The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-16

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at ratio corresponding approximate
ly to the relative market value of the
two metals Coming down to
the act Of 1873, Senator Sher-
man simply adds one more ex-
posture of the falsehood of the claim
tnat prevailed for so many years
against that law as having been
passed by stealth and fraud. Whether
one may consider the law to have been
wise or the contrary, the facts of its
passage are matter of history; and no
less interesting Is the record of the
complete publicity that it secured than
are the speeches on the subject by
those who have since become it's most
ardent assailants. It seems hardly
credible that men like Stewart and
Jones should have spent wears in re-
wing the act Of 1873, the men who
prepared 1t and the policy which it
carried out, when they themselves were
among its most ardent advocates. and
when Senator Jones is on record az
having spoken as fiercely in behalf Of
the gold standard and against the use
or silver as money as he does now on
the other side
summing up the merits of the cues
ton, Senator Sherman makes two
great appeals to the people, which cut
across all party lines and prevent this
absolutely from being made a party
question. The appeal in behalf of ma
tional honor and that in behalf of ma.
tlonal prosperity transcend Democ-
racy and Republicanism, and relate 70
the future well-being of the whole
commonwealth. Shall we authorize tha
payment OF a debt in money less
valuable than it's face; money not
retaining the value which 1t had when
the debt was contracted; money
which, In the hands of the recipient
will shrink in purchasing power far
below Its nominal value? Is this right2
Is this honorable? Is this worthy of
the American people? Is it necessary?
is it defensible? Can a country which
should thus deal with it's own and
other creditors, with holders of its
with all its employees, with the depos-
ttors in its banks, the beneffciaries of
its insurance companies, and all the
vast masses of the people who, by
their labor, become the creditors of
their employers at each setting of the
sun, hope to be respected of man or
favored of heaven?
Inc other argument, which considers
the relation of this issue to national
prosperity, is equally forcible. We
have to consider the effect upon in
dustry of all kinds of the total re-
versal of business conditions. of the
change to different standard of the
practical destruction Of credit. of tbe
avoidance of this country by capital
and of the pinching want that is the
necessary accompaniment of such con-
traction of the field of industry. 1t is.
let US repeat. as foolish to talk of
prosperity for labor without the COOP
Grafton of capital as it Is of the pros
perity of capital without the co-opera-
ton of labor. That capital will not en-
Gus sea it has already demonstrated.
and labor feels most severely the con-
sequences in lessened opportunities
and weakened demand for it in the
market. If, now, you add to this
decrease in the purchasing power of
the dollar, which is what the silver
men themselves promise US, in their
stock argument that free silver would
raise the prices of all commodities.
then the laboring man, in order to be
even as we'll off as he was before
must secure corresponding increase
in compensation. What are the chances
Of it?
Let every workingman consider dis
passionately this aspect of the case.
He has tried before this to secure
rise of wages. How long did it take
him? By what sacrifice and through
what struggles and temporary loss Of
employment has he been Obliged to
fight his way upward even a little dis
lance along the scale of ASCENDING
wages? Is it probable that he can. for
Enumeration that would even balance
the decreased value of his earnings7
What sort of a bargain, then, is this
for him to make?
These are the main features of an
argument which is not Senator Sher
mans or any other mans, because it
contains the fundamental propositions
that lie at the bottom of the financial
question as a whole. Mr.. Sherman
has simply presented them In order
and with clearness, although not, as
1t seems to US, with anything like the
overwhelming force given to them by
Secretary Carlisle in his great address
to the workingJnen of Chicago. From
whomsoever's mouth they issue and to
whomsoever they may be addressed.
these arguments. scientific in their ma
ture, doubly approved by all history.
constitute gospel that rises above
the lines of party end addresses itself