Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-13
FREE SILVER AND THE FARMERS.

The advocates of free coinage of sill
yer hold out to the farmer the hope
that, i'm the event their policy is
adopted, the products of the farm will
bring better prices. 1t is upon this
ground that the farmer is urged to vote
the free silver ticket. The promises
which are made by the free silver
orators ,ld newspapers to the agri-
cultural community as result of the
adoption of their policy are numerous
and manifold. There will be better
prices, better returns, more markets,
more money to purchase with, in fact,
all kinds and forms of good things and
desirable returns if we only could get
the free and unlimited coinage of sill
yer. We will have little heaven
right here on earth all to ourselves. If
half of the good things which are
promised will come as a result of the
election of Mr.. Bryan and free silver
congress, we will have a condition
here in the United States more con-
genial than the fanciful dreams of Ed
ward Bellamy. The glorious predic-
tons of that illustrious socialist are
but faint shadow beside the beauties
which Mr.. Bryan's followers depict
will be here should we open the mints
to silver.
But these are only delusive hopes
held out by the political orator, whose
business it is to win votes and influence
men to support his party, and his party
candidates. Reason shows that they
are nothing else. If there is demand
in the markets of the world for the pro-
duce of our farms they will bring a
higher price. If there is not such de-
mand, and the supply is greater than
the world for the time being wants,
they will not bring so much. That
is plain proposition. All the orators,
all the political speakers, all the
speeches, all the tongues, however elo-
quent, cannot change the great laws of
supply and demand. They are fixed
by other means than the mouths of
stump speakers.
1t is declared that the prices of the
products of labor are fixed by the vol
ume of primary money measured up
against the quantity of products there
are for sale or exchange. But how
can this be if the world only needs a
given quantity, and there is more than
that given quantity to supply the need?
The proper solution of the question, it
seems to us, is to set the wheels of Am.
erican industry in motion SO that the
men who toll have means to purchase
the products of the farm. This is the
only way to increase the market for
what the farmer has to sell. Suppose
you open the mints to the free coinage
of silver, what good will the money be
to the workmen unless he has meth
cd of securing it? There is money
enough at the present time, if conf
dence were sufficiently established to
utilize it in the industries of the coun-
tries. Free coinage will not enable us
to get the money any easier than the
present system does. Where will the
benefit accrue to the American farmer
unless our protective system is main
tanned for the purpose of stimulating
industries, thereby enlarging the mar
ket for the cereals of the farm?
To vote for Mr.. Bryan's ticket is to
vote for something indefinite. There is
no logical assurance given by him and
his followers that a larger market will
be given to the wheat or the pork we
have to sell. They promise more mon
ey, but no more work or a more extend
ed market. 1t is desire for something
which animates men to purchase. Ev
en- if they have desire for a thing
and have not the money to secure it,
though they see millions of silver dol
lars but across the way, and have not
the chance to earn it, they cannot Sc
cure that thing. The man who tolls
must have a chance to get the money,
then he may and will purchase things
which he desires. This he must do
from the farmer and producer. This
is the very system which will benefit
the farmer. AS Major Mckinley has
said: "It is great deal better to open
the mills of the United States to the
labor of America than to open the
mints to the silver of the world"
Place us upon basis of prosperity and
our farmers need not worry for the
want of a market.