The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-28

SOME VICTIMS OF 1.-THE CRIME."
There are victims of the "crime of
1872 which "cut the money volume
Of the world in half" made "two-hun-
dred cent dollars out of our coins,
doubled their purchasing power and
"halved their ability to pay debts"
and robbed commodities of half their
value" besides the victims" of whom
we hear and read most. 1t is worth
while to let the others have their day
in court and be heard, so that the his
torian of that crime may have as full
roster Of the unhappy victims as can
be made up. When we come to scan
the list of these victims the surprising
fact appears that we find among them
the very persons to whose malignity
the crime is attributed. Whatever this
fact may prove, whether they have
fallen into the pit they digged for
others, or whether there was any crime
whatever committed, it remains very
interesting fact we'll worthy of con-
sideration in these days of heated
defamation and wild assertion.
There stands first in the list the I'M
fortunate who, when the crime was
committed, had more money than
would supply his wants, the Capitalist.
The surplus he was accustomed to in
vest, to plant, where it would bring
increase, he could then put into
him five and six per cent in gold semi
annually, while now he must content
himself with taking four per cent and
paying for them a premium that re-
duces the income to less than three
per cent. If he were making loans to
others he could get from eight to
twelve per cent, while now he must be
content with from four to eight. If
he were one Of the little fellows who
work for wages and put something by
in the savings banks for the rainy
day, that is pretty sure to come to us
all, he gets two or three per cent where
he got four, five or six, even if his
banker does not tell him regretfully
can take his deposits for safe keeping
but can pay nothing for their use be-
cause he cannot make them earn any
thing. With and among the capitalists
stand the bankers, whose margins of
profits on discounts and loans are no
longer the handsome, portly things
they were before 'silver was struck
down." With a stolidity that is re-
markable all these victims do not
realize that they are victims, are in
| sensible Of any hurt, and actually in
sist on continuance of the effects of
that appalling crime"
But there are others" One large
group are the manufacturers, those
pampered children of McKinleyism,
whom even that watchful guardian
could not save from the disaster Of the
great crime" There Is one lot of
them who have seen the $3.50 they got
for each ton Of steel rails sold in 1873
dwindle to a paltry $28 in 1896. If the
purchaser were the agent of an Ameri-
can railway, and to S22.50 if he were
buying for a Japanese company. That
other woebegone lot make bar iron
whose product commanded $12O a ton
just before the dastardly blow was
struck and for which they now can
get but about $50. There stand back
of them the pig-iron men whose faces
do not wear that cheerful look now
when they are getting but beggarly
$40 or $11 a ton for their pigs, that
they did when, in 1873, they were get
| ting $53. Still farther back stand the
fellows who have taken the steel and
iron and made. the thousand and one
| things, the saws, screws, tacks, augurs,
files, butts and all other hardware.
They contemplate price lists today that
| are from twenty to fifty per cent
smaller than they were before the de-
monetization act was 'surreptitiously
sneaked through congress-"
And. strangely, the same stolid
Indifference to their losses, the
same supine submission to pres
ent coinage conditions mark
these that surprises us among
the capitalists. So densely ignorant
are they that they actually attribute
the shrinkage in prices to a so-called
and miscalled Democratic tariff.
| Still there are Others" There are
the shrinkage In prices to the So
called railways, those favorites Of the
capitalists and the money power. In
1873 their 66,2a7 miles paid dividends'o of
SCI. 120. 709, or a little over 1000 mile,
while In 1884 their 175.5o8 miles paid
dividents amounting to $S5,27s. e69 or
! $455 q mile. . shrinlkage, because of
''the crime." Of over fifty per cent. II
1t be objected that there was water
In the capital and bonds. then the
ton-mile charges show that the earn
ings have fallen so that the 2.21 cents
they received In 1873 for carrying one
| ton one mile has fallen to .S3 OF q
cent. And yet we find these railways
with their owners and managers re-
IA.aains "A Aanaidar themselves vic