The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-13
Major MckinIey,s Rep1v.


a warmer greeting than the cheering, flag
waving, hat-tossing Homestead working
men did when the Major advanced to reply
He said:
Mr.. President and my Fellow-citizens-
| am glad to have at my home and to give
Pa. (Cheers.) The Republican party has
always believed in homesteads daughter
and applause.) Whether it be the home
steads upon the public domain in the far
West or whether it be nomesteads in the
busy centers of manufacturing industries.
Mr.. Lincoln signed the first homestead law
that was ever passed, opening up the great
public territory to free homes for Amer
lean citizens, and from that hour until the
gagged in advocating a policy that would
give a homestead to every man who
works CA voice, We looking for
second Lincoln i'll you, Major!D
4 cannot forbear to congratulate you on
the wonderful advancement you have made
in the great industry you represent, so
eloquently described by your spokesman.
We are now engaged in campaign which
directly affects every workingman in the
United States (applausa), and every inter
est beneath our flag. We age interested in
a contest which involves not only the ques-
ton of the tariff, but involves the question
OF sound money; whether we SHALL have
the same good money we now have and
O.. try the hazardous experiment of
gaging in the Independent free coinage of
silver-an experiment that has worked dis
aster everywhere and is bound to work it
here if ever tried
Some phases of this question I want es
pecally to present for your consideration.
The very frequent statement is made that
the gold standard has injured the business
of the country diminished the prices of ag-
ricultural products, appreciated the price
of gold and wrought ruin and disaster TO
the country. This is of course, mere as.
sumption. and is based on the fluctuations of
the market prices of commodities which in
many instances have diminished in the last
II years ana OF od has
appreciated. The fall in prices, every man
in this audience knows, is easily and readi-
ly accounted for upon moments renee
ton. The decrease in the price of commod-
tiles has been going on ever since skill,
and genius, and invention have been at
work. and such cheapening process has
been marked and conspicuous for third
of a century, aided by protective tarlH
has offered. Whenever agricultural prod
ucts have fallen in price it Is discoverable
that there has been an increased product,lon ION
and that the increased consumption mas
not kept pace with the increased produc-
ton. AS great areas of lands have been
opened to the raising of farm products
the quantity of such production has in
creased and the demand, not increasing in
the same proportion, prices nave loglcaily
and inevitably fallen.
KEY TO THE WHOLE MATTER.
1T does not require great effort of the
mind to comprehend that if you increase
the quantity CT wheat in a single year
enormously with about the same number
of consumers as before. that the prices Will
go down. With given number OF consum-
ers and an increased production, with more
competitors and no more consumers, the
cheaper will be the products. What in
creases the price OF any product is that
many people want it and can only get 1t
by paying better price than some one else
is willing to give. The more people who
want an article the better price it will com
mand The more people who want your Ia
Dor the better wages you VIII receive, ZAP
\ ftnor { DAVIS labor
teen workingmen you would not get as
good wages though there We're sixteen
DAVIS work for workingman. tLaugh-
ter and continued applause) And that IS
the sort of 16 to l we want in the United
States. (Applause.)
products or any other commodities which
have been cheapened in their production by
improved machinery and more competitive
fields with greater production, does not
prove that gold has advanced in Value, out
simply that such products nave Iallen IN
rs not the labor of man, rather than
the thing which the labor creates the real
1873. as measured by gold, decreased? CAP
pause) That is the crucial quesuon; we
resumed specie t Gn goe Da and
salaries have not declined, but have rather
risen. In 1880 the number of employees IN
the manufacturing establishments Of the
United States men and youths. was z, az
000 aggregating in wages $9473l 4, 600 or an
average of 1924 per capita. In 1890. ten
wage earners was / n2622 and the aggre-
Sate earnings were 81 $50, 21S, 529 or s4SS per
CAPITA This showing would clearly ind-
cate that the gold basis has not injured la
Dor. Here was an increase from 1880 to 1890
This fncre Sc in the wages of labor is
further sustained by the report of the com
by Senator'S of both political parties. which
in 1885, investigated the subject of wages
and prices. The committee reported that
in twenty-one selected industries wages
We're in money 40 per cent. higher in 1880
than in 1860 and 60 per cent. higher in 1890
than in 1860 and the prices of staple ar
ticles had fallen between 1880 and 1890 in
some instances one-third. In other words,
There never had been a time in our history
wages were so high whether measured by
the currency in which they were paid or by
their power to supply the necessaries and
comforts of life. (Appl2use.) That's
what you left in 1892. Is there working
man in the United States who does not
want that condition back again? (Con-
tinued applause) Since 1860 wages have
advanced 6Sl2 per cent according TO the
table of the Senate committee The wages
paid in 1860 were in times when had the
free and unlimited coinage of silver. and
thirteen years before the suspension of the
In 1880, according to the census. the oc-
equations of persons over twelve years of
age, numbered II. 326150. This great army,
of which you are a part, constituting more
than one-fifth of our population. work for
by gold that is, when you have work |
daughter and applause) or money as good |
o
money since 1879. and the working people |
of no other country of the world have |
any better money. These are the toiling |
1892 of any working people in the world |
and more prosperous than they had ever |
been before.
WHAT CHEAPENS COMMODITIES
1.-The cheapening of commodities comes /
from the introduction and application of |
labor-saving machinery. both on the farm !
and in the factory. There is scarcely any
branch of production which does not turn |
out more commodities per hour of labor
than IN 1873. 1t would be just as reason
able and just as conclusive to say that
the suspension of the free coinage of sill
yer in 1873 reduced the price of steel rails
from 1920 per ton to SO or $50 per ton, the
price now prevailing, as to say that that
act reduced the price of wheat. The price
Of wheat is fixed by the law of supply and
demand, which is eternal.
Gold has not made long crops or short
crops high prices or low prices. Gold has
India or the Argentine Republic: nor will
kept up the freight rates for the agricuI-
tural producer, and the stoppage of free !
coinage in 1873 has not advanced it, In |
1873 the average of freight on grain by lake
and rail from Chicago TO New York was |
,6.9 per busheI In 1895 il was 60 per BUSH
II. Our working people have bought the
and comforts of life fhea nav