Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-10-10
WHAT WILL YOU DO?

'Our financial and business cCudi-
ton is at this moment one of almost
unprecedented depression. Our great
industrial system is seriously para
lyzed. Production in many import
ant branches OF manufacture has alto
gether ceased. Capital is without re-
muneiative employment. Labor is
idle. The revenues OF the Govern
ment are insufficient TO meet its ordi-
nary and necessary expenses. These
conditions are not the result of acct
dent"
The above description of the present
condition of affairs is taken from Mr..
Hobart's letter accepting the Republi.
can nomination for Vice President.
Had such a condition of affairs ever
existed under the free coinage the
Republican party might, with some
degree Of consistency, have asked for
the sufirages of the plain people Of
America. This, however, is not the
case. 1t pictures the condition OF
affairs under financial system which
Mr.. Hobart and his party. advocates ;
a system that has pressed down more
honest men than all others; a system
that has shaken the confidence OF
mankind in man; system that has
closed ten times more Banks, stores,
mills and factories in less than a
quarter Of century than were closed
in the hundred years of free coinage;
a system that must continue TO bring
distress. degradation and paupe rism ia
mankind.
Ii is this gold standard system
which the Republican party would
again fasten upon us that has reduced
the price of every farm in Worcester
county at least one-half during the
past twenty-three years. II is this
system Of the Republican party that
has reduced the average price OF wheat
from s1.39 TO 80 cents bushel corn
from IS cents to % cents a bushel
potatoes from s1.0O to 10 cents a
bushel and everything else to equally
starvation prices.
ut is condition. not a theory, that
confronis us" Tbs question is Whist
shall we = about the condition. The
solution Of this question lies with the
people Of America. We mean by the
people those who suffer most from our
present financial condition. II is
plain from the above figures who
these people are.
The farmers Of Worcester county
are honest, hard-wording, industrious
and intelligent. Those who lived
prior TO 1873, when we had the free
and unlimited coinage of silver, know
the condition then. They know that
in those days prosperity was over all.
that living prices were realized on all
their products, that a silver dollar
was worth as much as gold dollar,
that instead of borrowing money to
pay expenses after the sale Of their
crops they had money TO lend What
more proof is required
II was under the free and unlimited
coinage of silver that wheat sold for
Sl.47 bushel in the year 1872. II
is under gold standard that it now
brings only 80 cents. IL was under
free coinage Of silver that corn sold
for as much as sl.3l bushel. II
now brings only % cts bushel under
gold standard. The Democratic party
promises free coinage again. the Re-
publican party promises the present
gold standard. Which will the farm
ers Of Worcester county support i!
Will they vote for the Democratic
party. the free coinage Of silver and
the prosperity Of the past, or the Re.
publican party, gold standard and the
present depression Will you vote
for better price for your lands and
youi produce, or will you vote for a
still lower price for both your land:
and your produce? The question is
with you and upon your vote at the
coming election depends your prosper.
ity or your further depression.
Do not, farmer friends, conclude
the worst has come, for we assure YOU
it has not. In 1916 England demon.
etized silver. She had then 5000
prosperous farmers. To day she has
only 300 poor depressed and degraded
men tilling her soil. America demon.
etized silver in 1873 and one by one
her prosperous farmers are dropping
out at rate, you all know how great.
Many Worcester farmers who were
prosperous under free coinage thirty
years ago have lost all they had, in
GLIDING their farms, under gold since.
Others to-day are considering what to
do. They know to continue 10 till
means loss, to rent is greater loss, to
sell is TO sacrifice almost everything
they have accumulated. There is but
one redress in our honest opinion and
that is to vote the Democratic ticket
L.. II. A