of good old
Puritan stock, who left your over
crowded section and went West to open
up the land. That's what has settled
Denver and Colorado Springs too. You
don't want to make any mistake about
thnca rpnI,la ha;p,r
men. They re as sharp as any people in
the world, sharp as steel traps, and Den
yer is typical modern American city.
You cannot imagine the growth of
the silver craze, ii you can call it that.
have been astonished to watch its strides
right in Chicago, my home was edu-
, Gated up to gold standard, and have
always believed in it, but | am free to
confess that have been rather shaken
In the last two weeks. have heard sill
yer talked on all sides. Out there gold
: man never opens his mouth, if there is
one. When got back home, even my
partner, who had always been strong
gold man, had changed his opinion and
. assalled one with pro-silver arguments.
u am democrat, and have always
supported Cleveland. | believe with him
that it is the worst possible thing to do
IRON sound money or gold point of
view to nominate third ticket, that is
a gold democrat. 1t will take away
hundreds OF votes from Mckinley. This
contest is going to be close one, and I
should advise every democrat who
wants a gold standard more than any
tning else not to throw away his vote
, on a third ticket.
Yes, | know Bryan personally. |
lived four years in Lincoln, and let me
tell you something about that town. |
knew it at its inception. 1t was then a
bustling, thriving, farming and produc-
ing centre | stood its inception. 1t
was then busting, thriving hour when
: the streets should be most crowded, and
pledge you my word was the only
: soul there on the four sides of the post.
office square. What do you think o.
: that? 1t means that the farmer has
! suffered terribly, and this silver move
4 ment means that he is trying to hold the
currency responsible for it.
: Now, let me tell you something about