Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1896-08-27

TO make the courts of law instruments OF
to violate that sacred pact be-
tween the states on which the security of
this nation rests, to profane the temple
erected for it's protection by the hands of
false priests, who, though sworn to defend
it, will be appointed to destroy it,
In the time to which / must confinc my
self tonight / can do nothing but examine
that one question which Mr.. Bryan him
self declares to be the oyershndowing issue
Of this campaign. am u little puzzled
when read this speech todccide just what
Mr.. Bryan himself imngincs will be the
fruit of change in the standard of value
throughout this country. do n,$ believe
that any man can follow wholly With the
speech, because if he disscnts from one set
of conclusions he has got to read but q few
paragraphs and he win find another Of
different variety But assume that it is
fair in II discussion of this character, inde-
pendently of what 6lr Bryan may say or
what Mr.. Bryan may think himself he
st-.sdsfof, to examine the inevitable eco
uonic effects of n debasement of the coin
.age, of Change in the standard by which
axisting debts arcto be measured in u baser
measure OF value.
Test of Prosperity.
Now, will imagine that Mr.. Bryan
himself may believe that in some way or
other he is going to benefit tie tJilers Of
this country. He says he is, but he de
clines to show Us how. For my part am
willing to state here that if Mr. Bryan
could show ne that by amy mems known
to heaven or known on earth, any means
revealed to the comprehension of man,
wages could be increased, | will be ready
TO support him here and now. | do not
make this statement through any pre-
tense of special affection for the man who
works with his hands Such Il pretensc
made in the heat of n presidential canyass
would merely insult and discrcdt the in
telligence to which it is addressed. l repeat
that l would support any measure calcu
lated to increase the rate of wages because
know of no test of prosperity absolutely
infullible except the rate of wages paid to
laborers. Where the rate of wages is high,
there must be prosperity. Where the rate
of wages is low, there must necessarily be
distress.
If, then, Mr.. Bryan can show me that
by the enforcement of any portion of has
programme wages will be Increased in this
country, will not only support him, but
will recognize him us the wiscst orator
that ever opened his mouth on platform
since the beginning of the world. I will
be ready to confess that the rhetoric which
do not now understand is really the Ian
guagc of inspiration. | would regard his
administration of the presidency as the
kindling of great light before the foot
steps of man, showing him broad path
way to endless happiness and measllrcless
prosperity. But in searching through his
speech, in reading through the whole reams
of Populistic literature with which this
country has been flooded for four years, /
have never yet found one syllable which
showed me how Populist expected to in
crease the rate of wages.
Now, In order to understand the sig
nificance of the remark that wages is the
only test of prosperity, we have but to con
sldor for a moment just what is meant by
the term wages Wages, as l suppose ev-
erybody here understands, is that part OF
the lnborer's product which is given tc
himself in compensation for his toll If,
for instance, l be engaged in the manu-.
facturc of chairs, and il / can make five
chairs every day worth $50, and the rate
of my wages is 81 u day, what l actually
get is one chair out of the five which
make. The other four chairs the other
four-tlfths of my product, are devoted te
the payment of all the other labor that has
been expended in preparing the elements
out of which the chair was made. To the
man who fcllcd the tree in the forest, the
person who sawed it in the mill, the car
rier who transported it, the workman who
prepared its component parts, and the pro
fit on the capital which setall this labor III
motion.
1t is plain, however, that 1 could not
take one chair home with me at night HnG
attempt to settle my bills with it, for the
moment 1 undertook to divide the chc.il
among my creditors, that moment it wom.
lose it's value. So, instead of taking the
chair, which l cannot divide, take il:
equivalent in money; which can divide
But my wages all the time are fixed by tho
quantity of my own products.
If, instead of five chairs, l were able to
make ten from it, and the rate of my com
pensatiop remained the same, l would oh
tain for my wages two chairs, or IS Il day
But, instead of there being four chairs, Oh
SIC, available for the payment of othcl
and thus the larger my wages the large,
my product, the grcatcr the prosperity'il
the chair making industry.
4NoN3 uPP1f ing SIAhN EiiiiSLPiS w SNci J
other department Of trade we can see thn
| the man who works on Il tunnel canno
| take part of the tunnel home with hin
for his wages; the man who paves tlis
street cannot take II part of the highwa,
with him, but each one takes the mono,
| equivalent of that part of the produ,
which is the result of his daily toll, ans
| the laborer is the man who has the mos
| vital interest in the character Of the money
which is paid to him.
| Some of Mr.. Bryan's Contradictions.
Now, when we como to find out just hoy
Mr.. Bryan expects to increase the wages o
labor, we find ourselves lost in maze O
contradiction and in n haze of obscure ex
| pressions. No man can tell how or wher'
or when the wages of the workingman ar,
| to be increased: but any one who examine.
| the scheme can see that the inevitable tend
ency, the inevitable consequence of a de
basement in the standard of value, mus
| be "a reduction in the rate of wages, ant
that is the conspiracy i'll which the Popu
list is engaged.
| Now, Mr.. Bryan tells lis that he want.
to cheaper tho dollar; that he wants to in
crease the volume of money. l do not be
ievc that any man who ever lived coulj
| quite understand Popnlist's notion q
what money is further than that he be,
lieyes it is Il desirable thing to get ant
ts