The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-19
REPLY BY COCHRAN
Continued from First Page.

dedicated to political discussion No. it re-
CURES the labor of man, and the labor of
man alone to create wealth If Mr. Bryan
is going to enrich somebody, the thing which
he means to bestow on him he must take from
somebody else. Who is
TO BE DESPOILED.
and who is to be enriched by the exercise of
this new scheme of government. "a cry of
silver mine owners.')
My friends the silver mine owners will get
cheated with the rest. government never
can be generous, because if it be generous to
one, 1t must be oppressive to another. But
mis- financial scheme contemplates an increase
in the price of certain commodities. We are
coming now pretty close to the wood pile
behind which the African is concealed.
Now, II everything in this world or in this
country, including labor, be increased in value
tomorrow, in like proportion, not one of us
would be affected at ALL If everything be in
creased 10 per cent in value. we would pay
10 per cent in addition for what we would
buy, and get 10 per cent more for what we
would sell, and we would be exactly in the
same place we occupied before. Therefore
1t is fair to assume that this is not the
lame and impotent conclusion which this Pop
uiist revolution contemplates What then is
IN 1t? 1t is an increase in the price of
commodities and allowing labor to shift for
Itself. If the price of commodities be Increased
and the price of labor be left stationary.
why. that means cutting down of the rate
OF wages. stS
If. instead of a dollar which consists of
given quantity of gold equal to a hundred
cents anywhere in the world. with the nur
chasing power Of hundred cents, the laborer
is TO be paid in dollars worth fifty cents each
why. he can only buy half as much with a
days wages as he buys now. Wage-earners
Mr.. Bryan says, know that while gold stand
ard raises the purchasing power of the dol
lar, it also makes 1t more difficult to obtain
possession of that dollar They know that
employment is less permanent, loss of work
more probable and unemployment less GER
tain. If that means anything it means that
cheap dollar would give him more employ
ment, more frequent employment, more work
and chance to get unemployment after he
was discharged. If that means ANYTHING il
means that If the laborer is willing to have
his wages cut down, he will get more work
But diminution in the rate of wages does
not increase the scope Of employment The
more abundant the product, the higher the
wages. There cannot be an abundant product
unless labor is extensively eulpIoyed Mr.
Bryan would have you believe that Drosper--
ity is advanced by cheapening the rate of
wages, but the fall in the rate of wages al
ways comes from narrow production and
narrow production means there is little de-
mand for labor in the market
when. after the panic Of 1873, the price of
iaDor rel TO ninety cents day, it was harder
10 OBTAIN labor than when the rate of labor
was ~, and the difference between the Pom
ui1st who seeks to cut down the rate Of wages
ana the Democrat. who seeks to protect it.
is mat the democrats believe that high wages
ana prosperity are synonymous, and the Pom
ullsfs want to cut the rate of wages in order
that they may tempt the farmer to make
war upon his own workingmen
Mr.. Bryan leads the van in saving that n
Is the creator he is after. In order that YOU
should understand just how change in the
standard Of value enables men to cheat their
creators; you have to consider the function
winch money plays in measuring debts. IF
l nao PAID 80 for ten yards of cloth, to be
uelivereo TO me next week, and in the in
term the government should pass a law de-
clarlng that hereafter the yard measure should
consist OF IL inches and that all existing con-
tracts should be settled in that SYSTEM oP
measure, should be cheated out of half tho
cloth for which l had paid If. on the otbar
nand, ! owed cloth merchant for ten wards
OF ciotn, which he had delivered to me and
Wnich was payable next week and ~ a.
meantime the government would change the
seanoard OF value and cut down the unit Of
deDG with So and the cloth merchant u,o,I5
nave been cheated. Now. the Popuiist loves
70 say tnat the creditor is a person who on.
OF TINS country are not the bankers; they are
not the so-called capitalists: thew ara
the laborers and it is at the
EXPENSE OF LABOR
that this change is made.
Tne laborer is always creditor for Of Ieos+
me laborer who has been paid in a aay snvw
for days work, | will show him a Iahoror
who is debtor The laborer. by the very law w
Oh ms ms oelng u creditor for weeks work
or, two weeks work. Every great industrial
enterprise has for its chief creditors its own
IaDorers. me heaviest account in every de-
PAL tiheHt VI INDUSTRY, whatever 1t NAV he
is always the wages account -
The pretense that the farmer az Nabrasl
is suffering under the weight of a mortea .e,s1
contracted under a metal which has stes5iIy,
Increased in value, 1t but PopuIstic rneta
phor. Two-thirds OF the farmers have M
mortgage debts whatever. I do NOT beIiaze
there is per cent Of them that owe a mort
gage over three years old, during which time
there has been no change in the value Of
the metal This proposal Of the Populists is
an attempt to enlist the farmer in a consnir-
acy 10 reduce the wages paid the lahorer
that he may have a larger proportion Of his
own products. and they are willing to cut
down the wages Of every man who works
in cities. who tolls at the bench. who dies
hope that they can ride into power on q
wave of cupidity and greed awakened in tba
breast Of the voter. W
But, my friends, 1t is a triumphant vindi-
cation Of American citizenship that This az
tempt to enlist the farming and AGRICULTURAL
members OF this community into this con-
spiracy has failed, miserably, utterly ahso
luteiy. Every Western state which in 1Sso
and 1892 fell into the hands of the Ponulists
and went into the Farmers Alliance before
their real purposes were executed was nIrt
fed, and the Populistic forces scattered out
Of existence, when the farmers of this conn
try understood precisely that what the Ponu
lists meant for his welfare was really for
his ruin. The farmer who, when this conn
try was in danger, shouldered his lnusket 70
set it aside only when the last shot had
been fired on the Southern battle field whose
moderation prevented the political warriors
at Washington from pursuing a policy ~
ern states-that farmer Zho made the rolicy
of the North a policy OF coneiliation,a OF for
giveness, Of reunion, whose hand 1t was that
4S8fN