, 1896-09-14
A woRK1NGMAN's QUESTIONS.

An open letter containing the follow.
ing questions was addressed a few days
g to a number of gentlemen in Mo.
bile, Ala, who were advertised to
speak at a Bryan ratification meeting
Up to date the questions have not been
answered.
l. Will the free coinage of silver at a
ratio Of 16 to / increase the rate of wa
ges paid the w%orkingmen in the
United States? If you say it will please
name me some free coinage country in
which the ~workingmen are paid wages
as high as they now receive in the Uni
ted States.
2. We are not only interested in the
rate Of wages, but also in the purchas-
ing power of the money in which wages
are paid. Is there a free coinage coun-
try in the world where a w%orkingman
can buy as much for a dollar as he
can in the United States?
3. Bryan and other advocates of free
coinage claim that it will increase the
price of all commodities. If it should
increase the price of the things which
the workingman has to buy and does
not correspondingly increase his wages,
will he not be most seriously affected
by the change?
4. Is it true that between 1860 and
1895, when the currency was inflated
with paper, that the price of all COM
modities rose 116 per cent. while wages
only rose 3 per cent?
5. If wages only increased about one
third as much as the price of things for
which wages had to be exchanged be-
tween 1860 and 1865, when hundreds Of
thousands of laborers were in the field
as soldiers, do you believe wages would
increase so much under conditions that
would follow Mr.. Bryan's election?
6. The railroads of the country de-
rive their incomes exclusively from
freight and passenger tariffs that are
practically fixed by laws enforced by
state and interstate commissions. If
free coinage increases the price of all
the commodities necessary to the oper-
alton Of railroads. INT their income is
kept down by law, can the large body
of men employed in the service hope
for an increase of wages? AS a matter
of fact. would not a cut in wages be
about the only way in which the rail-
roads could meet the increased cost of
operation?
Z. The street railway systems of this
city are operated under municipal Or
dinances which fix their income at sc
per passenger carried. If Mr.. Bryan is
right in saying free coinage will in
crease prices Of all commodities used by
street railways, can you advise the con-
d~uctors, motormen and other street
railway employees of this city to vote
for free coinage with the hope Of i'm
proving their condition?
8. AS l understand it, your party has
for years made war on a protective tar
if because it increased the cost of the
necessaries of life. If Mr.. Bryan Is
right, will not free coinage in this res
spect be just as bad? Will it not also
create a gigantic trust and make a mar
ket by law for the property of the silver
mine owner at double it's value?
9. Is it true that on the Santa Fe
railroad, operated partly in the United
States and partly in Mexico, that the
laborer on the American side receives
an American silver dollar. while just
across the imaginary line on the Mex
lean side, the paymaster with the Amer
lean silver dollar buys two Mexican sill
yer dollars with which he pays for two
days work?
10. Why is it that 371h grains of sill
yer with the stamp of gold standard
America on it, will 754 grains of silver
with the stamp of silver standard Mex
leo on 1t?
II. II you say it is because the silver
dollar in America is maintained at par
with gold by the government, when the
credit of the government is removed by
free coinage and silver stands on its
merits, will not the American silver
dollar sink to the value of the Mexican
dollar, and will not the American work
ingman who receives it be put upon the
low level of the Mexican laborer?
~. Mr.. Bryan says that gold has ap-
preciated. That under the gold stand
ard the gold dollar has grown in value
from ion cop+a IN ON capts Wapes in