The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-12

peted. Mr.. Jameson, the British consul
at Shanghai, wrote SO good paper that
he was awarded the prize; and that essay
Is now the chief stock In trade OF the
British agitation for the free coinage OF
silver. Let me read you something from
it, Here 1t Is: wages In the gold-using
countries, have. through the appreciation
of gold. become 100 per cent. dearer than
they were relatively to silver wages; and
the manufacturer in the silver standard
countries can obtain his labor at half the
cost which he formerly paid" A similar
view is taken by Senior Romero. the Mex
lean minister at Washington, in his ar
ticle in the North American Review for
June 1895. when he asserts that the de-
prec:ation Of silver has favored Mexican
capitalists by cheapening the dollars in
which they pay their employees. There Is
the silver question In a nutshell. 1t is
simply a question as to whether our wage
earners are getting too high wages.
They may as well face the question. II
wage earners believe they are getting too
high wages and that this country Is Sut-
fering IN consequence all they have to do
is to take lower wages. If they prefer a
roundabout way they can favor free coin
age of silver and they will get their wages
cut down half without any further trouble
on their part.
Personally, I do not believe that free
coinage at l6 to or at any other ratio
will help the American farmer. But sup
pose it would do so. What would be the
effect even then upon American wage
earners? The farmers interest Is TO have
everything he sells bring the highest price
possible-and since he is the greatest en-
ployer of labor in America, he is most in
terested in cutting down the wages Of
labor so as to get his hired help cheap.
The farmer wants free silver in order to
make bread and meat dear and wages low.
The wage earner's interest Is to have
bread and meat cheap and wages high.
If free silver coinage did all that the
farmer claims for it, 1t would help the
farmer classes at the expense Of the wage
earners. 1t is easy to see why the farmer
wants to try the experiment. But why
should the wage Garner help him? The
farmer sells bread and meat and wants
them dear: the wage Garner buys them
and wants them cheap. The farmer pays
wages and wants them low; the wage
Garner receives them and wants them high.
The farmer has started free coinage
crusade for dear food and low wages:
wage earners will know better than to
help him against themselves.
II Il Il
In the light of our eXperiece with fiat
money legislation, from the greenback to
the Sherman pig-silver certificates. this
long suffering country will finally learn
that wealth Is not created by fiat, but Is
made by labor; that the law can put no
dollar into any mans pocket unless 1t
first takes it from the pocket of some other
man, and that wage earners are first and
most interested in opposing Interference
by law. There has never yet been made a
law to put into any laboring mans pocket
a single dollar that he did not earn. lie,
of all men, therefore, has the best right
to insist that there shall be no law passed
that will raise the price OF what he has
to buy, and thus take from him some por.
tion of what he has earned.