The Butler weekly times., 1896-10-22
A Union Soldier to His Comrades

it is possible that /, Union soldier
q Republican, who have received
from the soldier comrades OF my
State the highest honor i'll their giif'
can think of voting for any candidate
for President except the Republican
candidate, our respected friend and
comrade, William Mckinley
Twill tell you, comrade. how it is.
You cannot realize more than |. by
tie ties Of old beliefs, association,
affection and fraternal feeling.
Give me credit comrade, for the
same devotion to courtry which you
teel, that same devotion we mani
tested by acts, not word, third OF
a century ago, and hear my reasons
for the faith that is in ne
Take no man s statement on trust
Hear and read both sides. Consid
er; weigh; balance; find tbs truth;
prove it, if you can, and when you
know your duty, do it as fearlesslv
as you did in .the days that tried
mems souls
Whv is our country in distress?
We have had rich soil, fair skies,
good crops, stout hearts and wiling
hands, and peace for thirty years.
and yet our country is almost "a sad
as in the bloody days of war. What
is the cause?
Our comrade the Major ascribes
it mainly to bad legislation on the
tariff. think we have had bad tar
iff legislation, but that cause is not
adequate to this effect. The present
tariff is higher than the Morrill, tar
if, under which we prospered many
years; it is a little lower than the
Mckinley tariff, which think de-
served longer trial. But sixty
cents more per head would help the
Treasury all it needs. l do not be-
lieve we are suffering all these ills
because OF sixty cents per head. 1t
is the suffering of the people, not
the Treasury, we must provide for.
The common people suffer in other
lands also, and It is not tariff that
troubles them.
Where is the cause great enough
to throw the people and other peo
Piles from prosperity to the depths
of 1esolation? There is one cause
great enough. The destruction of
half the worlds money, which changes
the ownership of half the worlds
property. That cause. which has
driven the comfortable to poverty,
the wellto do to anxiety, and the
rich to arrogance, is great enough
to answer for all our ills.
Thousands of years both gold and
silver had been freely used for mon.
ey. For eighty years our country
used both metals. No one ever heard
of tho citizen who had too much oi
either gold or silver. Every nation
looked upon its store of gold and
silver as blessing. How then car
one of them be a curse? How has
it become "debased?' Why "dis
hcnest?"
Our Government is like a great
machine shop. Money is the ctean
power. It was planned for two
connected boilers, one of gold anc
one of silver No matter which boil
or we drew from, we had the power
of both, and the shop ran we'll unit
81. Then we need more power, ,ar(
Father Abraham contrived q green
back boiler which, when the Others
partly failed us, gave us steam t
drive the wheels and save the nation
But until 1878 no one thought W,
had too much power, or thought i
would be wise to take from the peo
pie the money power they had en-
joyed from the beginning.
With gold and silver we are like
family with two wells. 1t matter
hut little from which we'll they us
water from day to day. But destro
one we'll and let neighbor contre
the other aud our family is in ba
fix If the neighbor is disobliging c
the house catches fire.
1t has been preached to US ths
silver was little used prior to lSI;