The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-08

I WHgG 9aTneT, TaTmor and thA
business mani; and, second VIII the pro-
posed free silver coinage, If enacted, help
the wage Garner, the farmer and the business
man?
Men may raise, as they do, a multitude of
size questions They will cut no final figure
In this any more than they have with other
great social or economic subjects of national
concern Let me illustrate In this contro-
| Versy some advocates of free silver have
much to say about the money Of the consti-
! tuition and of the fathers who framed the
constitution. 1t was the same in the old fays
OF slavery. Then men who defended slavery
! Always made the same appeal, the same argu-
the constitution but because slavery was
wrong 1t had to go, constitution or not The
Iathers intention about slavery in this
go ot,a zen counted for nothing when the
natlon nnally saw that slavery was wrong
Ihus II will be with reference to this ques-
tion No matter If the fathers 100 years ago
, Mere goid monometallists, if gold monometal-
ism is today working evil, IL must CO. So
nkeWise. II the methods of the fathers were
!, IA any respects wrong, they must and will
be abandoned. Those financial methods of the
Iathers can remain only if they are right
ana suited to cur day. May l add the same
remark about the act of 1873. If that act
WORKS mischief, 1t should and will be re-
Peaied, as was the old fugitive slave act
NO matter IL the act of 1873 was PASSED
properly as was the fugitive slave act On
!; ine otner hand. If that law is correct one.
II VIII stand, or it will be re-enacted and
mace the basis of all future legislation no
matter now much controversy there NAV be-
congress. o.
IN all these questions we must go straight
70 the meat OF the controversy. There Is and
t fSn Dc , out two vital questions involved in
t tnls wnoie controversy. We must stick to
,nese; First. Has the legislation Of 1873 in
Jureo the great masses of our people? and
second ono How will the proposed free coinage
.. SILVER aHect those masses? In the balance
u my Talk shall conf1ne myself to a con-
sloeration OF these two questions.
"a 1nu nrst VIII speak of the alleged general
! hoe fAIlo. =
do1S. IL Is said that all articles of sale have
Ialien since 1878. Is it so? Let us see. There
are many men and some women before me
VINO Keep house. Are there any among them
VINO now buy meat for less than they did in
tnls town In 1872? If there are wish thew
woui1 noid up their hands 1 see no hands
ers and buy fat steer or hog for less than
you could in gold or currency in 1872? Hold
up your hands as many of you as think you
can l see no hands up. You are correct
Animals for meat and meats are higher in
the United States as whole than twenty
nve years ago.. Let us now take another ar
now ana twenty-five years ago? In 1864 nails
| sold wholesale for $7.85 hundred now they
are only trif1e over a dollar.
There is like reduction in steel Bessemer
rails for railroads. In 1857 they were worth
$l66 ton, now they are only a little over
! $2O a ton. Everything made of iron and steel
mas likewise fallen in price. But why have
iron prices fallen and those for hogs and fat
steers and meat risen? Who will tell me
! We have improved the methods for making
iron, we use more machinery in it's production
ana SO lessen its cost. We cannot make
steers and hogs and meat as yet by ma
! ehinery. We must still depend upon the good
old way of raising them. The new methods
! and new machinery cheaper the iron the
| old methods keep up the price of meat and
| hogs and steers.
have called your attention to one phase of
| this subject of falling prices. Let us turn to
the other. First, how have these falling
prices affected you and me as wage-earners ?
| When you go to the store and buy nails to
! make repairs your little home and pur-
chase them for one-fifth of their old figure. do
the low prices hurt you? When your wife
wants new dress and she buys the cloth
for one-half the old figures, does the small
| price hurt you? Do you grumble so much
over cheap flour as you do over dear meat ?
Let us be honest with another here. We
cannot make anything by trying to cheat
ourselves. How have the falling prices in
] jured the wage-earners?
The whole thing from their side heard
stated very forcibly the other day by free
! silver advocate, while talking about the sub
| ject for the benefit of the farmers. He was
trying to show the farmer how his lands
would double in value as the result of free
| silver. He said, man who works for wages
and votes to increase the prices Of all he
| buys when he has nothing to sell but his
| labor is fool. It is otherwise for the farmer.
Now, 1 think that the man reasoned incor-
rectly for the farmers, but I know he rea-
soned correctly for the wage-earner. The
! wage-earner with nothing to sell but his toll
|
Low prices do not injure him, but always
have benefited him, unless they have lessened
| his wages still more than the prices. OF that
shall speak later. If you are a6 UNCERTAIN
! to leave it to me to settle, leave 1T to your
wives at home.
| But do these falling prices injure business
men as silver men assert? Let us see. Ii
| falling prices injure business men, they will
| injure those most in the lines in which there
is the greatest fall Is not that a truism
| Fa1I arInI CfnA roi 1c
and iron production generally? If so, / do
not know what it Is. Let us talk about the
manufacturers of these articles. How many
of you remember the Homestead strike four
years ago? All, I see you all remember it.
| We learned much about iron and steel max
| ing at that time. We all took very radical
| ground of a certain kind in 1892. Let us look
at this statement about business ruin in the
| light Of the things learned and said by us
| four years ago in connection with that Home
stead strike. Did any of us denounce the
men at Homestead for making the demands
that they did concerning wages? Did any OF
us say that IL such demands, If complied
with, meant the ruin Of Carnegie? OF those
! before me, many today, as advocates for or
I believers in free silver coinage are saying
that falling prices mean business ruin. Did
any of you, four years ago, talk that way
to all my questions. The free silver advo-
Gates of today were as loud In denouncing
Carnegie four years ago as any Of the rest
of us. They agreed with the rest of US then
in saying that If Carnegie was growing rich
out Of the iron business, that the men should
receive a share Of his great profits Were
we all right then in that position? I be-
lieve we were. If SO, then the free silver ad-
vocates are wrong today when they assert
that falling prices mean universal business
ruin. The act of 1873, if 1t causes business
ruin today, must have been operative four
years ago at Homestead Let us be consist
ent, and tell the same story now as then. If
! the proposition of the free silver men about
falling prices Is true, then we were all in a
! gigantic conspiracy to iQiuro CarnnQiA four
years ago. You don't believe we were in
such a conspiracy, do you?
Again you have all joined with me in the
past in condemning the Standard Oil COM
pany. You have agreed with me that this
! concern was making money, but they have
| done this in a falling market. The export
| gallon. In 1891 it was only 6S cents. Here
! again you see that falling prices do not
necessarily mean ruin to the producers.
! Let us take up another subject with which
we are all familiar 1t is now only three
! years since the Pullman strike and the great
| strike on the railroads. The men at Pull
man struck against cut in wages at a
time when the company was paying eight per
cent dividends upon millions of watered
stock. Did we side with the men or with
Pullman? With the men. Why? Because
We thought the cut in wages unwarranted.
! We're we right? l believe were. But
| here comes our free silver advocates and
say: No, Pullman being ruined by fall
| ing prices. He ought to have cut the men S
wages. 1t is true they never mention Pull
man when they talk about falling prices.
But Pullman is type Of the business men
Of whom they do talk. Let US talk about
him and his striks today. 1 will only say a
] few words. You know the facts about that
strike as well as I do. If not better Either
one of two things are true. Those men at
they we're not. If they were reasonable in
| their demands. there is no foundation to this
statement by free silver men about universal
business ruin following falling prices. If the
1 free silver men are right then we were all