The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-10-30
WAGES MUST
COME DOWN.
This Will Be an Inevitable Re-
suit if Mckinley Should Be
Elected President.
THE REASONS FOR IT.
Whether Wages Go Up or Down De-
pends Altogether On the Re-
suit of the Election
n the Gold standrrl Is to Became Fer
manent Wages win Decline Along
with Ever thing Eise-The Prof
its Of business Already Gone
bryan, Success VIA
Avert THIS
Crisis.

Chicago, Oct -. 1So6.-[Specia..1-
The most sweeping and disastrous re-
duction OF wages in the history OF
American industry will follow the
presidential election, if the gold stand
ard is finally foisted upon the nation.
Wage-earners are warned in advance,
end if they fail to heed and govern
themselves accordingly it is their own
fault
If Mr.. Mckinley is elected there will
be a reduction in wages in all the great
factories and mills of the country.
Were it not for the certainty that
general reduction in wages would bury
Mr.. Mckinley under an avalanche Of
votes, wages would have been reduced
two months ago. By almost Superhu-
man energy Mark Hanna and the Re-
publican managers have aVerted the
reduction except in few unimportant
instances. The great trusts, with their
billions Of money and their millions
Of employees have been federated into
q campaign machine, and have acted
in concert. They have done so at an
enormous sacrifice in profits. Many
great corporations have been running
at an actual loss, and the banks have
been called on for support, until the
strain threatened a panic.
But it was life or death. To shut
down was a fatal admission To reduce
wages was suicidal. The weak ones
| were encouraged financially and they
are now entering on what they pro-
| pose shall be the last month of the
| present wage scale.
If Mr.. Mckinley is elected, the po-
| litical orators of the next decade will
grow eloquent in description of the
good times of 1896" They will de-
| scribe how in the fall of 1893 the great
| factories We're running on full time:
| how every man who desired work could
find it; how the tramp became a rar-
| ity and the smoke from a thousand
| factory shafts blackened the, sky and
the hum of industry made glad music
| in the land.
| There Is not a well-posted man in
| Chicago, New York, Philadelphia
Pittsburg or any other manufacturing
| center who does not know that there
will be a general reduction in wages
put into effect the day after Mckinley
| Is elected.
This Is so self-evident that it re-
quires no written or verbal proof. BY
every act, by every move, by the col.
umns Of the great daily newspapers
they have proclaimed the coming re.
duction in wages in terms SO plain thai
every man with common intelligence
can read between the lines.
The United States has been on ar
absolute gold basis since the repeal O
the Sherman act, which repeal was II
1898 Since that time there has beer
! q steady and relentless reduction II
prices and consequently in profits
Wages have been reduced somewhat
, but in no proportion as compared Will
, the decline in selling price of all form
of property, with the single exception
Of gold. Real estate has declined, rent
have fallen, manufactured goods hav
, decreased in selling price; thousand
. of articles of manufacture and Of com
: mon Use have dropped slowly but sure
ly in the price scale. Look at you
stock reports. Compare the liste
l value Of railroad stocks with the quo
"
q paper and compare the quotations o
q the great industrial stocks with tn
: figures of a year or two ago. They te
the same story: the story Of stead
decline in values with decreased carr
ings for capital.
Capital and not labor has been tn
sufferer from the condition of affair
4 BY labor Is meant employed labor. 3
! capital is meant money employed
business or manufactures. Capt.,
hesitates long before making a was
reduction. Capital respects the gre:
3 labor organizations which stand like
}, rock in defense of prevailing wage
!. Capital knows the cost OF gres
s strike, and carefully considers the col
sequences before. precipitating a was
war. AS a result organized labor Is II
's last to suffer from steadily fal
d ing prices and the wages of unorgal
8 lied labor are fixed by the relati,
b prosperity of the trade unions.
Can any one deny these Statement
and prove their falsity? Are they n
self-evident? There is no theory abo,
l. It. These are the things that have hal
" pened. To recapitulate: Capital en-
r ployed In business and manufactu
has suffered and suffered enormousl.
business men ard manufacturers ha,
held out, hoping against hope for q ri
e ing market: some of them have faile,
n those yet In business can maintain Il
D. prevailing wage scale no longer. al
Y are compelled by the inexorable La
y of supply and demand to reudce wag
: to q poirt where profits are possibl