Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-08-14
TO CUT DOWN WAGES.
BY Paying Labor In Cheap
Dollars.
THE SILVERITES' SCHEME.

THE SILVERITES' SCHEME.
Why Ex-Governor Boies Wants
Free Silver-Rich Landlords
Could Then Make
Big Profits.
Elk. Governor Horace Boies Of Iowa is
franker than his fellow silverites, who
pretend that their so cent dollar scheme
would benefit tho working classes. In u
recent interview he says:
II have myself in this state two
farms, paid for largely with money
have earned as a lawyer. One is farm
Of 2,5OO acres Of land, and the other
contains 1000 acres. With the present
price of labor and the present price paid
for farm products, no man in tho world
could take either Of these farms, even II
I should present him with the. ground,
and make dollar out of it. I mean, OF
|
and pay interest OH the money invested
in tho equipment and wages for labor
out Of the income he would get by sell.
! ing the products. A farmer who works
himself and is assisted by tho labor Of
sons and daughters could mako - small
farm pay. But no farm is profitable
when conducted on tho basis of IT 1nanu
featuring business. Cheap and abundant
money is the only remedy for this intol-
cradle state Of things.
This is q candid admission that he
thinks that wages arc now too high, and
that in some way free silver will give
the farmers cheaper labor. Tho moro
! fact of an increase in the price CT farm
products would not mako farming profit
able, if, as is claimed by most Of the l0
to / leaders, wages would be doubled
along with doubled prices Of everything
tho farmer buys. Mr.. Boics Clearly OK
poets that the result Of "chrap and
abundant money" will DO the practical
reduction of the prico paid for farm H.
Dor. This would no doubt DO a very
good thing for rich mnn with $500
acres Of land. But what docs the pour
laborer think Of tho scheme? ARC tho
American people ready to vote for II
dehased currency which will reduce The
wages of tho workers?
Next in Importance to tho confession
that free silver would cut down wages
is the admission that "a farmer who
works himself can make q small farm
pay" What kind of farmers docs Mr..
Boles expect to see prosper? Men who
have bought up big tracts Of land which
they hold out of use in tho expectation
Of selling it at a high price, and i'll tho
meantime are working it with hired Ia
Dor? That is not tho kind Of farmers
which Americans wish to sec thrive.
The man who owns and works his own
land is tho ideal farmer Of this country.
The big estate with it's gangs" Of hired
men may do while now territories arc
being opened mp, but the welfare of the
republic depends on the men who cult
vate the soil owning tho land they till.
If Ex-Governor Boies thinks himself Gil
titled to oil income from his land with
out working it himself, he is very much
mistaken. No farmer should prosper who
simply Gowns land'' and expects to
make profit out Of other mems labor.
That under free silver few men could
use cheap money to speculate in land
and get rich out Of the toll Of the under
why the masses should vote against it.
Ex-Governor Boies admits that the
farmer who works can make his farm
pay. But in another part Of the same
interview he says that farms bought 20
or rs years ago cannot DO made to pay
interest on their cost. This is strong
argument against cheap money, for 1t
was the greenback imitation Of tho war
period which put the prices of land 80
high that the men who bought farms
have been struggling ever since to pay
for them. The heavy mortgages, with
high interest rates. which are crushing
SO many farmers, have their origin in
the high speculative price Of land caused
by the cheap money craze OF tho last
generation. Free coinage would repeat
the evils brought about by the ovcris-
sues Of greenbacks, and while not help
ing the present owners Of farms would
benefit spectators and make it harder
for the millions Of landless and home
less men to get piece Of land on which
to make living.
Mr.. Boies is evidently sincere man
and is advocating free silver with the
idea that it will help men, like himself,
who own big tracts Of land. But as the
only results of that policy would be tho
reputation of debts, tho reduction of
wages and the enrichment Of the men
who speculate in land but do not work
themselves, he is not q safe guide for
honest citizens.
WH1DDEN GRAHAM.
Cause Of FREQ Silver Craze.
The causes Of the free silver craze are