Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-10-30
THE ANSWER.

soon as we get free silver the pur-
chasing power Of tho workingmens
wages will decrease?"
THE ANSWER.
Chicago, October 27th.
To the Editor Of the Journal. New York:
That is a question that is propOunded
by the neutrality-suspicious., who
seems to be terribly afraid that under
free coinage he Will have 10 get his men
for less wages than they are working
for now. / want TO say that, in the sense
i'm which the words are used, / reply
NO. There are two things to be con-
sidered-
First. the number of dollars that the
laborlng man receives, and. second the
purchasing power Of the dollar he re-
ceives.
II you take the purchasing power Of a
single dollar II viii be less; but at the
present time a great many workingmen
are working on half time and many arc
not able 10 find work at all, and you
must remember that. when you decide
whether the purchasing power OF the
workingman's wages is decreased. you
must take what the workingman Will
receive in dollars under free coinage
and compare it with what the working
man receives In dollars now under the
gold standard
More than that, you also have 10 con-
slider that under the present conditions.
when man loses his job 1t is hard TO
find work again. and that every man
who finds employment is menaced by idle
men. increasing i'm number, who stand
ready TO take his place on a moments
notice.
We insist that the conditions that will
be brought about by the free coinage Of
silver. the increased demand for work
I'm order to supply the goods which will
be consumed when the people are pros
porous under bimetallism. and the in
creasing wages which will come with a
greater demand for labor-we insist that
when these things are considered, the
workingman viii receive more dollars
and that he can buy more with the larger
wages which he will receive under free
coinage than he can buy now with the
few dollars he receives under the gold
standard. and then his employment will
be more permanent.
Let me give you a test. challenge
you to find an instance where the labor
ing man ever suffered because OF the BIZ
metallic standard. They tell you that
prices will rise. 7 believe that general
prices will rise. They tell you that that
means suffering to the workingman [
want you 10 look back over the period
when we had rising prices. and you will
find that those times were the best times
that the workingman ever had because
ne not only had more steady employment
and better wages. but the property that
he had also rose. whereas to-day. II his
wages buy more per dollar the property
that he owns goes down In value as the
dollar goes up.
Remember that the laboring men
have never endorsed the gold standard
IN any nation that has had f.; and when
YOU see the beauties Of the gold standard
presented TO laborng men by people who
do not labor; when you find that the
| blessings brought by the gold standard
are so disguised that a fnancier has TO
spend all the time during the campaign
pointing out those blessings 10 the Labor
| ing man. who cannot discover them when
/ they are pointed out. you viii under
stand what the gold standard has done
| for the laboring man.
WILLIAM ]. BRYAN.