The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-17
CARLISLE SPEAKS
TO WAGE FARMERS
Eloquent Speech Made by the Secre.
tary of the Treasury.
EARNEST APPEAL TO COMMON SENSE
In an lmpromptu Ovation the States.
man Huris Some Hard Knocks Mt
the Silver HallucinatiOns..SOu
Advice Prepared for the Men Who

Washington, Oct 16.-The Wage
Farmers Patriotic league Of Maryland
to the number of 200 called on Secre-
tary Carlisle today at the treasury to
invite him to address them in Balti-
more at his convenience. The secretary
received the delegation on the south
steps of the treasury, where Mr.. ri.
X. l.. johnson, the leader Of the dele
cation, made an address in which he
said they were Cleveland and Carlisle
Democrats who proposed to vote for
Mckinley as the representative of hon
est money. Secretary Carlisle mount
ed a chair and as he did 80 some one
in the crowd called out: Tell the
truth" He promptly answered: II will
try to do So" Then he said:
Gentlemen, I am very much obliged
to you for this visit, and very sorry
that 1t Is not in my power to comply
with the request you have come here to
make. The reasons why I am not able
to do so, l think, are tOlerably we'll
understood by the public. My business
has been so arranged as to permit me
to make a few speeches In my own
state, but under the circumstances it
would not be possible for me to 60 else
where. 1 can not, therefore, accept
your invitation to go to Baltimore, but
one or two things have been suggested
by the addresses just made about which
l would like to say very few words
to you while you are here. II there
is a laborine man in the United States
who really believes that the money he
is now receiving for his wages is too
good for him, that it is buying too
much food, too much clothing for him.
self and his family, or that 1t is pay
ing the rent for better house than
he and his family ought to live in, it
is his duty to vote for the free and
unlimited coinage Of silver at the ratio
of 16 to l. (Cheers.) If there is any
laboring man in the United States who
has saved money out of his earnings
and has deposited it in a savings bank
or building association or paid it on a
policy of life insurance for the bcne-
fit of his family, and who desires to
have 1t paid back to him in a cur
rency worth about half as much as
the money he paid out, he ought also
to vote for the free and unlimited coin
age of silver, for that will give him
exactly what he wants. On the other
hand, every man in the United States,
whether he works for wages or not, who
waits to preserve the value Of what
he has already accumulated, and to
insure the value Of what he may here
after receive, ought to vote against
the free and unlimited coinage of sill
YER and for the maintenance Of a sound
and stable currency in this country.
(Applause.)
EFFECT ON RAILROADS.
While every man who works for
wages or receives a fixed compensation
for his services must be deeply in
taI in, hn nf a
contest, those men who work for rail-
road companies and other transporta-
ton companies, many of whom reside
in your city, and some of whom are
perhaps here, have a special interest in
the questions involved, because their
employers are confronted by a stua-
ton which makes it impossible to soon
increase wages as to compensate for
the diminished purchasing power of the
money in which wages must be paid
if the policy of free coinage of silver
at the ratio Of 16 to Is adopted. These
companies cannot increase wages un-
less they can increase the receipts from
their business; they cannot increase
the receipts from their business unless
they can increase the charges for car
rying freight and passengers, and if
they should attempt to increase the
charges for carrying freight and pas
sengers, it Is safe to say that the very
men. the very people who are now most
clamorous for the free coinage of silver
would be the first to protest against
it and demand legislation to prohibit
it in all cases where such legislation is
not already existing. (Applause) The
man, therefore. who works for a trans
pOrtation company would find himself
the helpless victim of a policy which
diminished the purchasing power of his
wages about one half and compelled
him to work on and on for the same
number of dollars he received before.
thus destroying all hope Of improve
ment of his condition. But, gentlemen.
the labOring men have their fate in
their own hands. They have the power
to protect their wages against the de-
probation and to protect their country
against financial disturbance and ruin,
and if they are as intelligent and pa
triOtic l believe them to be they will
so exercise their power that no reckless
agitatOr will hereafter dare to approac ch
them in behalf of this wild and revolu-
tiOnary scheme of finance and civil
government. prolonged applause)
Now gentlemen, | thank you again
for this visit. and ] tender to each and
every one of you my hest wishes for
his prosperity in whatever calling he
may hereafter be engaged"
Then the secretary retired amid ap-
plauSa