Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-09-10
souRke COCHRAN ON BRYAN.
The Eloquent Ex-Congressman Exposes tho
Free silver Fraud on Workingmen.

The Eloquent Ex Congressman Exposes tho
Free silver Fraud on Workingmen.
In his great speech in Madison Square
Garden, New York city, ex.Congress-
man Bourke Cochran said i'll reply to
Presidential Candidate Bryan:
If everything in this world or in this
country, including labor, be increased
in value tomorrow in like proportion,
not one Of us would be affected at all
If that was Mr.. Bryan's scheme, he
would never have Populist nomination
to give him Importance in the eyes Of
this community. If that were all that
it, and l would not be taking the trou-
BILE to oppose it. If everything in the
world be increased 10 per cent in value
why, we would pay 10 per cent in addi-
tion for what We would buy and get 10
per cent more for what we would sell.
What, then, is it? 1t is an increase in
the price of commodities and allowing
labor to shift for itself. If the price of
commodities be increased and the price
of labor be left stationary that means a
cutting down of tho rate of wages
If, instead of dollar which consists of
a given quantity of gold equal to a hun
dred cents anywhere in the world, with
the purchasing power of hundred
cents, the laborer is to be paid in dol
lars worth 80 cents each, he can only
buy half as much with a days wages as
he buys now. If the value of this Popu-
list scheme, then, is to be tested, let the
laboring men of this country ask Mr.
Bryan and his Populist friends simple,
common, everyday question Where
do / come iny"
Mr. Bryan himself has glimmering
idea of where the laborer will come i'll,
or, rather, of where he will go out.
There is one paragraph i'll his speech
which-whcthcr it was the result of an
unconscious stumbling into candor or
whether it was u contribution made in
the stress of logical discussion / am ut
terly unable to say--that throws flood
of light upon the whole purpose underly-
ing this Populist agitation. Wage earn
crs, Mr.. Bryan says, know that while
gold standard raises the purchasing
power of the dollar it also makes it
more difficult TO obtain possession of the
dollar They know that employment is
less permanent, loss of work more prob
ablo and unemployment less certain.
If that means anything, it means
that II cheap dollar would give him
more employment, more frequent en-
ployment, more work and a chance to
get re employment after he was dis
charged. If that means anything i'll the
world to II sane man, it means that If
the laborer is willing to have his wages
cut down he will get more work.
If it were true that q reduction i'll &c
rate of wages would increase the chance
of employment, | would not blame Mr.
Bryan for telling tho truth, because,
however unpalatable the truth may be,
| conceive it the duty of any man who
attempts to address his fellow citizens
never to shrink from u statement Of the
whole truth, whatever may be the con-
sequences to himself. But, as matter
of fact, diminution in the rate of wages
does not increase the scope of employ
ment.
There cannot be an abundant product
unless labor is extensively employed.
You cannot have high wages unless
there is an extensive production i'll ev-
cry department of industry, and that is
why l claim that wages are the one
sole test of country's condition-that
high wages mean abundant protection,
and abundance necessarily means pros
perty. Mr. Bryan, on the other hand,
would have you believe that prosperity
is advanced by chcapening the rate of
wages, but the fall i'll the rate of wages
always comes from narrow produc-
ton. and narrow production means
there is little demand for labor i'll the
market. When, after the panic of 1873.
the prico of labor fell to 80 cents day,
it was harder to obtain work than when
the rate of labor was 81, and the differ
ence between the Populist, who seeks
to cut down the rate Of wages, and the
Democrat, who seeks to protect it, is
that the Democrat believes that high
wages and prosperity are Synonymous,
and the Populist wants to cut the rate
of wages i'll order that he may tempt
the farmer to make war upon his own
workingmcn.
IL