The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-15
RELIGIOUS PRESS ON SILVER.
From the Toronto Globe.

From the Toronto Globe.
The advocates of the gold standard I'm
| the States appear to have a fair appreca-
tion of the magnitude of the task which
cOnfronts them. that of educating the
masses into a recognition of the impor-
tance of sound money. They see that 1t
will not do to meet the free silver men
with mere abuse and ridicule. and they
are making preparations for an educa-
tional campaign on a most extensive scale.
The newspapers on that side contain ar
ticleS in which the case is put in the plain
est possible way, and in many different
points of view. The workingman Is told
that his wages will be reduced in pur-
chasing power, the policy-holder that his
provision for his family will be cut in two
if the plans of the silver men be carried
out. The financial interests at stake are
cnorm Gus, and the banks, the insurance
companies and business men generally viii
be prepared to pour out money like water
in the effort to avert what they regard as
| great commercial calamity.
But there will be something more than n
, mere conflict of intcllects between the
| champions of opposing theories in re-
gard to the currency. Evil motives are
freely imputed. one side Is said to be ac-
| suated by the desire for plunder, the other
by the desire TO hold on to i'll l-gotten
gains, and to perpetuate q system of
monopoly and oppression. From this
point of view arguments on the sound
| ness or unsoundness of financial theories
are of no account. There Is no use in
arguing with the hishwayman who wants
your purse, or with the man who has de-
lberately dcfrauded you out of your
rights and is determined to withhold
them. But between these extremes there
is a dbatable ground on which battle
must he fought upon broader issues than
that of the coinage. There is poverty,
there is discomfort. there Is a feeling
among the 'have-nots" that somehoW
they are suffering injustice from existing
laws and conditions. They may seek re-
lief in socialism, in Strikes in free silver;
buo their discontent will not be removed
by showing them that these are of no
avail: while to denounce them as would
be robbers and plunderers will only fan
the flame of their resentment. Even the
spectacle of capitalists spending large
sums OF money in defence of the existing
order of things will be calculated to
arouse their suspicion The campaign lit
| erature of the "haves' will come to the
"have-nots" tainted with the suspicion of
selfish motives.
OF course with those who are not rem
dered desperate by misfortune much may
be done in the way of showing the poor
man or the man of moderate means that
he has as much to lose by disturbance
as his wealther neighbor. by depreciation
of the value of wages and small invest
mentS. But, in the main, the demon to
be fought with is class hatred, and the ap-
peal must be not merely to the intellect
but to moral motives, such as Justice ana
patriotism. And there is need of preach
ing to the rich as well as to the poor.
writer in The Farmers Sun says: "The
bitterness is aggravated by the invidious
i.ny nf
of too many of the rich, who desert their
posts of social duty to spend the money
made by American labor in the pleasure
cities of Europe" And an American
writer accuses the wealthy and cultured
classes of the neglect of their political
duties. '"They pay" he says, "the penal
ty OF seliishness and Indifference. 1t is
was seen in the French revolution. Had
the piety, wisdom and industry of France
united against the revolution, eradcated
abuses, and held true the rights of man.
hood and property, the fall of the Bastile
would have been the end, as 1t was the
beginning. of the revolution. SO if these
gentlemen had accepted and performed
their political duties there would have
been no disruption in Chicago
These considerations must be kept
steadily in view. For anarchy, plunder
lawlessness. there is of course nothing but
tho strong hanu. but IL must be assumed
that every man who Is disconnected or
who is misled by false lights is bent upon
plunder, and is to he dealt with like u
member of the criminal classes. 1t Is as
unjust to regard every assailant OF the
existing order as a rObber in intent as It IL
to regard every defender of it as u rob-
ber i'm possession. Those who are to save
the republic from disaster must be not
only sound thinkers on economic ques-
tions. but men of broad sympathies. low
ers of justice and humanity, who can APP
peal to the hearts as well as to the heads
of their fellows. We have witnessed across
the border outbreaks of the perverted pa
triotsm which finds vent in jealousy and
hatred of other nations. But we have
also seen that upon great occasion, when
real patriotism was called for. the Am
erican people passed through a fiery or
DEAL and emerged not unscathed, but with
the cause of freedom and order triumph
ant and with a national dishonor blotted
out. AS children of the same great
mother of nations, as joint workers in the
cause of civilization and enlightenment
and humanity, We all hope that our neigh
bors may have "a happy issue out OF all
their troubles"