St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-16
RIVER AT s A. NJ.
LABOR7S CHIEF CONCERN.

Secretary Carlisle discussed last
men in Chicago, with complete mas
terry Of detail and great force of argu-
ment, those aspects Of the silver ques-
ton which touch directly upon the in
terests Of labor. This is really the
most vital point of the free silver
issue. Only because they have not
been taught correctly what would be
its influence upon their welfare has a
single workingman Of this country
been induced to give his voice to the
cheap money campaign. The fact, we
might almost say the all-important
fact, is that no man has so great
stake in the maintenance of currency
Of full value, and that none would
a man who earns his daily bread by
his daily labor. It is not denied or
deniable that the free coinage Of silver
would put into exclusive circulation
dollar that would pass only at
SO cents in the markets of the world
The contention is that this over-valua-
ton of current coin would produce a
consequent rise Of prices. Suppose that
to be true. Then consider how dis
astrous the effect upon the cause Of
labor. Upon this, the central Issue,
Mr.. Carlisle is clear and emphatic.
After struggling for more than a quarter
OF a century, through labor organizations and
IN
would make the proceeds of a days labor
equal to the cost Of days subsistence for
the workingman and his family, you are
asked, by the advocates Of free coinage to
join them in destroying one-half the purchas-
ing power of the money in which you are
paid; and impose upon yourself the task of
doubling the nominal amount of your wages
hereafter. That is, to struggle for another
quarter of century, or perhaps longer, to
raise your wages, in a deprecated currency,
to point which will enable you to pur-
chase with them as much of the necessaries
of life as you can purchase now. And if
after years OF contention, privation and in
dustrial disorder, you should at last succeed
in so adjusting wages that they would pro-
cure, at the higher prices Of commodities,
what they will procure now at the existing
prices, what would you have gained by the
change from the old to the new conditions?
Mr.. Carlisle proceeded further to
show that, under the gold standard as
it has prevailed in this country for the
last sixty years, the condition of the
laboring man has been one Of steady
gain. This is demonstrated by the
changes that have occurred in the
prices of commodities. The investi- =
cation made by the finance committee
Of the United States senate shows that
the purchase power Of wages falls
rapidly under deprecated currency;
and that, while the prices Of most other
commodities have declined in the last
fifty years, the wages Of labor have
advanced.
There is great wealth of fact and
illustration in the address Of the Sec
retary, but this, together with the
effect of free coinage upon the savings
of the Industrious poor, is the essen
tial part. To cut in two the nearly
$4,000 100000 deposited in savings
banks by the people and the $4,000, ,OOO,-
600 held by state, national and private
banks and trust companies would be
colossal crime. To scale down one
half the $4,000, 100000 Of life insurance
in force and the nearly $1,000, 900. 900
more due to the members Of industrial
associations would be another. And, at
the same time, all the enormous vol
ume of debt owed by the great cor
porations Of the country to their stock
holders would be reduced one-half if
the free silver proposition were real
lied. The mere statement Of the case
shows that labor ought to be up in
arms as it never was before to resist
the mere suggestion of such a wrong
to itself. a blow from whose effects it
could not recover for a generation, as
is threatened by the advocates of
silver monometallism in the United
2 States.