The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-17

depending upon campaign speakers or docu-
ments, and Ii he Is interested In the science
or money there Is trouble In getting alf
standard authorities on the subject, and there
Is no excuse for the laboring man being igno-
rant.
The workingman is conscious that he has
been fooled good many times in past years,
and he has been educating himself that is
what troubles the politicians both sides.
One of the Laboring Men, ~
St. Paul Mimi, Sept. 10, 1896.
The correspondent who writes the
above intelligent and thoughtful letter
must be aware of doing one injustice
to the G o b e. Perhaps it is reading
so many of Mr.. Bryan's speeches that
gives him the opinion that when a crit
icismis offered it is the ''laboring man"
upon whom 1t is passed. We are per-
fectly aware that the workingmen of
this country are more intelligent, as a
rule, and better qualified to pass upon
public questions than a large portion
of those who assume to be their polit-
ical leaders The politician is studying
expediency, while the laboring man, as
a rule, is trying to find out facts. We
would not, for instance, hesitate to,
take the opinion of any class of work
ingmen in this country as a whole,
upon an economic question before that
of Mr.. Bryan or the other gentlemen
who are working with him to secure
office by playing upon cupidity and
class prejudice.
What the G o b e criticises is the as
sumption on Mr.. Bryans part, not only
in the Sneech refarrad to hut ~, a ma
jority of those that he has delivered
in this campaign, that any American
citizen is qualified by the mere fact
of being an American citizen, to decide
off hand any question, no matter how
much preparation and how careful
study of facts and laws it might de-
mand as proper preliminary. Mr..
Bryan deScends to the meanest form
of ffattery in order to win votes. He
| says to the audiences, in effect: You
know everything Your guess is better
| than anybody eIses knowledge. Your
! opinion will outweigh all history and
| all experience. You do not need to
know anything about this subject, but
| just to walk up to the polls and set
tie it. We say, on the contrary, that
the financial question is scientific
| question; that it has its roots in the his
| tory Of the nations running back for
centuries; that it's laws are very alb
struse and need careful investigation;
! and that no man is competent to pass
upon it until he has qualified himself
| by study.
| The laboring man is competent to do
| this. He can master the principles of
this subject If he devotes himself to it
with earnestness and pursues it with
unwavering zeal. But he must not i'm
itate that political genius who mas
| tered" the subject Of money in three
! hours reading. The fact that books are
within his reach is not final Any
| workingman, or any man who does
! not work, can purchase for a modest
sum treatise on quatefnions. 1t does
not follow that he can understand it;
| since only one who has made special
| study of mathematics can master that
| abstruse branch. The thing which we
! are trying to guard against is we'll
Illustrated by the conversation had
with voter the other day He was ex-
pressing his joy and pride at having
| fathomed the money question to it's
! depths. A short time ago, he said he
| knew nothing about this subject. and
| now he understood 1t thoroughly. He
|
| Hsd read Coin" That was the whole
| scope of his education. When it was
! limited to him that there was another
| side to the matter, he hooted at the
| idea. When asked what he thought of
| Adam Smiths position, he exclaimed
| in open-eyed wonderment: 'tWho in
| blazes was Adam Smith," All that he
| had ever heard or known of the mon
| ey question was contained in "Coin,"
/ and that was sufficient for him. 1t is
| to such people as this that Mr.. Bryan
| addresses himself
| We repeat that the financial question
| is a scientific question. It may even be
| ranked properly with what our CORE
| spondent refers to as the exact sciences.
| All the physical sciences are at the be-
( ginning empirical and experimental, re-
main so for long time, and continue
| to be So to a certain extent, always.
| Thus there was a time when a large
number of the computations of eclipses
were faulty and the eclipse did not
| keep it's engagement. The laws of cleo
I tricity are being investigated now sonIv
by numerous mistakes and failures.
The average man who had never
| learned anything about the solar sys-
tenn would declare unhesitatfngly and
| pledge his life to it that the sun moves.
1t is only diligent study and the opin-
ions and experience of others which
| convince him that it is the earth
| which moves instead, and that the
| SUMS movement is only apparent All
| these phases of experience must be
gone through by the student of poIiti
| cal economy, and especially Of the
money question. At the first glance
men just as naturally believe that the
volume of money governs prices as they
do that the sun moves about the earth
| when they watch his progress through
| the sky. They have to learn better.
| but they cannot learn 1t in day or a
week, or by listening to Bryan stump
| speeches or by reading Coins Finan-
! cial School,
Monetary systems have been devel-