The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-08-26

believe that in some way or other he Is
going to benefit the toilers of this coun-
try. He says he is, but he declines to
show us how. Laughter and applause
For my part, 1 am willing to state here
that If Mr.. Bryan could show me that
by any means known to heaven or
known to earth, any means revealed to
the comprehension of man that wages
could be increased, | will be ready to
support him here and now. (Great ap-
plause and cheers.l
do not make this statement through
any pretense of special affection for the
man who works with his hands. Such a
pretense made in the heat of Presi-
Dental canvass would merely insult and
discredit the intelligence to which it is
addressed. (Applause.) | repeat that L
would support any measure calculated
to increase the rate of wages, because /
know of no test of prosperity absolute
ly infallible except the rate of wages
paid to laborers. applause Where the
rate of wages is low, there must be dis
tress. If, then, Mr.. Bryan can show
me that by the enforcement of any
portion of his program wages will be
increased in this country, will not
only support him, but l will recognize
him as the wisest orator that ever
opened his mouth on the platform
since the beginning of the world.
daughter l will be ready to confess
that the rhetoric, which / do not un-
derstand, is really the language Of in
spiration. (Laughter.) would regard
his admission to the Presidency as the
kindling of great light before the
footsteps of man showing him broad
pathway to endless happiness and
measureless prosperity. But in search
ing through his speech, in reading
through whole reams of Populistic
literature with which this country had
been flooded for four years, | have
never yet found one syllable which
showed me how Populist expected to
increase he rate of wages. Laughter
and applause.
woRKINGMEN NEED HONEST MONEY.
Now, in order to understand the sig
nificance of the remark that wages is
the only test of prosperity we have
only to consider for a moment just
what is meant by the term wages.
Wages, as | suppose everybody here
understands, is that part of the labor
er's product which is given to himself
in compensation for his toll. If, for
instance, / be engaged in the manu-
facture of chairs, and if | can make
five chairs every day worth $40, and
the rate of my wages Is 81 day, what
/ actually get is one chair out of the
| five which / make. The other four
chairs, the other four-fifths of my pro-
duct, are devoted to the payment of all
the other labor that has been expend-
ed in preparing the element out of
which the chair was made-to the
man who felled the tree in the forest;
the person who sawed it in the mill;
the carrier who transported it; the
workmen who prepared its component
parts, and the profit on the capital
which set all this labor in motion. 1t
is plain, however, that | could not take
chair home with me at night and at
tempt to settle my bills with it; for the
moment | undertook to divide the
chair among my creditors, that mo-
ment it would lose its value; so instead
of taking the chair, which | can not di-
vide, take its equivalent in money,
which 1 can divide; but my wages all
the time are fixed by the quantity OF
my own products applause
If instead of five chairs 1 were able
to make ten and the rate of my COM
pensation remained the same L would
obtain for my wages two chairs, or $
a day; but instead of there being four
chairs or $l6 available for the payment
of other labor, there would be eight
! chairs or So, and thus the larger my
wages, the larger my product, the
greater the prosperity in the chair
making industry. (Applause.) Now,
applying that principle to every other
department of trade we can see that a
man who works on a tunnel can not
take part of the tunnel home with
him for his wages; the man who paves
the street can not take part Of the
highway with him; but each one
takes the money equivalent to that
part of the product which is the result
of his daily toll; and the laborer is the
man who has the most vital interest
in the character of the money which is
paid to him. Applause.
Now, when we come to find out just
how Mr.. Bryan expects to increase the
wages of labor, we find ourselves lost
In maze of contradiction and in 8
haze of obscure expressions. No man
can tell how or where or when th'
wages of the workingman are to be in
creased; but anyone who examines tn,
scheme can see that the inevitable ten
dency, the inevitable consequence of ;
debasement in the standard of valu
must be reduction in the rate of wag
es-and that is the conspiracy in which
the Populist is engaged. Applause.
Now Mr.. Bryan tells us that h
wants to cheaper the dollar; that h
wants to increase the volume of mon
ey. do not believe that any maj
who ever lived could quite understand
Populist's notion of what money
(laughter) further than that he beliey
ed it is desirable thing daughter,
and he is not very particular about tn
means by which he can get his hand
on it. Laughter Nothing is NOR
common i'm Populist oratory than tn
statement that the volume of the moI
ey must be increased for the benefit {
. the people-which means that part {
e the people that run and manage an
t address Populist meetings. I.augt
). ter.) / remember that in one of tn
: speeches which Mr.. Bryan delivere
l on his way East he declared that an
8 man who objected to too much none
q ought to vote the other ticket. Nov
a my friends, will ask you to indulg
e me for moment while L state to yo
: here the only conception that an hol