The broad ax., 1896-05-16
incomrs. ANp FaEE sILvEN.

tNCOAno rND 49,
An wno Laser VIVA Fi.d fheif Wages
cas IN HAIR ~ the SILVER Dollar.
-rhe Denver Chamber Of Commerce
replying to the appeal for sound money
issued BIZ the New York Chamber ol
| Eomfnerce. says that resumption OF free
coinage Of silver II Questionable to per-
sons 6f nxed incomes.
This Is true, but IN & sense broader
than its authors intended. Persons OF
Aired incomes are not merely million
aires, army. or navy oficers. All VINO IA
Dor IN this country. whether the pay Dc
called salary o. wages, are also per
sons Of fixed incomes, and they decided
ly object to having their Incomes cut
| in half for the bene6tof the silver milne
owners.
The blacksmith who makes Slo .
week, the carpenter at s. per day, the
salesman at s1,coe q year, the agricul-
tural laborer at $50 day, the teacher
ut SO q week, are all persons OF nxed
incomes. They ind their incomes none
too large for their necessities. Why
should they not object to q slump TO
silver, free and unlimited. for the bene-
at of those who own silver, but at q
loss Of 80 per cent in their Fixed IN
comes?
It Is the labor Of the country that
most determinedly demands the gold
basis: that demands stability In the
currency; that objects most positively
to a loss of half its hxed income.
Silver mine owners and agents must
reckon with this element, and it 10
mighty element at the ballot box. Let
platform writers note this fact as well
as silver mine capitalists"-Chicago
Times-Herald.
It IL almost q waste Of time to COM
ment upon anything that appears In
the Chicago Times-Herald with refer
efiee to the silver question. II there Ii
q statement against silver 80 wild, 20
incongruous, 80 absurd and 20 utterly
false as not to End place IN the edi-
torial columns OF that paper. II can only
be because the financial editor has net
happened to think of 1t. II somebody
should suggest to him that the free
coinage Of silver would convert the
seventeen year locusts into an annual
pest, or interfere with the orderly pre-
cision Of the equinoxes, we may be
sure that the idea would speedily ap-
pear in the columns Of that paper, with
all the gorgeous coloring that q lurid
Imagination could supply.
Still there IL now and then q person
who may possibly be misled by the
very holiness of the Times-Herald
statements.
Doubtless this Is the theory Of the
Sound Currency Committee Of the Re
form Club. for the above article ap-
pears in one Of its sound money" sup
plements, which are being scattered
broadcast over the country.
The idea sought to be conveyed is that
all wage workers have "hxed incomes"
That Is, no matter how greatly the
prices OF houses and everything else
in which the carpenter work Is done
may fall, the carpenter Is still going
to get the same pay. No matter how
much or how little the employer gets
for shoeing horses or making wagons,
the blacksmith's pay will remain I'M
changed, though the merchants pro-
fits may be destroyed and he be forced
into bankruptcy by the fall In the prices
Of his goods, the salesman will stu
draw his $1,000 year.
II the farmers wheat drops to IS
cents, his corn to 121S, his oats to 8,
aud his potatoes to nothing at all, the
farm hand Is still going to receive his
monthly pay undiminished.
Such Is the philosophy Of the Times
Herald, and by adoption, Of the Sound
Money" Committee.
It Is hard to say whether we should
smile at the absurdity, or become indig-
nant at the bare-faced fraud. Perhaps
IL would be as well to treat 1t with 81
lent contempt, for there IL not an intel
ligent workingman In the country who
can be deceived by anything SO finlsy
and false.
The average workingman knows ser-
fectly well that his employers ability
to pay him his wages depends upon
the price obtained for the product OF
his labor. He knows that the state
ment that his pay is "fxed' Is ahso-
lutely false. Every day some great es-
adjustment either limits production or
cuts wages because of the low prices Of
products.
He knows that prices are lower than |
ever before. and that there is more
ldieness. POVERTY and suffering extant
than at any previous period in our
country's history.
II there 10 vorkingman In the eoun-
ny who honestly believes in the gold |
standard. the character Of the argu- |
ments IN by which N fs aaf.,a.s /