The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1896-08-20

other causes The per capita Id England
Is SIS; in France 1t Is $35.77; In SwitZer-
land 1t Is $00T; In the United States 1t Is
$21.15. Are prices any lower In Switzer.
land with SO per ca. tia than they are in
France with $35? BY merely crossing a
boundary line, do you make the diferencef
Is not this conclusive proof that there Is
some mistake somewhere in the assertion
that you will be lie to raise prices by q
legislative fat?
There are two sides to this question Of
prices. Low prices, In some respects, we
have thought q pretty good thing. What
has been the Republican theory Of protcc.
tlon? Have not !. for the last twenty five
| years, and speakers of the most dlstin.
| guished character, iii other parts of the
| Union, been telling the American people
that Is they would introduce the system Of
protection they would not only give the
laboring fnen higher wages, but that from
the effect Of domestic conf atftion, they
would get lower prices than when our
market was at the mercy Of the foreign
producer? And did it not come out just
that way? Did not prices of all manufac-
tured articles sink unders the influence
did not the wages Of the iabSring tnan
rise from year to year? Did not the value
| of farming lands in Minnesota rise from
year to year? And yet, II the idea of the
free coiners is. correct, that higher prices
is: the thing, then 1 ask: Has this policy
| OF the Republican party; tp0I which bresi.
dents were elected and senates and houses
of representatives have been chosen been
delusioGi' and snare? Is 1t wrong that
from month to month, and Year. to year,
for nearly thirty years, d, days wages
should, as they increased; buy more and
more. and that money should do the same
| thing?
Let me put another instance. Wages;
| the cost of production, Is the measure of
| all values. And wages is the measure of
the cost Of production. Now, what is the
prime article that mankind sells to man?
| 1t is labor. And what is the price of that
| prime article which mankind sells to man?
| 1t Is wages. Has the price fallen in the
| last thirty years? No. Larger days wages
| are paid than prior to that time. Wages
have been steadily growing II do not speak
Of periods Of temporary distress), and at
the same time that mans wages would buy
more for his family and for his support
and for his home as year after year went
by. So there is one prime article Of price
that has not fallen with the characterization
of silver.
Let us turn this question and look at 1t
from the other end. Our decidmat0ry an
tagonists call gold; or money; tyrant:
they are seeking to array the people against
it. But if money is d tyraIft what is its
power? What does money get for ex-
ercise of this tyrannical function? 1t gets
interest; that is the wages Of money. And
yet, my fellow citizens, interest has fall
len within the last thirty years; fallen on
the statute books, fallen In the markets,
fallen in the banks, fallen everywhere. And
yet If money is this tyrannical power and
has these powers which people attribute to
tiff it is true that it controls the destinies
of nations and brushes and Expresses men-
h. t. %Ix,Af 10, 80 sokry
this power has suffered its wages, namely,
interest, to fall while the wages Of those
whom it Expresses, as they say, namely the
wages of the laborer, have continually
risen7
wish to say word to our farm
ers about the price Of wheat. 1t Is nee
essary to say few plain words about it.
They may not be entirely gratifying to all
ears, but they are the truth. The reason
for the decline of wheat has been over.
production. In 1873 the United States had
no exporting competitor; in 1878 Russia ex
ported only about 20,OOOOoO bushels; in
1891 it exported $4,000, 600; in 1894 Its pro-
duction was 297, 100000 bushels. In 1873
India exported only 294, GOO hundredweight.
In 1899, 3O,OOO,OOO htindredweight, or eighty
times more than in 1873. In 1894 her pro-
duction was 237,s75,OOO bushels. The
worlds production In 1894 was 1858, $780,
600 bushels, Of which the United States pro-
enormous mass against which the Mime
sofa farmer has to contend. The fact is,
nv fellow citizeris the best consumer and
customer Of the Minnesota farmer IS the
people of the United States. (Applause9
If our monet ~ and economic affairs were
so conducted that the rest Of all the people
of the United States should be kept en-
ployed, the farmer of the United States
would have a certain market. If men are
thrown out of employment, as they have
| been to a large degree since 1888, conditions
now happily lettering, however. the power
of the American laberer or wage Garner
or salaried man to buy of the farmer. Is
diminished; and the farmer suffers by 1t
with all the rest. If you have a currency
under which wages will grow no better, so
that men cannot buy where they buy now,
it strikes the American farmer more
deadly blow than could possibly be aimed
at him from any other source.
Let me give you some statistics as to the
growth of the United States, to meet this
calamity cry, to set off something against
these charts of misery and diagrams of dis
tress, set up on walls to .delude the eyes
| and judgmen' of men. Statistics show
| that in 1888 the total steam power Of the
| world estimated In horse power, SO, 10000
| The United States lad Ia, 4O0, 900, or 20 per
| cent of this. In 1870 the steam power of
| the world was only 1S460,O0O. would like
| to ask Our adversaries where Is the founda-
production, in the face of this cry that we
| have been descending on the plane of mis-
| cry since 1878?
| In 1860 the total worlds manufacture
| was $4,000, OCJ.OOO In 1888 1t was $685.
| 600, OOO, 600, of which the United States pro-
| duced 81 Ia, 600, 600; product far exceed
| ing the increase In population. Does any
one say that the human race as whoie
| has been growing poorer; especially In the
| United States Of America, In the face OF
I that increase of production. which means
/ employment to millions Of men. and the
| expenditure Of thousands Of millions OF dol
| lars.
Here are some figures in regard to the
| increase of wealth in the United States
| since 1870, to meet this talk that the ma
| ton and the people have yearly been grow
ing poorer and poorer. have divided them
| into groups of states. The New England
| statesi from 1870 to 1880. increased In
wealth from So, 237 ,O00, 600 to $5.223, OOOOOO,
or copper cent. The middle states, from
So, 6S3, 600 600 to 1878, 100000 or SS per
| cent. The Southern states, from $2,S27,OOO.-
600 to $9,92S, OOO, 900, or $50 per cent. The
prairie states, including Minnesota, from
81. GAO, 100000 to $25, 256, 100000, or $50 per
cent. (Applause.) The Pacific states. from
50. 24o. 100000 to $21, 210, 100000 or more
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