Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-07-09
SOUND SENSE FROM A SlLvERlTE.
Congressman Towne's Admission That
Policy Which Injuries Capital Will Strike
Down Labor.

Congressman Towne's Admission That q
Policy Which Injuries Capital Will Strike
Down Labor.
Representative Towno Of Minnesota
is all ardent advocate of free silver who
argues plausibly from ~ basis of facts
which exist only in his imagination.
But while he is mistaken in his theories
rs to tho need Of cheap money, he Is en-
tirely correct in his statement of the
mutual dependence Of all classes Oh the
maintenance Of stable monetary
standard. That he believes in a free
coinage law which would put this
country on q fuctuating silver basis
does not lessen the Importance Of his
assertion that: ''Thc laboring mans
interests are precisely the same as the
manufacturer the tradesman' s and the
farmers, and the policy that is sure
to wreck all employers in productive
industry if continued cannot fail to
ruin also the men who work for them.
Profits cannot disappear and leave
wages untouched. When men that hire
labor become bankrupt, tho man who
works is very apt to be out of job. "
Truth, golden truth. Yet it comes
from man who is doing his best to
strike q blow at manufacturers, mer-
chants and other employers Of labor
which would throw trado and industry
into hopeless confusion and bring ruin
and bankruptcy to the business interests
of the country. What Is the chief aim
and object Of tho silvcrite agitators2 1t
is to attack capital and capitalists by
making it possible for the man who has
borrowed money to pay his debts with
dollars worth but one-half Of those that
were loaned to him. The FREQ coinage
and Populist papers and the speeches Of
the 10 to l senators and representatives
are filled with dcnunciations Of the
wicked capitalists and bankers who are
said to be robbing the people, and who
will find tho value of their money cut
in two under free silver Reputation
of debts and confiscation Of the property
Of creditors are openly preached by tho
prophets of the cheap money gospel
Suppose that the United States should
adopt free coinage, what would be tho
effect on the capitalists whose money is
absolutely necessary to carry on the
great manufacturing and other produce
tive industries of the country? 1t is GER
tain that long before u 16 to 1 law
could be put on the statute book tho
fact that president and congress favor
able to its enactment had been elected
would cause the calling in Of hundreds
of millions of dollars. Timid creditors
would insist on getting back their
money, and no new loans would be
forthcoming. No sensible man would
invest in any enterprise If he knew that
he might get back only one-half OF his
capital Banks would refuse to aid the
hundreds of thousands of business men
now dependent on them, and the mills
and factories would be shut down. The
millions of mon forced into idlcncss by
the closed industries could not buy the
farmers products. Business stagnation
and widespread poverty and depression
would inevitably be the results of a law
which made doubtful the ownership or
security Of capital.
American workinSmcn who have been
dcludcd by the siNerito and socialist
cutlery against capital should remember
that when mon who hire labor become
bankrupt the man who works is very
apt to be out Of a job. And the Amer.
lean farmers would do we'll to bear i'll
mind that q man permanently out OF
job cannot buy the things they have to
sell