The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-06

price of the necessaries of life applies for
a corresponding increase OF wages; The
adjustment admits that some increase is
called for. But. says he. you are not the
n oneP IS IN We haadS q ou
what it is to-day We surely do not know
what it will be next week. Profits are ex-
cessively close anyhow. We make sale
or purchase to-day and think il is at a
profit. Tomorrow we may find that it was
contract to be filled at a future time. be-
cause we can make no safe calculations.
We can increase your wages a little. but
not much For that you will have to wait
until things get more settled. Besides, this
silver free coinage has thrown all business
into dreadful confusion. and there are plen-
" of people out of employment who would
do your work for less than you get now.
And so the wage Garner has to be satisfied
with little increase of pay. and wait for
more While the advanced prices OF neceS-
saries prey upon him.
is this mere conjecture? 1t is the ex-
cursed by rise of prices through money
of fuctuating value. / defy any one to
show me in the whole history of the world
single exception. Have we not during our
civil war witnessed il with our own eyes?
In 1862. when our irredeemable paper cur
rency had begun to depreciate, the average
wages of labor rose only 3 per cen.., while
average prices rose IS: in 1863. when wages
had risen 1917 per cent, average prices were
~ per cent. higher; in 1864 wages had risen
2oA per cent. and prices s0l2; in 1865 wages
had advanced 43 per cent. and prices III
above what wages and prices had been in
gold in 1861. In other words the laboring
mans wages had lost in purchasing power
more than 80 cents in every dollar. Every
country laboring under similar conditions
tells the same story. What reason in the
world is there to assume that this universal
rule VIII not operate in the case of free
And what have the apostles of free-sil-
yer coinage to say to this? Hear Mr. Bry-
an himself in his famous New York ora
ton: While a gold standard raises the
purchasing power of the dollar it also
makes it more difficult to obtain possession
OF the doliar-employment is less perma-
nent, loss OF work more probable. and reem-
poyment less certain. Is that all? Yes, all
Does not Mr.. Bryan know that under what
was practically the gold standard we had
In the hfties one of the most active and
prosperous periods this country has ever
seen? Does he not know that more recent
ly, at the time of the return to specie pay
ments, We had. under the gold standard
years of signal prosperity, with all hands
at work? And does he wish to learn what
has been the trouble since and what is the
trouble now? Let him ask the employers
of labor, and with almost one voice they
will tell him that not the existing gold
standard, but the growing danger of it's
overthrow, that the growing aggressive
ness of the free-coinage movement, filling
the minds of men with anxious apprehen-
sions to dark future uncertainties has
served to paralyze that spirit of enterprise
which sets the laboring man TO work. Let
Not the gold standard, but distrust of sill
yer destroyed the confidence that employs
LABOR ms IS the truth, and Mr.. Bryan
Will in vain try to deny it.
DECEPTIVE APPEAL.
II must confess. of all the deceptive APP
peals resorted to by the silver orators, that
addressed to the wage-earners seems to
me the most heartless and damnabie. And
of all the instances of reckless creduity we
witness, that of the wage-earners who
actually permit themselves to be persuaded
that free-silver coinage will be a blessing
to them is the most incomprehensible and
the saddest. There is something pathetic
in their delusion. OF all things human la
Dor IS the one that has during the last
fifty years in this country largely and al
most steadily risen in price. Average wages
have nearly doubled since 1910, and have
risen more than 60 per cent. since 1860. The
steady rise has been owing partly to or
ganization. in greater part 90 the larger
connection with machinery-in ore word,
to the progress of civilization. AS civiliza-
ton has served to multiply and cheaper
laborS products, it has at the same time
served to enhance labors earnings. 1t has
thus secured to the laboring man, especial
ly in this Republic a double advantage;
greater. number of dollars by way of wages.
and for every dollar more of the things
which the laboring man has to buy for the
necessities anu enjoymentS of himself and
his family
This is one of the greatest achievements
e,
humanity will heartily rejoice, but which
more than all others the wOrkingman him
self should appreciate. That the working
men should be called upon, by the eXer-
else of their right as voters. to aid III
despoiling themselves of this combined
blessing, looks like satanic mockery. And
when we see pretended labor leaders join
the silver-mine millonaires, the silver poll
ticians. and the nebulous silver phiioso-
men in an act of self-destruction so SUI
premely foolish there is good reason for
warning these of treason in their camp.
If there is anybody i'll the wide world who
should fight to the last gasp for money
of true value that does not lie to him, and
who should curse and spurn as his worst
enemy the demagogue seeking % beguile
him with deceitfui currency juggles, it is
the man who re ea n his bread by the sweat
earner's battle. Alas. for him, if he should
desert his own causei
The free-coinage men profess especial
solicitude for those whom they call the
debtor class Who are the debtor class?
Our silver friends speak as if, as a rule
the rich people We're creditors and the poor
were debtors. Is this correct? In my house
hold / am the debtor to the cook, and the
and the washerwoman two
or three weeks in the month. and they are
my creditors. Nor are they likely to be
debtors to anybody else.4 while | may be,
for they have little, if any, credit while /,
perhaps. have some. l am, therefore, the
between the large employer of labor and
the employees are substantially the same.
apt to be the only debtor among them. The
employees are, as rule, only creditors, and
as they lay up savings, they sareeapt to
become creditors in a larger sense. They
deposit their money in savings banks or
invest it in building associations in mu-
tual benefit societies, in loan companies
or in life insurance policies and become
capitalists in a small way. The amount de-
posted by people of small means in the
savings banks of the United States lis at
present something over 81, SOC, 900 600 that
invested in building associations about $500
900 900, in mutual benefit societies 1865 600 900
and in life insurance many hundred mil
lions more.
The number of such creditors belonging
to What our silver friends often call the
toillng masses is therefore very large To-
gether with their dependents it may for
aught we know. amount to fifteen or TWEEN
ty millions. Who are the debtors of these
creditors? The savings banks had accord
ing to the reports of 1894 loaned out about
one-half CT the money deposited with them
on real estate mortgages, and invested the
other half in United States bonds State
county and municipal bonds. and railroad
and other bonds and stocks. The invest
mentS or the life insurance companies were
about proportionately the same. The invest
preferable in large amounts, on property
belonging to comparatively wealthy per
sons, or to business corporations. Thus the
debtors to these creditors belonging to the
to1ling masses are the United States States
and municipalities railroad and other cor
than the creditors. Here we have then
rich debtors owing to many millions of
poor creditors thousands of millions of dol
lars.
WILL BLEED THE POOR.
The silver orators pretend that thew