Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1896-10-24

i've sents now. On a silver basis would
| sell for nine cents; so that really on sil-
i yer basis It would need higher wages to
| give the worklngman one of these small
| loaves than IL now needs to give him this
| large one Compare the big gold loaf and
| the little silver loaf, and then let the wage
| Garner himself decide which II Is best that
| he should have for the same amount of his
| earnings. Mr.. Bryan says that the gold
dollar has grown too fat; let him remem-
ber that IL the workingman can only earn
| a lean dollar he can only buy n lean loaf
MANY of the arguments of our foes are
| difficult to meet, simply because they arc
| so absurd that 1t Is hard to speak patiently
! about them. One of these is the talk about
what the lunatic portion of our opponents
are fond of calling the crime of 1S73,' when
| as they say, silver was 'demonetized' by
| stealth. AS a matter of fact the bill which
| demonetized silver was before the two
| houses of congress for over two years; Il
was printed 13 different times, and the pro-
| seedings in relation to 1t occupied nearly
| 80 pages of the Congressional Globe. IL
was passed by large votes after full de-
| bate, during which very able speeches in
| It's behalf were made, among others by
| Senators Jones and Stewart, of Nevada,
| who are now among the least rational of
| the friends of silver. 1t was scattered
| broadcast throughout the country, and
ooinions as to it's value, obtained from
every expert in the land, and If its passage
| was 'stealthy' then every law that was
| ever enacted by congress from the alien
| and sedition acts in Adams administra-
| ton to the Wilson-Gorman tariff of Cleve-
| lands administration was passed by
| Stealth AS for its being a crime, you
| might just as nationally speak of the
| crime of the characterization of iron in
| Sparta about 300 b. G. or the demonetiza-
| tion of cattle in Italy about 1000 b. c. The
| first act demonetizng silver was passed in
1906 under President Jefferson We were
| first given gold currency by the gold act
of 1884, under President Jackson. II we
| should use the terminology of the popu-
lists these acts would figure respectively
as the crimes of 1906 and 1894; and most
| assuredly were jefferson and Jackson
alive to-day they would be read out of the
| democratic party. They were honest men:
| they believed in their country and were
| jealous of her honor; and they would be
| strikingly out of place in the company of
| the men who to-day are striving to make
the nation a sharer in their own infamy.
Talks About the Nations Debt.
! "Mr. Bryan is fond of denouncing not
only those who lend to private individuals
what these private individuals urgently
need, but also those who in the time of the
nations need loaned the nation itself the
money with which to carry on the national
business. 1t is true that we had to pay al
| together too high a rate of interest for
some of the bonds which have recently
| been issued, but this was due, more than
to any other one cause, to the fact that
| Mr.. Bryan and his precious associates of
| the reputation stamp by their antics made
the loan dangerous. nation so foolish
| as to have Mr. Bryan anywhere in its coun-
| ellis by just much weakens its credit and
| in consequence has to pay more for what
| ever 1t borrows. With proper tariff and
a proper financial system we would not
| have to borrow at all, but inasmuch as 1t
was necessary to borrow. we could borrow
at a low rate of interest only if it was
absolutely certain that we would repay to
| the full what was loaned us. Mr.. Bryan
and his associates then insisted and now
! insist that we ought to cheat the men who
| loaned money to the government out of
| half their loan. Just so long as there is
a possibility of the American people pos
sessing sense of honor so blunted as to
make such man president, just so long
will they have to pay high price for their
| folly. When the special champion of dis
honesty runs for the presidency the nation
will have to pay heavier If it wishes to bor-
row The foolish advocate of dishonesty
| is terror to the honest banker, but he is
source of profit to the unscrupulous specu-
| lator. The foolish knaye is always the tool
of the smart knave.
Mr.. Bryan conducts u campaign of de-
| nunciation. He is especially fond of de-
| nouncing nonproducers. Does he mean
| by nonproducers men who do not work
with their hands? Lincoln and Grant, Sher-
man and Farragut rendered the country
| some service at time when they We're
not working with their hands. So, in an
other way, did Emerson and Lowell and
| Hawthorn; and yet III another way did
Fulton and Morse and Edison. Does Mr.
| Bryan really believe that all these men
were useless to the country? Is ne SO
| lost to all sense of patriotism that he does
not glory in their service to the nation?
'"rake again his denunciation of capital
lists. There are good capitalists and bad
| capitalists, just as there are good work
in a NJ hnnpSf
cashiers and dishonest bank cashiers,
| reputable and disreputable newspaper
| men, straight and crooked politicians a
| bad capitalist is worse than bad man
without capital because he can do more
| mischief; just as bad man of ability Is
worse than bad man of no ability. This
no more justfies a general assault on all
capitalists than a general assault on all
men of ability There are in this country
but very small number of great capital
lists. l am not concerned in them. l am
concerned for the great body of our peo-
pie, because l know that the people can
not afford to go wrong. l wish them
to refrain from wronging others, chiefly
because by so doing they would wrong
no one so much as themselves. What Is
n capitalist, anyhow? Every man who
saves money Is capitalist A good capt.
taliSt who employs his money and his
leisure Alright is often the most useful man
In the community. The extreme socialist,
the champion OF the type OF government
which found it's highest expression in the
Paris commune objects the man who
puts few dollars month in a savings
bank on the ground that he thereby be-
comes a capitalist. Mr.. Bryan is well on
his way toward this position. Moreover.
the capitalist and the wage-earner are
often one. Seventy per cent. of the peo-
pie of the United States earn wages and
receive salaries. Mr.. Bryans success
would at one blow strike off half the value
of the earnings of these men.
Gospel of Sectional Hatred.
"In truth, in their attempt to sti: up
what they are pleased to call class hatred
and to arouse one set of American citizens
against another, Mr.. Bryan and his col
leagues are rapidly finding out that their
doctrines lead them into queer positions.
If you try to help one class by allowing
1t to repudiate its debts and cut down the
wages of labor and then as an offset offer
to the laborer free riot, all you do is to
insure the degradation of every class in