River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1896-10-01
souRKE COCHRAN ON BRYAN.
The Eloquent Ex-Confiressnan Exposes
the Free silver Fraud ON W orkingmen.

the Free silver Fraud on orkingmen.
In his great speech in Madison Square
Garden. New York city, ex-Congressman
Bourke Cochran said in reply TO Presi-
Dental Candidate Bryan:
IL everything in this world or in this
country, includinp labor, be increased
in value tomorrow ia like proportion,
rot one of us would be affected at all.
If that was Mr.. Bryan's scheme, he
would never have populist nomination
70 give him importance in the eyes Of
this community. IL that were all that
he meant, he would not be supporting
il. ard | would not be taking the trouble
10 oppose il. If everything in the world
be increased ten per cent in value, why,
we would pay ten per cent. in addition
for what we would buy and get ten per
cent. more for what we would sell.
What, then, is it? 1t is an increase in
the price of commodities and allowing
labor to shift for itself. If the price of
commodities be increased and the price
of labor be left stationary that means
cutting down of the rate of wages. III,
instead of dollar which consists OF
given quantity of gold equal to 100
cents anywhere in the world, with the
purchasing power of 100 cents, the la.
borer is to be paid in dollars worth so
cents each, he can only buy half as much
with a days wages as he buys now. liz
the value of the populist scheme, then.
is to be tested, let the laboring men of
this country ask Mr.. Bryan and his
populist friends a simple, common,
everyday question: "Where do come
imp"
Mr.. Bryan himself has glimmering
idea of where the laborer will come in,
or, rather, of where he will go out.
There is one paragraph in his speech
which-whether ii was the result of an
unconscious stumbling into candor or
whether it was a contribution made n
the stress of logical discussion | am ut
terly unable to say-that throws flood
of light upon the whole purpose UNDER
lying this populist agitation. Wage
earners, Mr.. Bryan says, know that
while a gold standard raises the pur-
chasing power of the dollar it also
makes ii more difficult to obtain pos
session of the dollar. They know that
work more probable and unemployment
less certain.
If that means anything, it means
that a cheap dollar would give him
more employment, more frequent em-
ployment, more work and chance to
get unemployment after he was dis
Charged. If that means anything in the
world to a sane man, it means that 4
the laborer is willing to have his wages
cut down he will get more work.
If it were true that a reduction in the
rate of wages would increase the chance
of employment, | would not blame Mr..
BRYAN for telling the truth. because,
however unpalatable the truth may be.
| conceive it the duty of any man who
attempts TO address his fellow-citiZens
never to shrink from statement of the
whole truth, whatever may be the con-
sequences to himself. But, as a matter
of fact, diminution in the rate of
wages does not increase the scope of en-
ploymcnt.
There cannot he an abundant product
unless labor is extensively employed.
You cannot have high wages unless
there is an extensive production IN
every department of industry, and that
is why | claim that wages are the one
sole test of a country's coudition-that
high wages mean an abundant protec-
ton, and abundance necessarily means
prosperity. Mr.. Bryan, on the other
baud, would have you believe that pros
perity is advanced by cheapening the
rate of wages, but the fall in the rate of
wages always comes from narrow
production, and narrow production
means there is little demand for labor
in the market. When, after the panic
of 1873, the price of labor fell to 30
cents a day, il was harder to obtain
work than when the rate of labor was
two dollars, and the difference between
the populist, who seeks to cut down the
rate of wages, and the democrat, who
seeks to protect it. is that the democrat
believesShat high wages and prosperity
are Synonymous, and the populist wants
to cut the rate of wages in order that he
may tempt the farmer to make war
upon his own workingmen.