Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-09-18

lent OF a declaration that 5O-cent pieces
are dollars. They might lust as Nell
1t would be a legal dollar; hut it would
not buy dollars worth of ANYTHING.
What is the effect of that: The mel-
chant would take care of himself.
"a man keeps a store down here on
Broadway, and that law is going into
operation tonight. He summons all his
clerks and buys % cents worth of pen
ellis. and before he opens his store in the
morning he has marked up his goods to
the new scale. He can do all that. But
berless people. who enlist our interest,
and some of them enkindle our sympa-
thics, who cannot use the pencil. Take
the work of man. He cannot go to the
pay roll with pencil and mark it up.
He has got to consult somebody. He
has. to enter into an argument. He has
got to get some other mans consent be-
fore he can mark up his wages. Then
there is the pensioner. those that are re-
reiving pensions from this government
for gallant deeds done i'll the war. and
Others for the loss of beloved ones. He
cannot take his pension certificates, and
when it reads eight dollars make it read
appeal to Congress. and Congress that
is populstic i'll character would be I'M
sympathetic. lApplause). Take the
men who have life insurance. Can they.
where the policy reads $4,000, make it
$4,000: No. Can the managers of
these. institutions make it right with
them? No. This policy cocrces intcg-
rity. (Applausc).
"NIy friends, the mon surely do not
contemplate the irrctrievuble and extern
sivc character of the disaster and dis
IL
proposing for all of us i'll all our business
affairs, great and simple. Take the la
boring man; how full of sympathy they
| are for him. My countrymcn, ] never
spoke false word to the laboring man
in my life. Great applausc). | have
never sought to reach his vote or intlu-
ence by appeals to that part of his ma
ture that will pollute the intellect and the
conscience. have believed and i be-
tains the prices OF labor in this country.
that brings hope into the life of the la
boring man, that enables him to put hy,
that gives him Il stake in the good order,
the prosperity of the country, is the pol
icy that should he our American policy.
tApplause.) 1 have resisted in many
campaigns this idea that 81 debased cur
first dirty errand that IL dirty dollar does
is to cheat the workingmen. (Applause. y
My friends. cold statistical inquiry.
non-partisan in it's character. was made
by a committee of the Senate in 1890
and some following years. The commit
tee was composed of Democrats ana of
Republicans. and they set out to study
as statisticans the relative prices of COM
modities and wages at different periods
in the history of our country. This in-
vestigation covered the years of the war.
1t showed how prices of goods went up
and i'll what proportion labor advanced.
Goods went up rapidly because the pen
ell process is u quick process. Wages
Went up haltingy and slowly. because
the employer has 10 be persuaded and
tho pencil won't serve.
Now. 1 have here memorandum of
some of those facts resulting from that
investigation. Labor in one period ad-
vanced ; per cent: goods. the things
the men had to buy out of their wages
for their families aud their living. ad-
vanced lS per cent. Through another
period the laborers' wages advanced lOl:.
per cent. and the price of goods ade
vanced 40 per cent. In another period
the wages of the laborer went up "a per
cent. and the prices OF merchandise id-
vanced 80 per cent. In another peri,