The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-08-21
HOW FREE SILVER WILL AT
Feet WAGES.

Bourke Cochran, who fought the In
come Tax because it was injurious to
the working man, by q similar process
OF reasoning has discovered that the
free silver movement IL q conspiracy
against wage earners. The gold mon
point to the admitted rise in nominal
wages since 1873 and claim that under
free silver the working man will not get
my higher wages, but will receive his
pay in fiftv cent dollars. which will buy
onlv half as much as the money in
which he now receives his pay. Let us
analyze this claim.
MAXIMUM REACHED UNDER o L. TAN
DARD.
The gold men do not pretend that the
gold standard per Sc will produce q
further rise in wages, becauae it would
be too absurd to claim that wages can
rise after prices have fallen to a point
where profits have vanished in almost
every branch OF productive industry.
1t is self-evident that wages must be
paid out OF the product Of labor. How
~wage-earner's condition or increase his
pay by lowering the price Of those things
out OF which his wages must be paid?
The business men whose capital and ex-
perience now furnish employment to the
laboring classes are not in business for
fun, but for gain. and when their profits
disappear in falling prices, they will quit
business as soon az they can, unless
the sheriff helps them to quit sooner.
WAGES MUST FALL.
Not only is it impossible for the wage
earner's condition to improve under the
single gold standard, but it must grow
worse land wages must decline, DIS com
petition for the wage ~earner's place is
increased by the constantly increasing
number OF men thrown out OF employ
ment by falling prices, vanishing profits,
and lessened production, brought about
by an approaching standard OF value.
The laborer already out Of a job will
appreciate the force Of this statement,
and it behooves those who still have
Jobs to ponder we'll what the future
holds in store for them.
BETTER PRICES THE My OPP OF LABOR,
Wages in the long run is the share
which labor gets OF what labor and cap
ital produce together. 1t follows that
labor must fare best when Industries are
most active and prosperous, which is
never the case in times OF falling prices.
The only hope of labor for better times
is in better prices for it's products. Is
there any IS to expect a rise OF
prices under our present gold standard
system, when prices have been failing
steadily under it since it's adoption in
1873? There have been long periods OF
falling prices in the worlds history be.
fore this, and in every instance the de-
cline in prices has been attributed by
political economists to an insufficient or
diminishing supply Of money. In every
instance, too, according to the same
authorities, 1T has been an increased
supply OF money, resulting from the dis.
covery Of new mines, or other sources
which has checked the downward fall O!
prices, and caused them to turn upward
The late Prof. Jeyons, whom the golC
men quote as one OF the most scientific
accurate and impartial writer's upor
money, says that it was the addition
to the worlds supply OF money, follow
Ing the new gold discoveries in Callfor-
MIA and Australia, which in or about
the year 1S49 checked the fall IN prices
that had continued from 1909 down tC
1S49, and caused prices suddenly tc
take that upward course which the,
steadily held from 1S49 to 1873.
BETTER PRICE DEPENDENT ON MORT
MONEY.
The silver men propose to make al
coined SILVER full legal tender, If it is no
SO now, and to increase our presen
supply OF money from wear to yea,
by the addition Of the entire an
nual product of gold and silver, whiel
is available for coinage purposes. Ever
the gold men concede that this would
cause a rise in the price OF %eyerythin!
~vn1r+ 1nhor IN L,r