The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-11-01
BRYAN MAKES REPLY.
He Tells How Working Men Can Get
More for Their Money Under
Free Coinage.

Would the purchasing power of the
workingman' dollar, under free coins
age, decrease"
Mr.. Bryan wired to the Journal from
Chicago the following answer to this
question:
THAT is question that is PROFOUND
ed by the manufacturers employer,
who seems to be terribly afraid that
under free coinage he will have to get
his men for less wages than they are
working for now. l want to say that
in the sense in which the words are
used, reply, No!
There are two things to be consid-
erred:
First, the number of dollars that
the workingman receives, and, second,
the purchasing power of the dollar he
receives.
IF you take the purchasing power
of a single dollar, it will be less: but
at the present time a great many work
ingmen are working on half time, and
many are not able to find work at all;
then you must remember that when
you decide whether the purchasing
power of the worlzingman's wages is
increased, you must take what the
workingInan will receive in dollars I'M
der free coinage, and compare it with
what the working man receives i'm dol
lars now under the gold standard.
More than that; you also have to
consider that under the presentgco
ditions when man loses his job it is
hard to fiJ,1 work again. and that every
man who finds employment is menaced
by idle men, increasing in number
who stand ready to take his place on a
moments notice.
'We insist that the conditions that
will be brought about by the free coin
age of silyer-the increased demand
for work in order to supply the goods
which will be consumed when the peo-
pie are prosperous under bi-metallism,
and the increasing wages which will
come with a greater demand for la
bor-we insist that when these things
are considered, the workingma1f will
receive more dollars, and that he can
buy more with the larger wages which
he win receive under free coinage than
he can buy now with the few dollars he
receives under the gold standard, and
that his employment will be more per-
manent.
let me. give you a test; / challenge
you TO find an instance where the la
boring man ever suffered because of
the bi-metallic standard They tell you
that prices win rise. I believe that
general prices viii rise. They tell you
that means suffering to the working
man. want you to look back over
the period when we had rising prices,
and you will find that those were the
best times that the workingman ever
had, because he not only had more
steady employment and better wages,
but the property that he had also rose,
whereas to-day, if his wages buy more
per dollar, the property that he owns
goes down in value as the purchasing
power of the dollar goes up.
Remember that the laboring men
have never endorsed the gold stand
ard i'm any nation that has had it; and
when you see the beauties of the gold
standard presented to lalooring men
by people who do not labor; when you
find that the blessings brought by the
gold standard are 50 disguised that a
finaneier has to spend all the time
during the campaign pointing out these
blessings to the laboring man, who
cannot discover them when they are
pointed out, you win understand what
the gold standard has done for the
workingman.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN"