The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-08-19
ESSENCE OF THE CAMPAIGN.
A Correspondent Who Thinks That
1t is an All-Pervading Disconte mt.

1t is an All-Pervading Disconte mt.
N. w. Chronicle: In looking at the
present campaign specifically there is
danger of missing the real force underly-
ing the free silver movement, It is a
force which has been gathering to Itself
strength since the panic of '93, and grown
in the feelings of the people until argyll
ment is. as powerless against it as is win
ter's ice against the rush of spring waters,
firm and impregnable though the former
may seem in January. They may not
know the technicalities of currency dis
cussions, nor the intricacies of interna-
tional coinage conditions, but they do
know that for four years, without appar-
emily reasonable cause, they have seen
themselves and their families drift help
lessly and hopelessly into the miseries of
enforced idleness and want. They were
willing to do with all their might what
ever their hands might find to do, but
there was nothing to be done.
The salaried worker was not even in so
pitiable condition as the small man, the
small land owner and the householder,
particularly of the west. High colored
advertisements of large real estate hold
ers and spectators had induced hundreds
of men in the trades and small business
lines to gather up their savings and move
westward before the general development
of the country could sustain any rush Of
urban population. For these people the
time since the panic has been most savere.
Those untouched hardly realize the mis-
cry, the humiliations, and the privations
that have eaten the heart out of life for
hundreds and hundreds Of families. The
mortgage given when money was cheap
and work plenty, remained to be paid for
when money was dear and work scarce,
men might come and men might 60, but
mortgages go on forever. There were
even instances where men had worked
and saved for years, to pay of the indebt-
edness on their houses only to have those
same homes, under the stress Of the hard
times, sold for taxes. And when they
asked themselves why, there was only in
answer the dumb act that it was so.
There was not even the solace of q rea-
son. They we're like man lost In a will
derness, who doubles on his own tracks
and dies of exhaustion without finding
the right path. The piping times Of
peace" were over the land to all appear
ances, but there were as many woes as
follow in the train of war; The sedative
that has kept the American workman
quiet many time has been the compari-
son between his own lot and that of the
toilers across the sea. Either he. or his
fathers came to this country to escape the
conditions of Europe, and he has great
measure of gratitude for the country that
has received him. But that SAME graft
tude makes him doubly suspicious of any.
thing which has the likeness of the con-
ditions he has left behind him. He sees
in the life OF the country, on one. side the
increase of the riotous luxury Of great
wealth.; on the other, the constant and
merciless narrowing of the opportunities
of the poor man. What was the use Of
coming to America, II America is to be
industrially and commercially European
lied? is his question. The Sound mon
ey'' arguments do not touch him, for do
they not emanate from the class that the
sufferings of the last four years, reasona-
bly,, or unreasonably, have impressed up-
on him indelibly as antagnoistic to his in
terests? He sees In the free silver move.
ment the opposition to the hopeless fas-
tening of European class tyranny on
America and he supports it.