The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-13

claiming entire disinterestedness for them
! selves, have appealed to the selfshness of
| nearly every class of society.
Recognizing the disposition of the indi-
| vidual voter to consider the effect of any
| proposed legislation upon himself we pre-
| sent to the American people the financial pol
| icy outlined in the Chicago platform, believ-
| ing that it will result in the greatest good
| to the greatest number
The farmers are opposed to the gold stand
| ard because they have felt it's effects. Since
| they sell at wholesale and buy at retail. they
have lost more than they have gained by
| falling prices, and besides this they have
| found that certain fixed charges have not
| fallen at all. Taxes have not been percepti-
bly, decreased. although. it requires more Of
farm products now than formerly to secure
the money with WHICH to, pay. taxes. Debts
have not fallen. The farmer who owed 81 900
Is still compelled to pay $1,000, although it
may be twice as difficult as formerly to OBJ
tain the dollar with which to pay the debt
Railroad rates have not been reduced to
keep pace with falling prices, and, besides
these items, there are many more. The
farmer has thus found complaint against the
gold standard. CoEO
The wage earners havel been injured by a
gold standard and have expressed themselves
upon the subject with great emphasis. In
February, 1895, a petition asking for the
immediate restoration of the free and unlim-
tied coinage of gold and silver at is to /
was signed by the representatives of all. or
nearly all, the leading labor organizations
and presented to congress. Wage earners
know that while a gold standard raises the
purchasing power of the dollar, it also makes
it more difficult to obtain possession of the
dollar; they know that employment is less
| permanent, loss of work more probable and
unemployment less certain.
gold standard encourages the boarding
| of money, because money is rising; it also
diseourages enterprise and paralyzes indus
try. On the other hand the restoration of
bimetallism will discourage boarding, be-
cause, when prices are steady or rising,
money cannot afford to lie idle in the bank
vaults. The farmers and wage earnerS to-
gether constitute a considerable majority of
the people of the country. Why should their
interests be ignored in considering financial
legislation? A monetary system which is
pecuniarily advantageous to few syndicates
has far less to commend it than a system
which would give hope and encouragement
to those who create the nations wealth.
QUESTION OF SAVINGS.
Our opponents have made a special ap-
peal to those who hold fire and life insurance
policies but these policy holders know that
since the total premiums received exceed
the total losses paid, a rising standard must
be of more benefit to the companies than
to the policy holders Much solicitude has
positor in the savings banks. They constantly
parade before these depositors the advan-
tages of a gold standard, but these appeals
will be in vain because savings bank de-
positors know that under gold standard
there is increasing danger that they will lose
their deposits, because of the inability of
the banks to collect thetrs assets and they
will further know that IL the gold standard
is to continue indefinitely they may be COM
PEELED to withdraw their deposits in order to
pay living expenses. gcs
It is only necessary to snote the increasing
number of failures I'M order to know that a
gold standard is ruineus to merchants and
manufacturers. These business men do not
make their profits from the people from
whom they borrow money, but from the
people to whom theya sell their goods. If
the people cannot buy. retailers cannot sell,
and if retailers cannot sell. wholesale mer-
chants and manufacturers must go into bank
ruptcy- 81
Those who hold, as a. permanent invest
ment the stock of railroads and other en-
terprises-I do not include those who specu-
late in stocks or uss stock holdings as a
construction contractslaEe injured by gold
standard. The rising dollar destroys the
earning power of these enterprises without re-