The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-11-01
TO THE wORKINGMAN.
Mr.. Bryan Tells How The Will Benefit by
Free SiIyar

Free Silver.
In answer to the question, els it true
that as soon as we get free silver. the
purchasing power of the wokringman's
wages will be decreased" Mr.. BRYAN
writes to the New York Journals:
Chicago, Oct. 27.-To the..Editor of the
Journal, New York: That is a question
that is propounded by the manufacturer.
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 want to say that, in
the sense in which the words are used, I
reply, NO. There are two things to be
cGoopqsidered:
First, The number of dollars that the
laborinG inqn receives, and second, the
purchasing power of the dollar he re-
ceives. -""-->
If you take the purchasjii2g power of a
single dollar, it will be less; Bnrt ut the
present time great many workingMen
are working on half time, and many are
not able to find work at all, and YOU
must remember that, when you decide
whether the purchasing power of the
workman's wages is decreased you must
take what the workingman. will receive
IN dollars under free coinage and COM
pare it with what the workingman re-
celves IN dollars now under the gold
tandard
More than that, you also have to con
slider that under the present conditions
when a man loses his job it is hard to find
work again, and that every man who
finds employment is menaced by idle
men, increasing in number, who stand
ready to take his place, ut Il momeot's
notice.
We insist that the conditions that will
he brought about by the free coinage of
silver, the Increased demand for work in
order to supply the goods which will be
consumed when the.people are prosperous
under bimetallism, and the increasing
wages which will come with greater de-
mand for labor-we insist that, when
these things are considered the working
man will receive more dollars and that he
can buy more with the larger wages
which he will receive under free coinage
that he can buy now with the few dollars
he receives under the gold standard, and
then his employment will be more per-
manent, e.,
Let me give you test challenge
You to lind an instance where the labor
ing man ever suffered because of the
bimetallic standard. They. tell you prices
Will rise. believe that general prices
will rise. They tell us that that mea ms
suffering to the workingmen. I want
you to look back over the period when
we had rising prices, and you will find
that those times 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
dollar goes up.
Remember that the laboring men have
never endorsed the gold standard i'm any
nation that has had it; and when You
see the beauties of the gold standard
presented to laboring men by people who
do not labor; when you find that the
blessings brought blythe gold standard
are so disguised that IL financier has to
spend all the time during the campaign
pointing out all those blessings to the
laboring man, who cannot discover them
when they are pointed out, you will I'M
derstand what the gold standard has
done for the labDring man.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN