Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-10-22

| aeSoct3ueS, Wno represent English capital,
made upward OF sio, o,000, 900 out Of the
government In few weekA Is IL any
wonder TINT those men want 30 continue
this policyf Do you really think, my fell
low citizens, that q policy which lowers
the price OF oil American products while it
increases the American debt can be said to
be wise American policyS
Indebtedness OF This Country.
The Indebtedness of our country, when
you consider the vast corporation, munich
pal and other debts, almost battles compu-
tation. 1t Is nearly all held abroad The
interest has TO be raised by the toll and the
labor Of American people 1t has to be
| paid by American products Shall we pur-
sue policy which will keep the price Of
American products down so low that 1t
takes practically everything that the Amer
ican nation can earn to annually pay the
| interest on TINT Indebtedness, and thus de-
stroy their ability to buy, which means
! destruction CT the American markets Can
we reasonably hope for any prosperity In
the future Talk about maintaining this
geld standard and paying these vast sums
in goldl Why, there is not gold enough In
all the world to pay fractional part of
the interest on our debt In gold. and In re-
cent years we have repeatedly seen gold
manipulated In such manner that a few
great institutions control 1t In other
words, they were able to corner the avail
able gold I have already shown you that
In the entire United States there Is only
S127, 900, 900 of available gold That In
cludes all tho banks have, and the amount
of gold In sight in the world which is
lahI Ck l. a
we therefore must expect If we stay on this
basis that gold will be cornered repeatedly
from time to time The speculators will
profit, and the producers will suffer.
Steadiness of Standard.
Mr. Schurz claims that the gold standard
is steady standard and therefore desirable
for the commercial transactions of the
world. Other gold standard advocates
have made the same declaration. 1t Is i'm
possible to understand why they have done
so, for ell the worlds experience Is to the
contrary. England Is a gold standard
country. The Bank of England rests on a
gold standard France Is O bimetallic coun-
try. While 1t has coined no silver since
1873, the Bank Of France rests on the BIZ
metallic basis. During the ten years from
1875 to 1884, inclusive, the Bank Of Eng
Land was obliged to change the rate of dis
count 66 times; the Bank Of France only
13 times. In other words, during those ten
years the bimetallic standard was five
times as steady as the gold standard And
during the seven years from 1885 to 1901,
inclusive, the Bank of England was forced
to change the rate of discount 50 times;
the Bank of France only times When
ono metal aJoDa ia tho ctapdord a. "a afFaok
ed not only by the change In production,
but by reason of Its limited quantity Is
subject to manipulation, whereas when
the standard is supplied from two sources
there Is greater steadiness in the supply
and the volume being 80 much greater it Is
moro difficult to manipulate.
Prices and Legislation.
Mr.. Cochran argues that you cannot
change values, and then he uses this Ian
guage, "a man may change prices by leg
islation-" That sentence admits the charge
made by the bimetallists and is in harmony
with the views of the greatest European
statesmen, who claim, with the bimetal-
lists, that when the governments of the
world demonetiZe silver they by legislation
reduce the supply of money In the world,
and when they adopt single gold standard
they by legislation increase the demand for
gold, SO that by Legislation the law of sup
ply and demand was in such a manner in |
terfered with as to force up the purchasing |
power Of gold to twice what it formerly |
was If our committee were not so poor
I should recommend that they give Mr..
Cochran check for travelling 1000 miles |
to make that admission.
Cochran ON Wages.
Mr.. Cochran further gave us the benefit |
of his views on political economy In this |
language, Wages depend on production |
and nothing else" Again he says, Wages |
depend absolutely on production. If this |
Is correct and nothing further Is needed |
than to produce, then all that is necessary |
Is for the mills to start up and go to pro- |
ducing, and the more they produce ths |
higher the wages they can pay, and every |
body will be happy. If there are any
manufacturers in the house, ask you how |
this would strike your Has Mr. Cochran |
covered the casea Is there not something |
wanting? Has he not left out the most es-
sential element, and that Is the market? |
No manufacturer can run his mills unless |
he has market for the things which his |
employees make, and 1t Is strange that all |
Of the gold standard orators of the country |
persistently shut their eyes to the fact that |
until we restore the market there is no use
Of opening the mills Wages depend on the |
prices paid for the things that are manu- |
factured. The manufacturer cannot run |
his mills and pay high wages and accept |
low prices for his products Labor creates |
property, and the price of that property |
must necessarily fix the scale of wages
Opening Mills
Major Mckinley recently told some gen.
tlemeu that he thought it was more i'm
portant to this country that we should |
open the mills to the laborer than to open
the mtnts to the mine owners This Is an |
artful statement, calculated to deceive.
Suppose he Is taken at his word, and every
mill owner in America opens up his mills |
How long will they run? And, If they are |
Obliged to shut down, why will they be' |
Because there Is no market for the things |
they make, and say to Major Mckinley
that the only key that will open the mills |
and keep them open is an increase In the |
volume Of money in this country. Let |
prices gradually come up to the bimetallic |
standard, and you will restore the pur-
chasing power to the country. The farmer |
will again be able to buy, the railroad will |
be busy, and every business will increase
with the general prosperity. The manu-
facturer will be busy, and the BANKERS and |
merchants will again be doing business
That Is the only way in which the mills
can again be permanently opened
Labor Paid In Gold.
I recently heard gold standard man
make this argument to laborers: "Why,
you earn your bread by the sweat Of your
brow. You begin toiling early in the
morning, and you work until night, and
when night comes you want to be paid in
gold. You want dear dollar. You want
q dollar of the greatest purchasing power |
to buy you as much Of the comforts of life
as is possible" A very seductive argu-
ment 1t looks plausible on its face; but,