The Meeker herald., 1896-08-29
LABOR is IN CHAINS.

FORCED TO COMPETE WITH THE
AsIATic PRODUCERS.
nsorston Frswsn. the Gold Standard
Prophet of London Tells . London
Paper That England Needs to Take
warning from Us.
Moreton Frewen, writing in the Lon
don Daily Chronicle, says:
your request for short statement
OF the causes which have forced the
silver question to the front in Ameri-
can politics is not very easily met. In
writing for the Daily Chronicle
should have wished to deal particularly
with the labor aspects Of the issue.
which, during the past four years. has
proved liberal education to the Amer
ican workingman. The interest of la
Dor in the silver question has been
admirably summed up in the speech to
his constituents in 1894 by the present
speaker of the house of representatives,
Mr.. Reed, OF Maine. Referring to the
closing of the Indian mints by the
government Of India and the great fall
in the price OF silver which followed.
Mr.. Reed said:
Quotes Speaker Reed.
I'VE have learned from that object
lesson that the yellow man using white
money holds at his mercy the industry
of the white man using yellow money
This now historic sentence crystalltxes
the position admirably. The value Of
his silver coin for the Chinese and ia
panese races Is today as great a. ever.
that Is to say. while silver has fallen
one-half in gold value. yet its pur-
whit diminished. The result is that
the fall in the gold price OF silver oc-
casioned by the closing of the Indian
mints, the repeal Of the Sherman act
and those other excuses of class legis-
lation intended, in the stock phrase Of
the day. to appreciate gold and en-
rich bankers and other money lenders,
is today creating In the far east =
mushroom growth Of industrial enter
prises in mine, in field, and in factory,
the exports of which Oriental indus
tries compete with products Of white
labor in the markets of Europe and
America on terms of great advantage
because of the fall in the price of sill
yer.
Western Labor Hurt.
Cheap silver in the east. silver
cheapened by western legislation, In
wolves cheap men and women In the
west, and not merely cheap men and
women, but, indeed, great masses Of
men and women who can get NO en-
ployment at all.
"It is this which has now at last
awakened the American nation, and
this awakening to the most imminent
race danger which has ever confront
ed western nations can be relied upon
ere many days to educate also captains
of industry in Great Britain to the
murderous Industrial competitor fos-
tered by cheap silver, by silver cheap
because its historic money demand has
been restricted or even abolished.
McKinlsv's Defeat Predicted.
"The political forces behind silver
appear to me to presage the defeat Of
Major Mckinley and his party Of gold.
More than anything else free silver in
America stands for agrarianism. There
are some 100000 farm voters in the
United States-a vast, scattered host,
quite undisciplined, difficult to COM
bine, and, therefore. impossible to buy.
Il can imagine no more serious
financial catastrophe for English in
vestors than to be lulled into sense Of
false security by daily assurances Of
their New York correspondents that
Mr.. Bryan's candidature 10 hopeless.
Bsnsnts Of Erse silver.
Free silver viii at once 1,,..
change rates between Europe and al
Asia, and also between Europe and
South America. thereby greatly stim-
ulating our export trade to four-dfths
Of the inhabited world, and will also
at the same time secure expansion o(
the exports of the United States to
Europe. For lack Of this expansion and
consequent favorable trade balancs,
that great debtor nation II to-day IN
solvent, borrowing it, pay with dif-
Aculty and a4 high rates. and piling
higher that debt burden whicA becomes
more and moro intolsrabss Win each
fruoA tail Of prices.
Whatever the United States h raas.
fng tAe 1svsl Of silvsr exchanges ac-
eo0DlisAae fsS her own bese1t - ~
eo00fshs equally for svsEy white
fsfnar a1A white working nAn osagy-
whegAs