The record-union., 1896-09-05
PRICES AND WAGES.

"Harper's Weekly" takes Mr.. Bryan
severely to task upon questions Of fact,
and shows that he either nisrepre-
sents or is ill-informed as to the his
tory Of the country. The exposition is
one Of interest. There can be no cheat
about it, since the historical records
will determine where the truth resides.
AS to the laws of finance and trade
they are quite too well settled and too
we'll understood to permit Of any tor
turing by orators Of the Platte or any
other shallow river.
Taking up one branch Of Mr.. Bryan's
debate-though the weekly declares
that every branch Of 1t IS equally vul-
nerable-that Of the gold standard. the
criticism proceeds somewhat after this
causic manner. Mr.. Bryan's theory
he states to be that adherence to gold
standard, or to that which he admits
is most valuable" brings disaster by
lowering prices, but that prosperity
and high prices will follow the adop-
silver at 16 to /.
But In his acceptance speech Mr..
Bryan said that "as long as the scram-
bic for gold continues prices will fall,
which means hard times" This is pro-
ncunced euphemism for the gold
standard of the civilized world. He also
claimed that he Is insisting upon a re-
turn to the financial policy approved
by our statesmen from Washington to
1873. That Is to say. he means that we
bad bimetallism to 1873, and that BIZ
metallism would cure the evils Of low
prices and hard times, says his critic.
To this IT is replied that all intelligent
men know that cheap necessaries Of
life are not a curse, but blessing;
that all man, especially wage earners,
rejoice when the purchasing power of
their wages Is increased; that the man
Is cracked who prefers to pay ten cents
for sugar If he oan get 1t for three.
But Mr.. Bryan contends, says the
Weekly" that when S10O Of wages
VIII buy $50 worth Of food or clothes
instead Of 500 worth, the wage Garner
is prosperous.
Now what Is the history Of the coun-
Try on that point7 We tried the pol
10y TO which he would return and 1t
was failure. and so confessed our
statesmen. They tried to keep in cir
culation gold and silver coin Of our
minting along with foreign cheap coin
and the result was that presently we
had only the cheap coins and hard
times. We then had cheap food and
dear clothes. fuel and other necessaries
Of life. We had also cheap wages In
1S40, for instance, 800 of wages Of the
as they will to-day.
But between 1850 and 1860 we had
an era of prosperity, and also panic
The latter came in 1857. We had ther
abandoned attempted bimetaIlism and
had an overstock Of cheap paper
money. Of which Mr. Bryan approves
But low prices did not accompany the
disaster. On the contrary, food prices
rose, as did prices generally, and wages
went down So here was a case of hard
times, cheap money. high prices and
low wages. There are plenty Of mer
and women living who well remember
that unhappy era
From 1853 to 1860 there was abound
ing prosperity, and prices fell while
wages rose. Examples of this fac
are given from old quotations. From
1860 to 1865 we had war and a depre-
ciated currency; food prices rose from
100 to 216.5, and clothing from 100 tc
1892, while fuel went from 100 to 237 s
Wages went UP, but not in proportion
workingmen's wages went from 100 tc
1885, and silver fell from 1882 ar
ounce to $1.338 showing that silver
does not govern the prices of commodi
ties, as Mr. Bryan contends.
In 1865 the workingman's increased