Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-08-06
THE SILVER QUESTION.

The silverites ask for the labo
vote, because the gold standard ha
ssreduced the price of human pro
Eduetion". This is asking them t.
sfnite the hand that has helped then
upward and onward to the comforts
LOT life. The product of labor i
the property Of the employer. i
the price Of this is lowered, it is til,
capitalists loss, and labors gain, fo1
the laborers wages will buy more OF
the product.
This is exactly what has happen
ed. Many things that were former
ly luxuries of the rich are to-day ne
cessities for the toiling masses, that
are the bone and sinew of our coun
try This is a national blessing,
fora co,inta'y i great, not by tho
luxuries ofthe wealthy, but by the
comfort and education Of the great
army Of men who earn their bread
by the sweat of the brow. Their la.
Dor is entitled to the best money III
Che world. This is possible only
with the cold standard. when every
dollar, whether gold, silver or pa
per, is on the gold basis. While
the silverites have inveighed against
the fatal fall of prices, caused by
the gold standard, no one, neither
silverite nor populist, has ever said
that the gold standard has caused
wages to fall. The commodities
the laborer has to buy have fallen
in prieesbecallse of better and more
improved sinethods of mancfature
and at the same time the hours OF
labor have. been shortened and the
'l.ata of.Wages increased under the
gold standard.
Tee siIverites say that silver is
the. money Of the poor; SO it is, but
mot not as they intend it. The 81
sv.r standard is the sign of poverty.
Took at Mexico, China and South
America that have free silver. These
countries are but half civilized. La
Dor is poorly paid and hunger and
want are the laborefs guests. The
great laboring classes of this coun
try want none of this. Their silver
must be on a gold basis, must be
supported by gold, must be as good
as gold. This is what we have now
have had for more than fifty years,
and what we propose to maintain.
The Scall for cheap money comes
largely from the same class thai
claimed that lfumarf slavery was {
jblessingto the slave. 1t is but an
other phase of the same idea, the
degradation OF labor.
A debasing Of the money always
reduces the purchasing power Of
wages The price of commodities
change rapidly IN adjusting them
selves to the change of standard
/ Wages advance slowly with friction
bitter feeling and strikes. The OK
perience Of this country during th,
war should be Conclusive lesson
On the basis 0: loe in 1860, the av
eragc of all prices rose to 216.s-il
paper-in 1865, and fell to 142. 3-il
! paper in 1870, while wages rose
/ from 100 in 1860 to only 43 IL
paper-in 1865 and 162.2-in paper-il
| 1870. SO it will be seen that while
prices more than doubled during
| the war, wages only advanced 81
per cent, so that the dollar the la
borer received in 1860 would onl,
1 buy Sc cents worth of. the necessl
ties Of life in 1865, and this too
when large portion. of the abl'
bodied men, mostly from the wage
earning class were in the army
making laborers scarce. And
took labor nearly ten years to rails
their wages to where they were be
fore currency was debased. The re
suit would be the same If free coir
age of silver was adopted by thi
country. If business could surviv
the crash free coinage would inflie