The National tribune., 1896-10-01
VICIOUS AND ILLOGICAL

EDIrOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: I clip from
your issue of Sept. II the following: !" If
the dollar is made cheaper it will not buy so
mnch. If it will nat bny $50 much the PEN
sions paid in it win be cut down."
This clearly establishes the seat of the
luminosity you exhibit toward the free coin
age of silver. I-ngree with You that to re-
store the frsc coinage of silverwould reduce
the purchasing powerGf the pensioners dol
lar, and also that,of oil dollars received by
those who hold United States bonds, mort
CAGES and all other evidences of inaebted-
ness, and of Nil wh0have fixed inc0mesin the
same ratio. Why did you apply your state
ment to pensioners onlyo Evidently you
took the opportunity to appeal to the lowest
passions of self-interest, and the old soldier
who will not spurn such detestahle mauuver-
ing to gain political advantage has ftriffed
far from that aself-respect necessary to MAIN
tain his manhood among men.
In yonr appeal to the lowest passions of
self-interest to maintain the largest purchas-
ing power of the dollar, you firmly plant
yourself in favor of n continuation Of the
present lew price of wages or no wages mt
all, for those who have only theirlabor tosell,
and of all the products Of Labor, for your
logic can contemplate nothing less. An
advance in the price of labor and in the
products of labor, by any process, would
decrease the purchasing power of the dollar,
to which all gold-standard advocates are
firmly opposed, and this is 80, it matters not
by what process they may renson, that the
purchasing power of the dollar has been
doubled in the last 90 years or to what party
they belong. They will sacrifice all else to
swell the volume their dollars will buy.
Respectfully, H. II. Cook.
Ottawa, Kan. Sept. 81, 1896.
The best feature about this commune
cation is its brutal frankness. The writer
freely admits that pensions will be cut
down, and that he desires it. But he
claims that a pensioner who objects to
having his pension cut down is actuated
by /" the lowest passions of selfinterest. .
The hardihood of such an assertion is
simply amazing. That is, an aged and
decrepit veteran, who has given the best
years of his life, his strength, and health
to his country, is only moved by the
lowest passions of selfinterest in re-
fusing to relinquish half Of his poor
little pension in order to swell the gains
of the clique of silver mine owners.
Think of an American citizen who has
reaped the rich fruits Of that veterans
services and sacrifices, bringing himself
to write such sentence! Think of the
efrontery of man proposing to coolly
rob the pensioners Of one-half of what
they have to support lie during their
remaining days, in order to enrich silver
lords and bonanza barons! 1t is simply
monstrous
The writer talks about logic" and
vet is so dull that he cannot see-prob-
ably does not want to-that the present
purchasing power of the dollar is the
greatest possible benefit to the wage
Garner. as well as the pensioner. Never
in all the history of the world, when the
purchasing power Of money has depre-
ciated have wages gone up in pro-
portion. He is grossly ignorant if he
does not know this. Whenever and
wherever financial shysters and charla-
tans have tempered with the currency,
it has been for the benefit only of
gamblers, spectators, and money-sharks,
and the infinite injury Of everybody
else. Our correspondent should read
and think more, and he will neither write
or talk SO much.