The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-08-28

but Noah had sailing orders from above and
refused to take him aboard. AS Noah sailed
away he shook his fist at the old man and ex-
claimed, $50 to the devil with your old dug
out; it isn't going to be much Of a shower
anyway"
The fifth proposition is that 16 to coinage
| will increase the prices of property. IF this
! government should open its minis to coinage
of the worlds silver at 16 to l, we would go at
once to silver recommendation. This is the
| voice OF all history emphasized by the present
status of every free coinage country on the
| earth. We can no more have bimetallism in
actual use and unlimited silver coinage than
! we can have q square, round object or dry
| wet weather. Wherein would the people be
benefited if they get double prices in half val
ne money? If farmers products brought
! double prices so would the manufacturers. The
| benefits and advantages would be equal, ex
! cept that buyers would always deduct enough
! to safely cover the fluctuations of silver, and
| this amount would be dead loss to producers
and premium to spectators. knew a boy
| who sold cur dog for 500, but he took pay
| In pups at $50 apiece so he was not material
ly benefited by the inflated prices.
Cheap Money Hurts Labor.
| The inf1ationists admit that their scheme is
| against the interest of all those who live upon
| fixed salaries. This includes every one whose
| services are paid for by the year, month, week
! or day, from president of a railway system to
| hodcarrier and those who draw pensions
| from the government. History teaches that
| wages have never participated in boom prices
| created by debauching the money of a coun-
| try. They have remained about the same
| whether paid il good bad money. The
wage Garner is a traitor to himself and his
| family when he lets his prejudice lead him to
! the imitation camp and agrees to take his fixed
| pay i'll a deprecated money. If this l6 to l
| movement should succeed, he would find that
| he had lost all the vantage ground for which
ha6 Gtr and CTR,
| for hundred years. The modicum Of pros
| perlty in manufacturing interests in Mexico
| is based on the degradation of their labor. We
| do not want prosperity at such price, and we
| are getting it rapidly without swindling our
| labor When the laborer prospers, he becomes
consumer and his prosperity reacts upon
| and benefits all other interests. In Mexico
| they have many refined and wealthy people,
| but their laborer is peon He gets from 10 to
| ~ cents per day in money worth half its face
| value. He lives in a miserable mud hut, eats
| the poorest food that will keep his body alive,
wears the meanest cloth that will hide it and
! is even denied the privilege of gentlemanly
| jag and has to get drunk on cactus juice. In
every silver double standard country in
the world the same degradation of labor is APP
parent.
We are told that silver is the poor man 8
money. This appeals to his prejudice and is
wholly untrue. Wages are not paid in silver
at the end of each day, but they are paid by
the year, month or week, in currency or gold,
with just enough silver to make the correct
change. The kind of money in transit is inn
material so 1T goes, but when it is boarded,
laid by for rainy day. then it's staying quail
lty becomes interesting. The rich man boards
by investing in property or by depositing in
bank, and the bank has the option of paying
him in silver, while a large per cent of the
poor men patronize the sock leg and the bosom
Of the earth, and they always hide gold for
stability and being less bulky it is easier to
hide. So these poor men are on gold basis
and the rich men are on a silver basis, if the
banks elect to put them there.
Prejudice is the curse of this country. 1t is
the only reef in the path of our ship of state,
the only menace to our experiment of self gov
eminent. The prejudice of the uniformed
makes them the prey of professional agitators
calamity howlers and politicians Who are an
hungered for office.
Our Excellent Financial Showing.
The argument is made that we owe much
foreign debt that the interest is confiscating
us. The ablest fnanciers ON this continent
who have made the subject a study place our
foreign debt at So, co., COO 900, which as they es
innate at "a 41arate of interest amounts to an
annual interest account of 10000 900. Our
globe trotters are spending annually SAT, co.,,
600 abroad. Most of them are ignorant of the
beauty and grandeur of their own country,
which far surpasses anything they see abroad.
They ought to give up this foolish fad and
spend their millions getting acquainted with
this country for few years. If are actu-
ally insolvent and cannot pay we ought to
make general assignment for the benefit of
all our creditors This is the way an honest
man does when he fails in business. He does
not hide out his property and offer so cents on
the dollar Instead of being insolvent we
are better able to pay than any people on the
/ face of the earth. Our national debt is in
round numbers S915, 962, 000 1t has been re-
duced to one-third its former amount In 1868.
it was ST. 845, 907, 000 The debt of Great Britain
and Ireland (the creditor nation) is So $50, 49,
600; the debt of France is 81, 446 600, 600: Rus
STA, So, 49 000, COO; Austria Hungary, 81 SEE, Co.,
600: Italy, So, 324, 0OO 600; Germany, 81 CSC, Co.,
600; Spain with one-fourth Of our popula-
tion), $1,251, 100000
The per capita debt of France is SIG: OF
Great Britain and Ireland, S87; Italy, SIC;
Spain, $73; Russia, $50, while our per capita
debt is $14. Uncle Sam, bless his old soul, is
the only good housekeeper in the whole lott
Our bank deposits amount to $4, 0OO OOO, 0OO
while those of all Europe only amount tic
Sc, 500, 0O0, 900. By our last census our per
capita of wealth, as shown by the assessment
rolls was $34l, and the people have never been
bad about assessing their property too high
The war veterans cannot be for Reputation
on account of our alleged inability to pay. 1t
is a fundamental principle of law and morals
that man must be just before he is generous
and that gifts made by an insolvent void
as to creditors. Our government is giving them
about SAC, 000, 600 annually. If we afford
to be liberal, we ought to strain point and
be honest too. If our government can give it
like a prince, it ought to pay like gentle
man.
Who Are the Debtors?
A largo part of the debts figured against us
are in fact not interest bearing debts. They
consist of railroad, real estate and other cor
poration debts where defaults were made, and
mortgages on the property have been fore
closed, the property sold and the debts prac-
tically extinguished.
The only debts that the people at large are
interested in are the national debt and the
state debts. The state debts, by the last GEN.
sus, amounted to $228 997, 1897. The county
debts amounted to $145, 04S, 045; school district
debts $685. 7O1. 94S. while the debts of cities and
towns amounted to 1874 453, $50. making total
Of 81, 1885, 21O, 442. You will observe that about
three fourths of this total debt is owed by the
cities and towns With this borrowed money
they have built gas, electric light and water
works plants, paved their streets, etc. Now,
the 16 to city man asks his country brother,
who uses coal oil in his house and darkness
outside who draws his water from well and
bathes in the creek. who splits the mud in wet
weather and kicks up the dust in dry, to help