Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1896-10-20
LABOR PAPERS AND LEADERS.
"h" They HIVE Ia Say on the Ere,
SiINcr Issue.

It is frequently asserted by advocates OF
\ The free coinage of silver that no labor leader
or labor paper is opposed TO the Chicago
| platform and nominees How much truth is
| there In the assertion?
The Eight-Ilour Herald of Chicago the
| Official organ OF the Bricklayers' and stone
| Masons union, and OF the Illinois State
Federation of Labor, opposes free silver
| In an article recently on Free Silver and
| Labor" il said:
surely no sane man will claim that a
| buyer with a fixed limited income will be
benefited In an advance in the price of all
| commodities. unless the rise in prices is
attended by compensating circumstances
| what circumstances would serve as com
| pensation In case of this kind? Ii NAV he
| argued that the workingman is n seller
as Wen as buyer, IN so far as he disposes
! OF MS labor TO the best advantage to him
self. This is true; but every man of ex-
pelience knows that an advance in the price
| OF commodities is never attended by a cor
| responding advance in wages No matter
| what the conditions no matter what the
cost of living, every proposition TO raise
wages will be stubbornly contested to the
| end.
There are interests which may be bene-
| nted by the free and unlimited coinage of
! silver but we fail to see why the industrial
| interests should be included in the list"
The Bakers journal recently said ed
ltorlally: TO say that the present phase of
thN NuiiShNy question mas deNplODpd into
issue between the rich and the poor seems
| to be another outbreak of the fertile i'm
aslhations of our quadrennial sayiors of
| society.
viewing the whole situation fairly. and
from point of view of labor pure and sim
pie, we find two Industrial forces arrayed
against each other-the manufacturers
hnanclers and princes of commerce on the
one side defending the present standard OF
currency, which after all is but the natural
"a mi
| Die and irresistible time itself cur
rency apparently Indispensable to present
methods OF production and exchange; and ON
the other side, the silver mine owner, the
farmer and the small business man"
The Union Record; "The silver mine
owners are grlnning and letting the fools
do the shouting"
The Scranton Truth: 1.-THE gold standard
| is the 1nancill goal for which every great
nation has striyen, and is the dream even
OF these countries that are now on silver
basis and harassed in their money policy by
the fluctuations of the white metal"
The Cleveland Citizen: mot the demon
etization OF silver, but the use of labor
saving machinery, which enables one man
and sometimes one boy to do the work of
iive men or more. has caused the glut OF
idle labor"
The People: why don't the farmers
have the price of wheat fixed by law, as
they raise wheat and not silver?"
George Gunton in contributed ar
ticle to the Eight-Hour Herald said: There
Is no aspect of the case in which wage work
ers have anything to gain by the adoption
OF a silver standard, but they have every
thing to lose They will lose in the value
of all their savings; they will lose In the
purchasing power of their wages, and, most
of all. they will lose by the enforced idle
ness accompanying the business disturbance
and bankruptcy which radical depreciation
of our standard money would create"
p. NJ Arthur, chief of the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers, says: ~ am not In
favor OF free and unlimited coinage of sill
ver."
r. p. Sargent. chief OF the Broth
erhood OF Locomotive Firemen: 81
want 1t distinctly understood that am OPP
posed to the free and unlimited coinage of
silver with silver dollar worth so cents as
will be the result II the silver policy adopted
by the free silver orators becomes the money
of this country"