The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1896-10-09

/ with Mr.. Bryan's election, the silver dollar,
| measured by it's purchasing power. will be
| worth not cent more than the market value
of the silver contained in it. If the market
| value of that quantity Is 80 cents, and you
present at the mint so cents worth Of bullion,
| you get back, not gold dollar. but silver
| dollar worth just so cents. You might, instead
| of taking your bullion to the mint, sell it in
| the market for just the same amount of non
| ~. Indeed, bullion owners unless they have
| some special reason for taking their bullion to
| the mint, will take it to the market and sell
! ii there, as they very extensively do in all
countries in which there is free silver coinage.
| Why should they notp Because, if they have
their bullion coined, they get legal tender dol
| lars for it, Why, if they sell it in the market
| they get there legal tender dollars likewise.
| 1t will therefore he mere question OF special
convenience whether they take it to the mint
| nr TO the market. And in the market, accord
| ing to all human reason and experience, its
| price will, temporary fluctuations notwitls-
| standing, remain. on the whole very near to
| the figure of the cost at which it can in large
| Quantities be produced. Mr.. Bryan's strange
| inaginings have therefore proved only that
when he speaks of government purchases Of
| silver and fixing prices and creating de-
| rland greater than the supply, he simply does
| not know what free coinage Is.
Every sensible person, trust, will now ad-
init that free silver coinage in the United
States alone will make bimetallism, the equal
| use of both gold and silver money, utterly
| impossible, here as Well as abroad. 1t Will
| confirm Europe in gold onometallism and
| condemn us to silver mono1netallism-the ex-
| elusive use of silver as money and of paper
| based upon silver. No doubt this is what the
! silver men are really aiming at.
| How Free Silver Will Work.
| Let us now consider how it will affect the
various interests of the people. The first
| blessing we are promised to flow from free
coinage is general rise of prices. This means
| that the silver dollar will buy less than the
| COL md for no hot
| it is no longer worth as much as the gold dol
| lar. Evidently the promise of bimetallism, of
silver rising to its old price on the one hand
and the promise of higher prices owing to a
less valuable silver dollar on the other hand
| do not go together. The one the other is a
| fraud. OF course the fraud is the promise of
| bimeta1lism. The rise Of prices owing to the
debasement Of the dollar will begin at once
as gold depart and slip on the sill
ver basis. Bread will be dearer milk coffee,
sugar, tea, meat vegetables, will be dearer;
| clothes, shoes and hats will be dearer: rents,
furniture, coal, kerosene-in short, every ar
| ticle the price Of which can be raised by the
| seller.
| High prices are a two edged sword-handy to
| the seller, but unpleasant to the buyer. They
| press, of course hardest upon those who are
| compelled to buy most in proportion to their
income or their earnings. And who are they7
| The poor people. What rich family spends
| upon the actual necessaries of life, the indis
| pensable food, clothing and shelter, is very
| little compared with its income. Most of it's
| expenditures go for things that are not neces-
| saries and may be classed as luxuries, the pur-
| chasing of which may be suspended or post
| poned without hardship. But the poor family
the wage earner's family, is obliged to spend
| a very large part of it's income from day to day
upon food, clothing, shelter, heat and light,
that cannot be temporarily dispensed with
of the necessaries of life the poor people there
! fore suffer by far the most.
Where the Wage Garner VIII Come In.
How stands the case of the wage earners
| whose product can be raised in price proper
| tionate to the debasement of the dollar? AS
| the dollar falls IN value the manufacturer or
| the merchant marks up his goods The work-
ingman the clerk, finding himself hard
pressed by the rise in price Of the necessaries
| Of life. applies for a corresponding increase
of wages. The head of the factory or the
| mercan tile establishment admits that some in
| crease is called for. But says he, "you are
| not the only person in trouble. The value of
| our money is f1uctuating. We hardly know
| what it is today. We surely do not know what
| it will be next week. Profits excessively
close anyhow. We make sale or purchase
| today and think it is at profit. Tomorrow
| we may find that it was at a loss. We hardly
| venture to make contract to be filed at
| future time, because we can make no safe cal
/ culations. We can increase your wages a lit
! tie, but not much. For that you will have to
| wait until things are more settled. Besides
| this silver free coinage has thrown all bust
|
plenty of people ont OF employment who
would do your work for less than you get
now" And so the wage Garner has to be sat
| isled with little increase of pay and wait for
| more while the advanced prices of necessaries
| prey upon him.
Is this mere conjecturea 1t is the experience
OF every country that has been cursed by
| rise Of prices through money Of fuctuating
| value. defy any one to show me in the whole
history Of the world single exception. Have
| xua mr. durin0 nT7r a Gadi wit
| our own eyesf In 1852, when our irredeemable
paper currency had begun to depreciate, the
average wages Of labor rose only per cent,
while average prices rose 1S. In 1868, when
| wages had risen 101a per cent, average prices
| were 40 per cent higher; in 1864 wages had
| risen 25A per cent and prices 901a; in 1866
wages had advanced 43 per cent and prices LIT
above what wages and prices had been in gold
| in 1861. In other words, the laboring mans
| wages had lost in purchasing power more than
| 30 cents in every dollar. Every country Ia
boring under similar conditions tells the same
story. What reason in the world is there to
assume that this universal rule will not oper-
| ate in tho case of free coinage?
| And what have the apostles of free silver
coinage to say to this2 Hear Mr.. Bryan him
self in his famous New York Grafton, stWhile
q gold standard raises the purchasing power
| of the dollar it also makes it more difficult to
| obtain possession of the dollar-employmen
Is less permanent, loss Of work more probable
/ and unemployment less certain" Is that all7
| Yes all. Does not Mr.. Bryan know that un-
der what was practically the gold standard
we had in the 1fties of the most active
and prosperous periods this country has ever
seen2 Does he not know that more recently,
at the time Of the return to specie payments
we had under the gold standard years of sig
nal prosperity with all hands at work. And
does he wish to learn what has been the
/ trouble since and what is the trouble now?
Let him ask the employers OF labor, and with
almost one voice they will tell him that not
the existing gold standard, but the growing
danger of its overthrow, that the growing ag-
| gressiveness OF the free coinage movement,
| filling the minds Of men with anxious appre-
tensions as to dark future uncertainties, has
served to paralyze that spirit Of enterprise
/ which sets the laboring man to work. Let him
study the history of the crisis Of 1898. Not the
| gold standard, but distrust Of silver destroy
ed the confidence that employs labor. This
| Is the truth, and Mr.. Bryan will in vain try to
deny it,
| Debtor and Creditor.
! The free coinage men profess especial solici-
tu6e for those whom they call s'the debtor
| class" Who are the debtor class2 Our silver
/ friends sneak as If. as a rule the rich paoDle