Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-09-28

/ prices for their products. IheSe COLI
| ditions will return with the restoration
of free coinage.
JOHN CRAYCROFT.
The "Go1d Clause" Against Silver.
| What is the secret of the united cor
porate interests support of the goid
standard? 1t is this: Such corporate
interests are held up by mighty bond
ed indebtedness, and, unlike the bonded
| indebtedness of the government, those
| bonds are not payable in "coin, but
| gold. With reconciliation OF silver
those bonds would still be payable IN
| gold on account Of the "gold clause
in them, while earning capacity would
be on the bimetallic basis. They have
| tied their fortunes to the gold stand
ard and want the government to be
with them, not for comradeship IN
| misfortune, but because the govern
ments adoption Of the gold standard
carries the unit of value by which all
people must pay their debts with 1t.
| They are willing to pay their debts
! in gold if their income is also in gold,
| for that leaves their surplus still IN
gold.
The interests Of the people, except
as the people are stockholders In such
| corporations, are right the other way.
| An enhancing dollar is to them bad
dollar, for it works irreparable injury
to them. 1t is not only continuing
evil, but an augmenting one. All the
| stockholders interests except his in
| terest in these corporate stocks, which
come in only when or after the gold
clause bonds are paid, are on the
| side of the bimetallic standard. The
stock interests of the leading stock
holders are greatly in excess of other
| interests, and he is, by this proposed
reconciliation of silver, caught be-
! tween the devil and the deep sea. He
| is therefore for the gold standard, be-
| cause it is to his interest to be for it,
and he uses his influence to persuade
other lesser stockholders or small stock
holders, whether their stock interests
outweigh their other interests or not,
| to be with him. 1t isn't because he
thinks the gold standard is a good
thing. He knows it is bad thing-a
| dangerous thing, and would like to es-
cape it, but his interest ties him for
the time being to it, because he is in
| the grasp of higher shylock, who has
| him on the hip.
| Who is entitled to the governments
fair dealing upon this question? The
stakeholder who has become suddenly
enriched by a large watering of stocks
made valuable in many cases by the
| free gift of the people in the form Of
| franchises and other legislative privi-
leges. or the people who granted these
| privileges and whose interests are di-
rectly antagonistic to the interests Of
the corporations-aye and who are
perfectly right in all the claim?
The National Debt Is Not Reduced.
! 1t was generally thought at the ter
| mination of the war that the debt
would be paid in thirty years, or one
generation. While from that view
| these figures are discouraging, as at
| least 100 years will be required to
| liquidate the obligation, they bear the
| apparent consolation that the debt is
| seemingly being reduced. But even
| this is a grievous error, for, measured
in the products of labor, more than
| two-thirds of the debt has been paid,
and yet the remainder is twice as great
as the original amount was Thus, in
1866, the average price Of wheat, as
stated by the Department of Agricul-
ture at Washington, was SAG, and the
number of bushels required to pay the
| debt was, in round numbers, 1,12S,-
| 100000. Farmers could become rich
in those days. During the thirty years
| since that time, the average price of
wheat has been $1.31, and the num-
Der Of bushels paid has been, in round
numbers, 76O,000,O00. In the last year
| the average price of the same cereal
/ has been $3.50 cents, and the number
of bushels required to pay the remain
der of the debt, after one-third has been
apparently. and two-thirds actually
paid, is about 2,660,000,o0O. History
! of Demonstration
| We Need More Coin.
We need more coin because we have
not lawful tender coin enough for the
| legitimate demands Of our trade. Be-
cause we shall require much more coin
| than we now have to pay our coin obli-
cations, and more than we will ever
have if we persist in maintaining an
exclusively gold basis. Because this
| policy would tend to revive business.
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