Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1896-09-04

what it was twenty years ago.
There is no one who disputes the
first illustration of the house for
it is plain to be seen that it is not
as valuable as it was twenty years
ago when it was bringing him
double the rent that it is today,
and gold is in the same condition
but still the demopops insist that
it has doubled in value. Then
again take the price of jewelry in
which gold is used and it can be
bought a great deal cheaper today
than it could twenty years ago.
And there is still another proof
that gold has not appreciated.
Take the great commodity of Ia
Dor which enters into and forms
the greater part of the cost of
everything produced and gold
will not buy today as much labor
as it would forty years ago, wages
being higher today than they
were at that time measured in
gold, the average price of labor hav-
ing increased about 20 per cent. If
the readers will take the trouble to
look up statistics they will find that
the average price of wages is higher
in all gold standard countries. Take
carpenters for instance and in the
United States their average weekly
wages are $15.25 and in Mexico they
are $9.84, and this last paid in SOC
dollars. All other trades are in the
same proportion. In which country
then does the laboring man fare best?
And if it is true as the demopops say
that gold has doubled in value, then
the average weekly wages of the car.
penter is $30.5O as compared with
Mexico, and the farmer is getting one
dollar per bushel for his wheat instead
of SOC. l cannot see as this is doing
either the laboring man or the farmer
any great injustice. The gentleman
also states in a round about way that
our nation is bankrupt. This of course
will not be believed by anyone that is
posted upon the subject, for if the
United States is bankrupt when her
per capita Indebtedness is only S14.6O,
what is wrong with England with a
per capita Indebtedness of $S7.79,
France with S11 35, Prussia with S37. .O3,
Sweden 1888 and Canada ,$47.5l.
You can readily see that some of the
best nations of the world are bankrupt
according to Rib. AS to the tariff Mr..
Rib. says that the Wilson bill only
reduced the tariff ! of per cent. This
l will not dispute as it is true but the
average per cent does not cut any fig
ure. The Wilson bill may have in
creased the average per cent of tariff
and then not have produced as much
revenue by several per cent as did the
Mckinley bill. More depends upon
the wise adjustment of the tariff than
does the rate per cent. The Wilson
bill reduced the tariff upon luxuries
which are largely imported and in
creased it upon some of the necessaries
am not able to go through these bills
and compare items as have not time
or space, but have both bills before
me and know whereof speak. In an
swer to the argument about the ratio
l think | have thoroughly explained
this before in the Courier, but Rib.
seems not to have understood and in
his answer he takes up the question
internationally and also quotes the
populist platform, and here I would
like to ask him what candidate is run
ming for the presidency of the United
States upon the populist platform.
The fact of the matter is they have no
candidate running upon that platform,
and as to his argument about the de-
monetization of silver in 1873, he goes
on and shows that at or about this
time the principal nations of the world
demonetized silver. We are not argu-
ing this question from an internation-
al standpoint for the republicans in
their platform clearly state that they
are in favor of International free coin
age and he should stick to the ques-
tion as it now stands between the re-
publican and demopop parties and
that is whether it would be policy for
this country alone to adopt the free
and unlimited coinage of silver with
no stipulations whatsoever as to the
amount per capita. If the nations of
the world were again to open their
mints to the coinage of silver there
would be no objection to the United
States going into free coinage. He
states that we had free coinage from
1916 to 1873 after England had demon
etized it. This is true but during that
time we had several of the larger ma