The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-09-24

The Statistics Which Mr.. ToWne
Uses will Prove Other
Things AS Well.
NIr. squires Made Several Holes
IN Mr.. TONNES Boom and
Made Silver Men Sick.
That the people are Interested in the
issues of this campaign was eyinced
last Thursday evening by the audience
which turned out to hear Hon. =. w.
Squires discuss them. Towne' S oratory
packed the house the week before, but
the most sanguine were Surprised to
sec q still larger audience held to the
very close by a man who makes no
claims to oratory. The audience was
not one which came to he amused but
to hear a clear presentation of the
questions before the people. FIRE.
quently. when telling points were
made, generous applause was bestowed
upon the speaker, showing emphati-
cally that the sentiment of the people
in this vicinity is strong for sound
money. The silver men were notice
able in the audience on account of
their small numbers, having failed to
return the courtesy of the sound money
men who were out in force to hear
ToWne's silver views. Yet these men
who persist in hearing and studying
only one side of the question will de-
claim their biased views from every
street corner and claim to know all
about finance
Speeches on financial question in
yolve a large amount of statistics and
and figures. which are necessarily dry
and interest is liable to flag but ap-
I parently it was not so Thursday even
4 ing. For two and one-half hours the
audience kept its seats and. gave to the
speaker its closest attention.
/. The meeting was opened by L. S.
Briggs who made a short talk before
/ introducing the speaker, Z. W.
ISquires. Mr.. Squires prefaced his
fspeech with the announcement that
he was no orator and stated that if the
audience expected to be entertained
| by such a gift it would be disappointed.
But if the people desired to listen to a
non-partisan discussion of the financial
4 quession by a man who had made q
conscientious study of the subject, then
/ he could hope to interest them.
4 Entering at once upon the discussion
of his subject he first gave particular
attention to the relation of silver to
/ the price of farm products. He
| showed conclusiyely that the state.
ment made by Mr.. Towne that the
| prices of farm produce rose and fell
with the price of silver was false, prov
ling this statement by references to the
VERY statistics which the Duluth gen.
i tleman uses. He showed the farmers
that the cost of production was
materially lessened by the adoption
of labor-saving machinery, and further
that our surplus was sold in competi-
tion with Indian wheat which costs,
laid down in England, less than sc
cents per bushel.
The silver men clamor for a return
of the old prices of products. He gave
4 figures on the price of articles pur-
chased by American consumers, freight
rates and other expenses which showed
the country to be better off with the
present low prices. Mr.. Squires then
Ilspoke of the fact that the eastern
money which had been loaned on
western property was not the money of
millionaires. On the contrary it was
the savings of frugal laborers of the
eastern cities, the clerks, railroad
men, carpenters and seamstresses. A
=Idepreciated currency would cut their
savings of a lifetime in two and would
work a great hardship.
/ The speaker had travelled in China,
Japan and India and during his dis
course gave his hearers the benefit of
his observations in the silver countries.
His tales of poverty, and the. i'm
morality and suffering carsed by it
we're narrowing.
While not an orator Mr.. Squires
proved to be an entertaining speaker
land Towne's arguments were SO com
pletely torn to pieces that consterna-
4 ton has entered the ranks of the sill
verites. At the conclusion of the
speech a Mckinley and Morris club
was organized with membership of
! nearly three hundred. Z. S. Briggs
was chosen president; G. 3. Rines,
! first vice president; O. G. Tarbox,
second vice president; S. S. Peterson,
treasurer; I. e.. Patterson, secretary.
Headqu quarters have been opened in the
Carew building and the club will be a
4 factor Ia politics from this time on. ia