The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1896-08-20

/ In regard to debt, In 1880 the national.
/ state; county, Municipal and scho0' deDt OF
the United States was $5,045,7 1851. IN
1890 1t was $2,O27l7O,5403 q decrease Oh
$1,01S,G15, 465.
| Nobody wants to be unjust, nobody wants
to confiscate or take away the earnings OF
other men. And yet think, and l say
that is what Is produced and Will re-
suit from putting into operation OF oo-cent
dollars.
Take the state banks, trust companies
and private banks In this country. Iney
owe $1,34O, OOO, 900 to 100000 people. Inc
national banks owe $1,7OO, 653, 521 to 1,oOO-
| 600 depositors, Of whom !, 724, 600 have less
than $1,000 each. OF 5000 building ana
loan associations In the United States, l.
800, 900 shareholders have paid dues OF $780,
100000. Two million people have taken
out life insurance policies, equaling $4,2O2.-
857,353. Cooperative and fraternal asso-
Citations represent large amounts; indus
| trial associations the same way.
/ Thirty years ago, 2,OO0,OOO men capitalized
their val0r, their lives, and their patriotism
to preserve the Union; and they did 1t, ana
| to them there is an annuity OF honor OF
$15O, OOO, 600 year, due annually.
| The Minnesota schC oil fund amounts 10
about S., OOO, GOO; and Mr.. Koerner informed
me yesterday that Of this school fund there
| was invested in Tennessee and Alabama
securities 1881, 900, of which $2,88O00O Is
! invested in the bonds Of the state OF Ten
tiessee, and $685., 900 in bonds Of the state
| of Alabama, and these are free coinage
| states.
Taking these vast amounts, the savings
banks, the life insurance, the building asso-
citation, the pension roll, the Minnesota
school fund; invested in the bonds of Ten
nessee and Alabama, does 1t accord with
the honor and honesty of the American
people to say that they can be paid Off In
a currency of so cents on the dollar? For
that is what it amounts to. Does not the
sense Of American honor revolt at such
proposition?
Who is most interested in this question?
Is it the laborfng man, the wage Garner?
If any man is entitled to the best dollar
that the world affords. it Is the man who
earns it by the sweat Of his brow. ZAP
plause.) He ought to be enabled to become
| the best customer Of the American farmer
| The wealthy man can get around this mat
| ter and make money out of it; II change
| comes, he Is not the man to be distressed
1t is the man who goes home at sunset
| with his days earnings who will suffer- IL
| have been correct in showing that the
policy Of the free coiners is contraction, on
their own theory 1t reduces prices and
| that would feddce wages.
l say it will throw men out OF employ
ment; it will not be a question of wages at
| all, 1t will be a question of starvation.
But concede that they be employed, it Will
reduce wages.
What are wages In Mexico and Japan?
In Japan the blacksmith gets ~ cents a
| day, the bricklayef SO cents, the carpenter
| SO cents and so on. Mexico is little bet
ter. Is any American mechanic or laboring
man going to MeXico-that paradise of IL
to 1? daughter and applause) And il he
gets there. don't you suppose we would
pass hat around in st. Paul to raise money
to bring him back? Oaughter)
| There is an invariable rule in vio-
| lent changes of currency-of monetary
| standard, that when currency tiuctuates
| prices vary, and 1t Is also rule, attested
by all experienced appeal to history and
| to the memories Of men here over sixty.
| that wages are always the first to fall and
the last to rise. In other words, the rise
| in prices may benefit employers in two
ways; by rapid rise in what they produce
| and by wages meanwhile remaining sta
tionary, or rising slower than prices. This
was never more convfncingly illustrated
| than in our own experience as a nation.
| And / am going to read you some figures,
not mine, have not invented them, l have
| invented nothing here tonight. l want to
/ 60 back to the history of thefwar, when
there was the most violent change in our
| currency, and yet nothing SO violent as
that Which Is sought to be brought about
by the flee coiners. In 1862 legal tender
| paper money was issued and metal money
Immediately vanished. OF course it did.
Don't you know that, you old soldiers?
/ (Crfes Of "Yes.'J
Mr.. Davis: Did you see silver half dol.
lar or dime for years? (Cries Of "No.'D
Mr.. Davis: And as for a gold piece, why,
it appeared to have gone into the ground;
! it was as invisible as if it had returned to
the mine from which it came. Wages
thereafter were paid In deprecated paper.
| Then caihe q rise In prices, to the diSad-
vantage Of wages; for those wages rose
| very much slower than the prices for those
things which the wage Garner was COM
PEELED to pay to SUPPORT his family. Here
are the results Of the report of the senate
commission upon that subject, carefully
| end eXhaustively made and not yet chal-
lenged by anybody: In 1869 wages had risen
8 per cent commodities mad risen 10 per
l cent; in 1868 wages had risen 1O1s per cent,
| commodities 40 per cent; in 1864 wages had
risen 25h per cent, commodities 30 per cent;
| in 1865 wages had risen g per cent, COM
modities 116 per cent The laboring man,
under. those circumstances, always carries
the heavy end of the stick; it is lightened
last, If at all, for his benefit The reason is
| IN obvious one. Changes of currency pro-
duce distrust in Investment, and laboring
men compete with each other. Anyhow,
the cupidity Of men caused that most evan
escent object of human sale-wages- to
| be the last given to rise
Now, my fellow citizens, I want you to
consider these matters. They are the words
i of a neighbor, and l hope, you know, of a
friend. l would not for the world mislead
one OF you, and If my convictions were
| different from what they are, l think you
know 1 would fearlessly express them.
am oppressed. my fellow citizens, with
feelings of foreboding for the safety of the
i government and the perpetuity of our in.
| situations, as I have not been since the
day closed my Office to go forth to war
to aid to preserve the Union. applause
/ 1 have the greatest faith in the inteli-
gence, the honor, the integrity, the fairness
/ of the American people. One hundred and
twenty years ago last fourth of July our
forefathers sent forth this glorious republic
as a divine, and it Is to be hoped, per-
petual creation. 1t has shone like the star
Of the dawn in the sky Of civilization ever
since. Let it not be said that any Mime.
sofa voter would extinguish one single ray
Of its glory. (Applause)