The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-07-25
TO CUT DOWN G
BY Paying the workingman in Cheaa
Silver Dollars.

=" ShChp
Silver Dollars.
EN-Gov. Horace Boies, OF Iowa, is
franker than his fellow silverites. who
pretend thst their 5O-cent-dollar scheme
would benefit the working classes. In
a recent interview he says:
"Ihave myself in this state two farms.
paid for largely with money I have
earned as a lawyer. One is a farm of
1900 acres of land, and the other con-
tains 1000 acres. With the present
price of laborand the present price paid
for farm products, NJ man in the world
could take either of these farms, EVENT.
I should present him with the ground,
and make a dollar oNt OF it. l mean. of
course, that he could not equip the
farm and pay interest on the money
invested in the equipment and wages
for labor out of the income he would
get by selling the products. y farmer
Who works himself and is assisted by
the labor of sons and daughters
could make a small farm pay. But
TO farm IS profitable when conducted
On the basis Of n manufacturing bust
ness. Cheap and abundant money Is
the only remedy for this intolerable
state OF things"
This is a candid admission that he
thinks thatwages are now too high, and
that in some a free silver viii give
the farmers cheaper labor. The mere
fact of an increase in the price of farm
products would not make farming prof
table. if, as is claimed by most of the
sixteen TO one leaders, wages would be
doubled along with doubled prices OF
CIerything the farmer buys. Mr.. Boies
clearly expects that the result of cheap
and abundant money" will be the prac.
.icaI reduction of the price PAID for
farm labor. This would no doubt be
Il very good thing for a rich man with
200 acres Of land. But what does
Iii" poor laborer think of the scheme?
Are tn" American people ready to vote
for a dehased currency which viii re
luce the wages Of the workers?
Next in Importance TO the confession
that free silver would cUt down wages
j. The admission that "a farmer who
works himself can make a small farm
uav." What kind OF farmers does Mr.
HcieS expect TO see prosper? Men who
have bought up big tracts o fiand which
they hold out of use in the expectation
Of selling it at a high prize, and in the
meantime are working it with hired
labor? That IS not the kind of farmers
.-l-.1 A.,- i'll - r. hi.
The man who owns and works his OVID
land is the ideal farmer of this country
The BIG estate with lis gangs" of hired
men may do while new territories arc
3eing opened up, but the welfare of the
public depends on the mon who cult
ate the soil owning the land they till
# ex-Gov. Boics thinks himself entitled
"a an income from his land without
working il himself, he is very much
mistaken. No farmer should prosper
grho simply owns land" and exucctst &c
make = profit out Of other mems labor
That under free silver 4 few men could
use cheap mcnev 70 speculat" in land
and Get rich ont of the toll of the under
paid laborers is the very best reason
,,i.y the masses should vote against it
Gov Boics admits that tn" farmer
wr0 works can MAKE his farm pay. But
in arath"r part Of tn" sama interview he
~ th~t farms bought 20 or - wears
80 cannot De made to pay interest on
their cost. This i q strong argument
~aca;nst cheap money, for it Was the
-~eeanh@ck imitation OF the war period
which put the price of land SO high
that the men who bought farms have
been struggling ever since - pay fOT
thefn. TIE heavy mortgage. with
high interest rates. which are crushing
many farmers. have their origin in
the high speculative price of land
caused by the cheap money craze of TIE
last generation. Free coinage would re.
"cat the evils brought about by the
oyeriesuas of g~recnhacks, and while not
heirir~ the present owners of farms
would benefit spectators and make it
harder for the millions Of landlcss and
homeless men to get n piece of land on
v hich - make a living.
Nh Bnics is evidently a sincere man
and * advocatin" free silver with the
.dea that It will help men. Ike himself.
who OWN l;g tracts of land. But "a the
only results Of that polio would be the
population Of debts. the reduction Of
and the enrichment Of the men
who speculate in land but DO uct work
Themselves. he Is not a safe "uide ;Cr
Whidden Graham.