The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-19

1 piece of wood into useful domestic | utensil. But all the powers of the fed eral government cannot No power ever yet exercised by tyrant or by con- stitutional monarch can cause bar ren field to become fruitful; can cause two blades of grass to grow where one grew before; can bring together two stones which compose this building and then raise them into stately temple | dedicated by political discussion. No, it requires the labor of man, and the labor of mar alone. to create wealth.
 If, then, Mir. Bryan Is going to enrich | somebody the thing which he means to bestow he must take from somebody else Who is to be despoiled and who is to be enriched by the exercise ot this new scheme of government. (Cry of Silver mine owners.") My friend, the silver mine owner will get cheated with the rest. Naughter.) If ever the populist has his way nobody will be l benefited, not even Mir. Bryan (Laugh- | terD I will venture to say here now that if the face of Providence should be averted from this land and such calamity as MT Bryan's election were permitted by it, the man who would suffer most by that event would be the false prophet, who, having torn down | the temple of credit and of industry, would be torn to pieces by an outraged public whose prosperity he had ruined. Let us follow this argument little. Let us see what he means to do, ac- cording to his own lights. We see that he cannot enrich one man with 1 -1,t a fNnUprn- ment never can be generous, because if it be generous to one 1t must De op- pressive to another. (Applause.)
 MT. Bryan does not pretend that by any power given him from heaven he can find anything on the surface Of the earth that has not got an owner and, therefore, he canont honestly bestoW it upon a favored one. But his finan- cial scheme contemplates an increase
 in the price of certain commodities.
 (Cries of except gold.0 l don't think
 that anything MT. Bryan can do with reference to gold will ever effect it.
 Daughter and applause). But, my friends, we are coming now pretty close
 to the woodpile behind which the Afri-
 can is concealed.
 Mir Bryan proposes to increase the
 price of commodities. If he means
 anything he means that, and I am not Equite sure that he means anything
 Now, if everything in this world ol
 this country, including labor, be in-
 creased in value tomorrow in like pro-
 portion, not one of us would be affected
 at all If that was MT. Bryan's scheme
 he would never have a populist nomi-
 nation to give him importance in the
 eyes of this community. If everything
 in the world be increased 10 per cent
 in value why we would pay 10 per cent
 in addition for what we would buy ane
 get 10 per cent. more for what wt
 would sell and we would be exactly il
 the same place we occupied before
 Therefore, it is fair to assume tha
 that is not the lame and impotent con.
 clusion which this populist revolution
 contemplates What, then, is it? It l:
 an increase in the price of commodities
 and allowing of labor to shift for 1t
 self (AppIause.)
 If the price of commodities be in
 creased and the price of labor be lef
 stationary why that means cutting
 down of the rate of wages. If instead
 of a dollar which consists Of
 given quantity of gold equal to hun
 dred cents anywhere in the world witt
 the purchasing power of a hundred
 cents. the laborer is to be paid in dol lars worth fifty cents each, why he cal
 only buy half as much with a day
 wages as he buys now. If the value O this scheme is to be tested let the la : boring man ask MT. Bryan and hi . populist friends d simple, common every day question: Where do l com in?" Gaughter) MT. Bryan, himself has a glimmering idea of where tn laborer will come in, or rather of wher he will go out.
 There is one paragraph in his speecl : which, whether 1t was the result of an,
 unconscious stumbling into candor o whether it was 8 contribution made il the stress of logical discussion l an utterly unable to say. But it sheds food of light upon the whole purpos underlying this populst agitation Wage -earners, Mir Bryan says, knoy :, that while a gold standard raises til : purchasing power of the dollar it als makes it more difficult to obtain pos session of the dollar.
 f They know that employment is les , permanent, loss of work more proba : ble and unemployment less certain. l
 that means anything it means that 7 cheap dollar would give him more en, 3 ployment, more frequent employment ? more work and a chance to get enl ) ployment, after he was discharged l Laughter Well, now, if that mean 3 anything to a sane man it means tha if the laborer is willing to have hi wages cut down he will get more worl t There never was the boss of an es : tablishmcnt yet that meant to make l cut in wages that didn't say that. t have never yet heard of anybody wh t attempted to cut down the rate c : wages telling his men that he did it be = cause he liked to do it. They woul tell their men if you don't stand such l cut in wages I cannot employ you nor } than half the time, and that is what M g Bryan proposes for the laboring mass l es of this community, that they take [ dollar of less purchasing power so tha I employment will become more certai I and the chance of reernployn1ent nor
 frequent. Uaughter.)
 If it were true that reduction in tn
 rate of wages would increase tn ' chance of employment, I would nc ; blame MT Bryan for telling the trutl because. however unpalatable the trut
 may be, l conceive it the duty of an