The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-08-28

inc ual1y wage, nut py-rrrner ncrease In
the purchasing power of wages. Men who
tell us that the prices Of farm products
have fallen and that the farmer for that
reason is sufferer forget that while the
price of wages has risen on the farm the
efficiency of labor has increased; that the
cost of production has been reduced
through the aid of machinery, while the
wages of the individual laborer may have
risen.
While wages remain at their present rate
, hope there will DO further and further
decrease In the cost of living. There is no
way in which 1 can be admitted to share
of Gods bounty except through fall In
the prices of the necessaries of life. While
we have in existence society of mutual
corporation which is but another name
for civilized society, all men are admitted
to share in every bounty which Provi-
dence showers upon the earth.
The dweller in the. tenement house,
STOPPING over his bench, who never sees
field of waving corn, who has never in
hailed the perfume Of grasses and of flow
ers, is yet made the participation In oil the
bounties of Providence in the fructifying
influence of the atmosphere, In the ripen-
ing rays of the sun, when the product of
by the abundance of the harvest. 1t is
from his share in this bounty that the
Populists wants to exclude the American
workingInan.
Labor Must Not BE Scourged.
To him we say, In the name of human
ity, in the name of progress: "You shall
neither press crown of thorns upon the
brow of labor nor place q scourge upon his
back. You shall not rob him of. any one
advantage which he has gained by long
years of study, Of progress in the skill of
his craft, and by the careful organization
of the members who work with him at the
same bench You shall not obscure the
golden prospect of further improvement
In his condition by further oheapening
of the cost of living as well as by further
appreciation of the dollar which Is paid to
him"
There can be no distress, there can be
no hard times while labor Is well paid.
The man who raises his hand against the
progress of the works. gman raises his
hand against prosperity. Ho seeks to re-
strict the volume Of production. He seeks
TO degrade the condition of the man who
Is steadily improving himself and in his
own improvement is accomplishing the
Improvement of all mankind. But this
attempt will fail
lido not regret this campaign. 1 am glad
this issue has arisen. The time has come
when the people of this country will show
their capacity for self government. They
will prove that the men who have led the
world in the pathway Of progress will be
the jealous guardians Of liberty and of or
der. They are not to be seduced by appeals
10 their oupidity or moved by threats of
injury. They will forever jealously guard
and trim the lamp of enlightenment, of
progress. They will ever relentlessly press
and crush under their heels the flaming
torch of Populist discomfort. Populist agi-
tation and Populist destruction.
When this tide of anarchy shall have re-
coded, this tide of Populist agitation, this
assault upon common honesty and upon
industry shall have abated forever, the
foundations of this republic will remain
undisturbed. This government will still
shelter people indissolubly welded to lib
erty and order, jealousy forbidding any
distinction of burden or Of privilege, con-
serving property, maintaining morality,
resting forever upon the broad basis of
American patriotism and American intel
ligence.