The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1896-10-24

blame 20 much for hardness Of heart a..
for scftnoss OF head. They mean well
usually. but they find life difficult and
dlaheartcning problem. and Instead or
standing TO their work like men. winning n
they must. they whine about the social
forces being unjust and listen eagerly both
10 tho designing scoundrel who exercises
his passions for his own profit and the
well-meaning enthusiast. who thinks NJ
has some patent cure-all 20 make every ore
happy. These amiabie enthusiasts like to
assure the masses or struggling mankind
that their specific VIII cure all misery and
do away with unequal distribution OF
wealth and secure business success alike
10 the deserving and undeserving, just as
Quack doctors are willing 20 guarantee
that their drugs will make all men equally
healthy. equally strong, and equally clear
sighted. II each OF them can be allowed
TO try his own patent remedy he Is Wilt
Ing 10 combine with it the remedies OF
others Mr.. Bryan's own favorite motto
Is population. but no is willing 10 jop with
Mr.. Altgcld's receipt OF free riot and free
pardon OF those foulest OF criminals, IN >
men whose crimes take the form OF assas-
sination, and even Mr.. Tillman's nostrums,
which, 30 far as they can be understood.
include a general attack or everything
that Is decent, whether the abhorred spirit
OF deconcy takes the form OF speech or
action. All OF them believe, or affect to
benefited by giving them something which
they have not got; and as OF course this
something must be taken from somebody
else. tnelr plan ultimately resolves itself
into a rather complicated system OF rot
berry by which every class excepting al
ways that which by hard work and thrift
has accumulated a competency IL - 20 SEN
Gifted by the plumber OF every other class.
II Is both amusing and melancholy 10 see
tie straits 10 which the apostles OF this
doctrine are reduced the minute they In
any degree endeavor 10 put 1t into practice.
The present movement was started large
ly in agricultural communities. and ~ or
der 10 appeal 10 those among the farm
ers who were Disconnected IL was proposed
10 allow them 10 pay all their debts IN
money worth half what it is at present.
Wage Farmers Are Creditors.
"The largest creditor class in the
United States Is the class OF wage-earners,
and now the populist and popocrat leaders
find themselves awkwardly placed when
they endeavor 10 explain to the working
man Just how he is going 10 be benefited
by having his wages cut one-half. They
rarely try TO explain e at all, but attempt
to distract his attention by bowling that
inasmuch as all well-to-do men and en-
ploycrs OF labor don't like the prospect OF
ruin. the less well-to-do and the working
men generally should grasp at ruin with
acteristic OF the whole class OF nake-be-
lieve social reformers, who want TO over
turn our existing civilization so as TO
benefit the poor man, that the very rrst
practical step which they propose TO take
is one which would entoil more misery and
suffering on the poor man than all the OBJ
preston OF the most evil-minded capital
lists could infict on him i'm a century. II
IS a grim and striking example OF what
we have TO expect from the men who be-
lieye they can benefit one class 10y harming
another, and who affect to think that by a
general overthrow OF the existing order
OF things they may be able to help some de-
serving people upward through the brutal
chaos OF pain and hatred which they Will
cause. IL would be difficult 10 wish bet
ter object lesson OF the truth that these
men are the worst possible foes OF the very
people whom they would profess 10 be-
friend. There are many OF us who can
swim In troubled waters. but the poorest,
the most helpless the men who now fina
IL most difficult 20 live, are the very people
who would go down soonest IN the storm
Ia the hideous welter OF social revolu-
ton IL is the brutal, reckless and the
criminal who prosper, not the hard-work-
Ing, sober and thrifty. Life IS often hard
enough at best. IL IS sometimes quite as
hard for the rich as for the poor and too
often the good man, the honest and pa
triotlc citizen, suffers many blows from
fate and sees some rascals and some idlers
prosper undescrvedly: but the surest way
TO increase his misery tenfold ~ for him
10 play into tho hands Of the scoundrelly
demagoguos, TO abandon that stern moral
ity without which no man and no nation
can ever permanently succeed, and to
seek a temporary relief for his own real
or imaginary sufferings by plunging others
into misery.
Savings to he Cut In Two.
Mr. Bryan is very apt to rail- at the
creditor class. lie forgcts that the largest
class OF creditors la this country is the
class OF wage-earners Very rich men are
by no means OF necessity creditors The
people who have their little all i'm savings
banks OF ~ trust companies, or who have
life insurance policies-au OF those would
suffer much more than the very rich men
IL Mr.. Bryan had his way. But those who
would suffer most would be the wage
earners. Every Saturday night. or at
least one Saturday OF each mont1 the
wage-earners, the creditors OF the en-
ploycrs for the work they have done. are
paid the wages that are due them Under
free silver those wages would be worth
half what they are now. III there were
a great imitation OF the currency the prices
would so up rapidly; wages might after
awhile so up little. but they would 20 up
very slowly, and never as high as prices
i want 10 call your attention to these sill
yer coins which | hold In my hand. You
Will notice that there are four and that
all are nearly the same size. one OF them
IL n French flvc-franc piece, one OF them
IL an American dollar. the other two are
Mexican dollars. In actual worth as bull
lion these two Mexican dollars are each
a little more valuable than either OF the
other two; yet when 1 bought these three
coins the other day paid, not counting a
commission or ten cents, one OF these
American silver dollars for the five-franc
piece, and another OF the same silver dol
lars for both these two Mexican dollars
Now, what Is the difference between the
American and French coins on the one
hand, and the Mexican on the other? Sup
ply the fact that I'm Mexico there is free
coinage OF silver, whereas In France and
America silver coinage Is limited and the
whole currency rests on a gold basis
That Is all. 1t il not because Mexico is a
weak power. England and Russia are
very strong powers yet Russia cannot
keep the silver ruble above it's market
value, and England could not keep the
Indian rupees above theirs any more than
Mexico could keep up the value OF her
dollars. Under free coinage our dollar