Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-01
SEEKING HIS OWN PROFIT
Free Coinage of Silver Means Nice Profit
to Mr., Barton.
DOUBLES HIS INCOME EITHER WAY
Makes II ON the Increase In Product iT
silver Goes Up and on De-
crease in Wages ~ it
Does Net.

| representative OF OmanaS s DeSt interests than
! that which heard Dr. George l.. Miller last
evening In karbach hall. The large hall
was well filled and as the meeting pro.
| gressed the size of the audience increased
| so that there was standing room only ly
the close of the pioneers able address.
Among those noticed in the front part of
the hall were: John Steel Henry w. Yates,
Judge Wakeey. Samuel Burns, Alfred Mil
lard, Il. Il, Bruce. f. A. Brogan w. w.
| Richardson, II. l.. Day. Herman Kountze w.
| 5. Balduff and many other prominent busi-
ness and professional men. There was also
a goOdly proportion of women in the audi
| ence.
Dr. Miller was the only speaker of the
evening The audience was entirely satisfied
that he should be- and when he asked some
ono to tell him how long he had spoken
cries of Not long enough" greeted him from
| several parts of the house. His talk was
| bit reminiscent. and he dealt most kindly
| though openly, with his old friends who
had gone astray on the free silver fallaoy
| He was most eloquent in speaking OF tho
| necessity of defending state as well as
! national credit. and of crushing out once
and forever a policy that meant the de-
| struction of nine-tenths OF Omaha's most
valuable interests. In answer to query
| III. MllleT ne SnOuld not vote
| for Palmer but for Mckinley and MacColl
He was given the closest attention
J throughout his address, which was rather
| in conversational form and was frequently
interrupted with applause.
Among other things DR.. Miller said:
MISLEADING THE PUBLIC.
Ladies and Gentlemen: have assumed
| the responsibility of presiding over my own
| meeting. and l also propose II any music
| is required to be my own brass band, and
| II we need a chaplain along toward the end
| Of what / may say to you, | will perform
| that office to the best of my ability. Zap
| plause and laughterJ We are assembled
here tonight on the eve Of the greatest and
most exciting campaign, perhaps since that
| OF 1850, to discuss a few matters Of very
decided interest to this people which would
seem from some inadverence, to have been
neglected.
II have come here for once in opposition
to beloved citizens and friends. | have
come here to raise my hand against the
| foTceful power in this community that, in
my judgment, is misleading it, and in my
judgment If II could carry out its wish
and its will would come very near destroy
ing 1t, and | would not accuse anv man of
that intept But | propose to deal tonight
frankly and plainly with a power In our com
munity of which 1t was said by my friend
Mr.. Yates. from the platform in the Creigh-
ton hail, that the head of that great smelt-
ing silver WORKS would control IN TINS town
1000 votes in the interest of what | regard
as a destructive and destroying coinage,
and at that moment / made up my mind that
with all courtesy and kindness should seek
an opportunity to show that this was wrong
to this community and to expose to this COM
munity in what this power consisted.
"If there is objection to that / shall be
very sorry. | am going to use the names in
this connection OF two very prominent gen
temen in this city, one of whom has been
to me much a friend, one of whom has
been known to me for so many years, that
| would not for my right arm reflect upon
his character; a man whom / have known
since his early boyhood in another state.
when he was a youth, strong, sterling as
he is today. And | name Guy c. Barton,
the head of the smelling works of this city.
PROFIT IN THE TRANSACTION.
"Mr Barton employs a vast amount OF
labor. He wields a powerful influence in
Omaha and be deserves to have It, With
all his prosperity | have been an ardent
sympathizer Mr. Barton takes up this issue
as an active champion of the silver inter
est. and | must on the public platform deal
with him and with the position he occupies
before this community. Mr.. Barto comes here
as the head of the silver works Of this city.
He carries in that great place-himself and
Mr.. Nash, also one of the best citizens in
our communty-as a rule 100000 ounces
Of silver. The silver at 90 cents an ounce
would be worth $1,S00.O0O That is what it
would be worth at the quotation OF silver
today. This information comes to me in
such form that know it to be correct, and
II there Is anything stated wrong
hope anyone here knowing anything
to the contrary will correct me. At $l29
per ounce ii would be worth 50, $50, 600
Mr.. Bryan says 1t is going to $l29. OF
course, | don't believe a word OF that. But
then he says so and that lie authority
for those people who are silver plutocrats
The direct profit to this company would
then be the difference between the advance
ment from 60 cents to $l.29, and that would
amount to S1,2S0,OO That is in paying |
their men it would be worth that.
CUTS WAGES IN TWO
'If this change was to come in buying
other products it would not be that way |
Prices would go UP silver deprecated. /
Now, then, we will have some more of the |
sweet milk in this cocoanut. At the present |
price of silver it takes four ounces of the |
white metal to pay one of the smelling COM
pany's laboring men $500 per day. / am |
not sure that that is the actual amount paid |
for labor in the works. If silver can be |
taken to the United States mint and coined |
into legal tender dollar two ounces will |
pay for days labor instead of four ounces, /
and two ounces of silver will be their pay for |
days labor, and the other two ounces will |
be profit TO the smelter company, unless the |
wages of these men are doubled.
81 have never heard anything about any
Of them saying they We're going to increase
the wages, but that they were going to in
crease the number of men. That is all over
the country. Bryan said we are going to in
crease the number of the employed. but he
has never said anything about any in
crease in the wages. Now | ask any labor
ing man or any workman of this city to
stop right there and consider what that
means to the laborer of this city, and of this
state and of this nation. 1t means simply
that mans wages is thing
yet for them to fight for and that 1t is
the battle of strikes. Because | say
to every laboring man in my
hearing that should free coinage be
crowded upon this country the purchasing
power Of the now lOO-cent gold dollar will
be reduced to so cents on every article and
every commodity that the labOring man pur-
chases must be bought with dollars CT half
the purchasing power that they had before.
Now. II our people will let that go into the
homes Of the laboring men in the smclt-
ing works and everywhere else | Will risk
the statement that these men viii not vote
for the silver standard, and that Mr. Bar
ton will not be able to control the votes
of these men in his employ; he will not
be able to do it., because should think the |
lowest grade of intelligence would be able
to discover the fact that such vote would
not be in their interest.
"Now, our friend Barton knows a great
deal. But do you see what that would
30 rn