Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-10-31
hiring all this time. Is is from lack

during all this time. Is is from lack
of confidence We have had unlimi-
ted confidence in all this period, yet
the scale of prices runs steadily
downward all the time. Is it from
production, when millions are
starving and suffering hard by ware
houses loaded with plenty of every
kind, and not penny have they
with which to buy? This decline OF
all prices began when silver was des'
troyed as money, and if that was not
the cause OF it, then will some one in
the name of Heaven tell what was.
We have probed to the core the
reason given by republicans for the
present distressing condition of our
people, and find them as rotten, and
as hollow as their other pretensions.
Then where shall we seek the poison
spring from whence the misery of the
world flows? Go back to the year
1878, open the door OF dark recess
in the Capitol at Washington, and
there we will find two men, enemies
of the human race-digging with
might and main for this direful foun-
tain. They found it-and then and
there damning the silvery stream that
had for thousands of years in its
plentitude given joy and wealth to
the nations-they let loose in it's
stead this tickle, scanty, trickling
yellow spring that now starves the
world and mocks the people in their
misery. From the hour that silver
was struck down by these assassins of
human happiness; from the moment
that it was dishonored by the con-
trivance of these men, by this and
other nations, our woes began. Prices
of farm products, and factory pro-
ducts began to fall. Wheat fell in 10
years from $3.50 to 90, cotton from
10 cents to 10 cents. and every other
product whether of field or factory
in proportion, until in 1895 wheat
sold at 40 cents, cotton cents, and
corn Is cents. And why? because
silver had been dishonored, it wasn't
money any longer, it was only a
token, or sign of the only real money,
and that real money was gold, made
such by the crime of 1878. By that
act gold dollar was made the only
standard of value, and the only real
money in the world, every other sort
of currency being only the sign of
money. Silver before this act was
money, as we'll as gold, and upon
both metals together, the credits and
business of the world were based. In
1873 silver was destroyed as real
money, leaving only little pile OF
gold % feet each way upon which
alone, all business, all credits, and
all tokens of money in the world
now rest. a scramble at once set in,
and has ever since been going on
among the nations and capitalists OF
the world for portion of this
precious lump, that at once sent its
value, as compared with everything
else up 200 or 800 per cent-every
year and every day since gold
dollar-or any other dollar based on
gold-buying more and more OF the
goods of the earth, and more and
more of the products of the brain and
muscle of mankind. In 1878, pecks
of wheat would buy dollar, now ii
takes bushels to buy a dollar; then
Il bushels of corn would buy dollar
now it takes 5 bushels to get one
then bushel of potatoes would buy
a dollar, now it takes bushels, and
so on down the list. How much
longer can human endurance and
human patience stand this ? How
much finer will the producers, the
laborers, and business men Of the
world submit to be ground by the
power of gold, before they will assert
their rights and their manhood, and
drive the spectators and money
changers from the temples of the
nation FARMER.