Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-10-14
BUNKO THE FARMERS.
GOLD BRICK SWINDLE GIVES WAY
TO THE SILVER DOLLAR.
Honest Hushandmen Should Not be De-
Iuded by the Silvery Promises of the
Political Fakir-Some Plain and Proven
Truths.

We have in this good land Of ours GER
tain people known as confidence men,
who have done considerable posing in
our agricultural communities. The farm
er is but little IL town who lives
comparatively isolated life, whose trad
ing is confined to the sale of his own
products and the purchase of supplies
for his own needs; and who, having hon.
estIy fulfilled his own enga gementS, nat
urally believes other people to be hon-
est; is very apt to rely on plausible
tale told him by graceful, bold and
glib-tongued stranger. Vendors of pat
ent hay forks, lightning rods, and gold
bricks have been most successful in our
rural districts where there is little trade
and the daily paper is least read, but
the Tribune always has, and always
will, SO far as possible, give its readers
fair warning against these gentry.
There is now a new class of farmers
friends who are perambulating the coun-
try and seeking personal gain from the
farmer, not by the gold brick but by the
silver dollar scheme. Out CT love and
Kindness to the sturdy cultiyatorS of the
soil these bold gents exhibit the silver
dollar as an object lesson, and promise
the honest farmer that if he will give
not his written contract nor his prom
issory rote payable in bank, but will
give to the chief of these wanderers and
his friends the control of his own future
and of the destiny of this great nation,
the value of his farm and all of its in
crease shall be doubled.
Now we advise the farmer not 10 be
deluded by these silvery promises. The
value of the wheat, and corn, and beef,
and pork. which the farmer has to sell
depends upon the markets of Europe and
cannot in any way be changed or altered
by these new tangled confidence men,
~ nd no nrn Iyrn hon he
fdence man himself. He proposes to al
low any owner of a silver mine TO take
an ounce or million of ounces of silver
to the mint and have every so cents
worth of it marked a dollar, and asks
the farmer to believe that when he gets
two of these irredeemable coins he will
be richer than when he gets an honest
gold dollar. Do not trust these men;
they are trying TO sWindlc you. They
have deceived you before. and if you
take their advice they will do it again.
-Four years ago some of these same
lmenl told you how you were being i'm
pOverished by Republican, tariff legisla-
ton tI, and promised that if you would put
them III power you would have good
times, YOU would all ride in better car
riages, be better clad and fed, and live
like lords. You took them at their word.
You helped them elect just such a Presi-
dent and Congress as they wanted.
They came into power in March, 1893,
and for two years have had complete
control of all of the legislation and adj
ministration of the United States govern
ment, and fixed up matters just TO suit
themselves, and now they come around
again and tell you that you are worse off
than ever before, and ask you to take a
new kind of remedy for your ills Have
you not had enough of their wares? Do
you desire again 10 invest in any of their
~ 1ral i1.,n
want ally more of their patent hay
forks, or gold or even silver bricks?
-Four years ago they promised us q
tariff which would contain such provis-
ions as would deprive monopolies and
trusts of protection. but over the obiec-
tons of President Cleveland the baser
part of the Democratic combination en-
acted a patchwork unsymmetrically
framed according to the dictation of
Senators German and Brice. the repre-
sentatives of the wealthiest trusts on the
continent. And here is the way they
protected the Western farmer: they put
a tariff of 40 cents a pound on iron ore,
80 or 40 per cent. on iron, ~ cent on
every pound of rice raised on the South
ern plantation, and took away all of the
tariff on wool, leaving the Northern
farmer unprotected on this. one of his
most important products. We refer to
this as a well-knOwn instance showing
how much regard these gentlemen have
for your interests. Do you want to trust
such friends again?
One of the greatest and most powerful
combines in the world is the sugar trust
with its capital of $75, 100000. but the
enemies of President Cleveland after
putting tariff of 40 per cent. on brown
sugar, put an extra protective tariff of
One-eighth of l per cent. on all refined
sugar, the effect of which was to give to
the great Havemyer sugar trust a COM
plete monopoly of the refining of sugar,
and IS said to have increased the value
of it's capital in the sum of SS.000 900.
We are not aware that these gentlemen
did anything of like character for the
Northern farmer. On the contrary, ow-
ing to their revision of the tariff.
they cut down and diminished all of
the protection that the farmer then had
The Tribune told you in 1893 that you
would be deceived and injured and we
ask you as sensible men If our predic-
tions have not come true? Have you
had enough of the patent medicine of
fered to you by these bold strangers OF
do you want another dose?
And now the tariff having been al
tered and changed and business democrat
lZed,. factories shut down and WOrkmen
out of employment and the nation sick
and diseased financially new remedy
is suggested. Bryan and his associates
propose to cure all our ills and make us
tlsan advise you to relieve yourselves of
what little debt you may individually
or politically owe by swindling your con-
fding creditors out of one-half of their
dues. We trust you will take our warn
ing. We verify believe that the farmers
of Indiana, although in the honesty of
their heart, they may be deceived, will
always Indignantly drive from their
doors every man who asks them to save
little money by repudiating their hon
est obligations and will add their num-
bers to the majority that will make Me
kinley President and save themselves
and the flag of our country from dishOn-
or and d'sgrace.-South Bend Tribune
Dressed Meat Compared with Gold.
There are few things with which we
can compare gold with some reason and
assurance, and [ wish to call your at
tention to some of them. There is
dressed meats. for instance Dressed
meat is an article which is manufactured
from time to time to supply an imme-
date demand. Our packing-houses are
not obliged to keep large stock on hand
in the mere expectation of a market. If
the market is glutted they stop killing.
If there is a prospect of a demand they
buy Just cattle enough to meet the de-