Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1896-07-01

they might come to the rescue OF the poos
manufacturer of steel rails, whose product be.
gan to be maze here in commerclal quantities
in 1857 at which time It commanded Sl66 ton.
but in 1894 had fallen to S24 ton. This would
enable the railway companies to IND some JUS
LITIGATION for restoring their freight rates from
log OF one cent per ton per mile + N issl tthe
mile, the good old rates that prevailed in
1878. Nor would these restorers of prices over
look the steamboat men, who, though they now
haul wheat by lake and canal from Chicago to
were in the habit Of receiving "a. Al cents per
bushel in 1873
Here is revealed Mr. Chairman, the delu.
siveness of an argument founded on 'aver-
ages" 1t fails to discriminate the individual
facts that go to make uND the average
The Increase In Wages.
There is another serious omission in my col
modify which stands out by itself SO pre-emi-
nent that even his disdain of details should not
have ignored it, commodity which is the
trueSt and best measure of value ever discov-
cred, SURPRISING in this respect wheat or cot
ton, iron or copper, silver or gold, and that is
a given unit of human labor. And my col
league was somehow blind to the fact, though
it is exhibited in one of the tables to which he
referred, that the wages of labor have been on
the average largely increased in the last third
of century the Increase from the old obi
metallic" wages of 1860 to those of 1890 being
So per cent in money and u per cent in pur-
chasing power
buy more of any staple commodity Of human
desire, more and better food, more and better
clothing, more and better transportation, more
and better tools and machinery, more and bet.
ter heat and light, more comforts and Injuries
of every kind, more silver and more gold than
at any time before 1878 in the history of the
world.
Any honest and intelligent man who has the
time to Study in detail any reliable table of
prices covering the last 80 years will find that
the prices of those things in the production of
WI amount of
must be expended have held their own or have
increased, while things, and these are very
ing inventions and machinery have been intro
duced have greatly fallen in price. This &C.
counts for the fall in leverage prices about
which so much has been said
Mr.. Hopkins-Your argument then. is that
the things which ought to have been reduced
in price since 1878 have been reduced, while
the things that ought to have increased in
price have increased.
Mr.. McCleary of Minnesota-My friend from
Illinois has, with his usual clearness, stated
the case tersely and well.
cost of production. There is not the slightest
evidence that the so called ''demonetization"
of silver had anything to do with 1T. And the
sure proof is that the reduction OF cost of pro
duction has been accompanied by an increase
in the wages of the producer.
The Cause and Result of Lower Prices.
The great staples of the world are cheaper
because it takes less human labor to produce
them. EVERY new railroad ana STEAMBOAT,
every labor saving machine and improved proc
ess Of manufacture. increases the grasp which
labor, holds on the desirable things of the
world. F."
And thus we see, Mr.. Chairman, that the
great fall in prices of manufactured articles
during the last third of century has been in
the main perfectly legitimate and that its ul-
innate result will be most benehcent Taken
in connection with the rise in wages, it meas
ures man s vastly increased command over the
forces of nature.
These wonderful results have come as the
benefcent fruitage Of mans inventive genius
in devising labor saving machinery, of the
marvellous new forces which men are harness
ing for the service of the human family, of the
remarkable Improvement in modern facilities
for transportation and of the stoppage of the
and cruel waste of war.
What will days work producep This is the
pared with the reward Of human labor the
condition of the people is elevated. This is a
process of natural law and phase of evolu-
ton. Men struggle against it only because
they do not understand it. Like all move
ments onward, it brings temporary hardship
to individuals here and there. But for the vast
mass of humanity it is bringing emancipation
from want and the promise of that golden fu-
ture when minimum of time will be required
to provide for the necessities that are simply
physical and temporal thus leaving time and
for the cultivation of those ele-
ments in our nature that are spiritual and
eternal
PRODUCTION OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE
WORLD SINCE THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
From 1893 to 1885 is from table Of averages
compiled by DIR. Adolph Soetbeer. For the
years 1886 to 1894 the production is the annual
estimate Of the bureau of the mint.