Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-01
FINAL APPEAL TO WORKERS
Republican Campaign in Omaha Closed So
Far as Speaking is Concerned.
LABoRERS' INTEREST IN SOUND MONEY
Fnnciful Theories nnd Statements of
Free silvcritcs Rcfntrd-Ei ection
of Mckinley Means Prospcr-
ity to the Country.

/ - +"' iAiH at i'Vsh = NutuNtI ldbl night II
was distinctivcly an audience of toilers
many of whom brought their wives and
| sweethearts to hear sound money doctrine
applied to their needs. That they were con-
WINGED that their hope for prosperity rested
on the election OF William Mckinley was
Indicated by the general and hearty applause
that greeted the points made by the speak
| ers. The meeting was called to order by
| x. S. Fisher, who introduced Peter Brophy
as chairman. Mr.. Brophy simply acknowl-
| edged the honor and introduced f. NJ. Iif.
| who made short but stirring speech to his
fellow laborers
In beginning Mr.. Ilif referred to the
| action of Governor Holcomb in disregardinp
the officially expressed wishes OF the labor
| organizations in the appointment of a COM
| missioner OF labor. Then he took up state
| men made at popocratic meeting the night
J before in regard to the percentage of the
! labor vote in Nebraska that would be cast
| for the Bryan ticket. He emphatically de-
MED the assertion that the delegates to the
international Typographical union were
| overwhelmingly for Bryan. He cited the
records to show that the convention abso-
| lutely refused to adopt a silver resolution
| in spite OF the efforts of certain individuals
| to secure its passage. He quoted the state
| ment that 100 per cent tariff would be
necessary to place the workingmen of this
country on an equal footing with those OF
| silver countries and asked the audience II
| this was true did II not prove that the
workingmen of America were receiving
wages that brought just twice as much as
the same wages in silver countries.
GIVE NEBRASKANS A CHANCE.
Continuing. the speaker dwelt on the i'm
| portance OF standing up for Nebraska He
| cited the effort of Governor Holcomb and
| his appointees to send east for two boilers
! at cost of $4,000 to replace set that had
| exploded at the penitentiary. The board had
| refused to follow the recommendation, but
| had employed home labor and used Ne
| braska material to repair the damage at a
| cost of less than 81 500. The action of Gov
| ernor Holcomb in this case he declared was
! like that Of Frank Ransom, who had pur-
chased his furniture in Detroit. In closing
| he declared that in November Nebraska
would put herself on record for Mckinley
Mercer and NacCOll.
This sentiment was echoed by a burst of
applause, which was continued when E.
Rosewater was introduced as the next
speaker
Mr.. Rosewater said that in a very short
time one OF the most momentous issues that
had ever been before the people OF this
country would be decided The result was
important not only to those who were to
decide it, but for generations to come. The
money question had been forced to the
'front.' ana nOOdS OF 1alSe doctrine mad been
let loose on the people. The subject had
been thoroughly discussed during tho cam
paign, but much dust had been thrown
in the eyes of the people that some of them
! were still scarcely able to comprehend its
import.
AS first principle, Mr.. Rosewater laid
down the doctrine that money was the
| product of labor, That which was a meas
| ure of value must be of value itself. Money
could not be created by legislation. but
| must be of intrinsic value. representing
the labor that had produced 1t. The gov
ernment stamp was no more money than
bill of fare was a square meal.
STAMP CARRIES NO VALUE.
Beginning with the first mediums of ex-
change, the speaker briefly reviewed the
history of money and traced 1t down
through the baser metals to the final use
OF gold. 1t was now an irdisputabe fact
that the most civilized nations now used
gold as a measure of value. Copper was
still used in China, in Africa and In other
| countries that were far behind the prog
ress of the nineteenth century. From the
beginning money was measured by weight
and not by a government stamp. At the
Bank of England gold was now paid out
by weight and the head of Queen Victoria
on the sovereign had no more effect than
would the portrait of the humblest washer
woman in the kingdom. The same system
was used at the United States subtreasury.
III an Onldna DanK maze a Shipment or gold
to the national treasury the coins were
weighed, and the value lost by the wear
Of the coins on the journey was deducted
from the face value of the shipment. This
showed conclusively that the stamp did
not make money.
Mr.. Rosewater also referred to the his
tory of money to show the fallacy of the
assertion that the free coinage of silver at
the ratio proposed by Mr.. Bryan would
raise the price of silver to a parity with
gold. He showed that the price of silver
had decreased 40 per cent from 1549 to
1850, while the mints of the world were
coming it. The downward tendency had
steadily continued, owing to the increase
in production, and the nations that had
endeavored to keep the two metals at a
parity had changed the ratio 200 times and
yet had failed.
The speaker commented with some sar-
easm the continual effort OF Mr.. BRYAN
to make the people believe that the gold |
standard was responsible for every trouble |
that the people experienced. According to
him the 'crme of '73" was responsible for
every disaster we had known since, from |
drouth to grasshoppers, but it was not re- |
sponsible for the years of magnificent pros
perlty and for the wonderful development !
which had raised Omaha in few years |
from a frontier village to great city of over |
100, 600 people. AS a matter Of fact the free |
and unlimited coinage of silver had ended |
in 1853, and the popocrats had just found |
it out
RIDICULOUS ON ITS FACE.
In this connection Mr.. Rosewater took oc- |
casion to throw some light on the alleged |
conspiracy by which silver was demone- |
tized He showed the absurdity of the claim |
that Ernest Said had come to America in |
1872 with 100000 with which to corrupt |
congress by showing that that individual |
waS not in this country at all at that time, |
and that the person whose statement had |
frst started the story was unworthy of be- |
lief. To make the claim of the silver shout |
ers more ridiculous the bullion value OF sill |
Yer in 1873 was $103. Then 1t waa asserted |
that the bend owners had conspired to de-
monetize silver and lose cents on every
dollars worth of bonds that they held The |
gold dollar had not been coined since 1890
and no one had borrowed any trouble about
a conspiracy to strike down the geld dollar.
Continuing, Mr. Rosewater called attention
to the fact that in six years after the al
legged demonetiZation this country had
coined SO 100000 Of silver dollars and Si9-
1000 in subsidiary silver coin, which was
more than had ever been coined before that
time.
In this connection an inqusitive individual
In the audience wanted to know why our
bonds could not be paid in silver He was
informed that the government had no silver
to pay them with.
~, ,h,ro no, scoo nno nm A., .tI,,., L. -.