The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-09-05

the two dollars. (Applause). But this
FEELING Is well adapted to touch the pre-
vailing American bumptiousness and well
| adapted to touch that prejudice against
England which many have. but can we
| do this thing ourselves? Is II a question
whether We will do 1t, or ask anybody's
consent whether we may. or ask the CO.
operation OF somebody? Not at all.
tell you what this government can do
| alone. IL can fix its money unit. 1t can
declare by law what shall be the relative
value OF an ounce of gold and an ounce
| or silver. but II cannot make that last
| declaration good. (Applause). 1t Is un-
questionably fully within the power of
this government to bring this country to
silver bss by coming silver dollars and
making them legal tender. They can do
| that.
take one of those dollars In discharge Of
any debt owing to you for dollar. notwith-
| standing you may have loaned gold dol
lars, but IL cannot say, and enforce it's
decree-if you should call out the regular
army or navy and muster our great mod
ern ships and the militia and put William
j. Bryan in command of them-it cannot
| enforce the decree that one ounce Of gold
| Is the equivalent OF sixteen ounces OF silver.
Great applause and cheers). Not only that.
not France and England and Germany
can do that unless the markets re-
| spond. (Applause) We can OF ourselves.
| of our own wisdom, declare the unit OF
value. We can coin silver freely, but we
cannot make sixteen ounces OF silver equal
| to one ounce of gold unless 1t Is. CAP
plause). And II Is not unless the merchants
take 1t at that rate
What Is the next suggestion? 1t Is, my
| friends, in the case of free silver, what Is
| the financial and moral equivalent OF q
declaration that SO cent pieces are dollars.
| They might just as well pass law that
so cents is a dollar. That would not make
| IL so, would 1t? 1t would be legal dol
! lar; but II would not buy dollars worth
| of anything. What is the effect of that?
The merchant would take care of him
self.
"A man keeps a store down here on
! Broadway, and that law is going into op-
| Grafton tonight He summons all his
| clerks and buys % cents worth of pencils,
/ and before he opens his store in the morn
ing he has marked up his goods to the
/ new scale. He can do all that. But there
| are great numbers of people, numberless
! people, who enlist our interest, and some OF
! them enkindle our sympathies, who can
/ not use the pencil. Take the work OF man.
! He cannot so to the pay roll with pencil
| and mark 1t up. He has got to consult some
! body. He has to enter into an argument.
! He has got to get some other mans con-
/ sent before he can mark UP his wages.
/ Then there is the pensioner, those that
/ are receiving pensions from this govern
1 ment for gallant deeds done in the war.
and others for the loss of beloved ones.
/ He cannot take his pension certificates.
and when Ii reads eight dollars make II read
sixteen dollars. He must wait for an appeal
! to congress, and n congress that is populiat-
I ic in character would be unsympathet;c.
/ lApplause.l Take the men who have life
Insurance, Can they, where the policy reads
Z 5000, make II $4,000? No. Can the NAH
I ayers of these institutions make 1t right
with them? No. This policy coerces IN
tegrity. lApplausel
4 My friends, the men surely do not con-
template the irretrievable and extensive
character OF the disaster and disturbance
I and disruption which they are proposing
I for all of us in all our business affairs,
great and simple. Take the laboring man;
how full OF sympathy they are for him.
! My countrymen, l never spoke false
/ word TO the laboring man in my life. Great
applause). l have never sought to reach
\ his vote or influence by appeals to that
! part of his nature that will pollute the
/ intellect and the conscience. l have be-
/ lieved and ] believe to-day that any sys-
/ tenn that maintains the prices of labor in
! this country, that brings hope into The
! life of the laboring man, that enables him
/ to put by, that gives him a stake in the
/ good order, the property of the country.
| is the policy that should be our American
/ policy CNpplause). i have resisted in
many campaigns this idea that debased
/ currency could help the working man. The
] first dirty errand that dirty dollar does
I is to cheat the workingmen. (Applause).
my friends. cold statistical inquiry,
! non partisan in its character, was made
| by a committee of the senate In 1890 and
some following years. The committee
/ was composed of democrats and of re-
| publicans, and they set out to study ns
! statisticians the relative prices OF COM
modities and wages at different periods
In the history OF our country. This in
vestigation covered the years of the war.
1t showed how prices of goods went up
and in what proportion labor advanced.
Goods went up rapidly because the PEN
ell process is n quick process. Wages
went up haltingly and slowly, because the
employer has to be persuaded and the
pencil won't serve.
Now, / have here n memorandum Of
some of those facts resulting from that
investigation. Labor in one period adj
vanced three per cent: goods, the things
the men had to buy out of their wages for
their families and their living, advanced
IS per cent. Through another period the
laborers' wages advanced 101s per cent.
/ and the price of goods advanced 40 per cent.
In another period the wages of the la
borer went up % per cent and the prices OF
merchandise advanced 80 per cent. In an
other period the laborers' wages went up
80 per cent. and the price of goods III per
cent. Now, these statistics are the result
OF a solid scientific inquiry made by men
was. and the truth they found, that the
enormous disparity between the advance
OF, the cost of living and the advance in
wages falls In exactly with what we would
conclude in advance. Laborers, men who
work, whether with head or hand in sal
aired positions, would do well to take these
facts to heart and settle the question after
that broad, deep inquiry to which Mr..
Bryan invites you as to whether you want
to enter into another experience such as
you had during the war, when wages adj
vanced so slowly and teclousy and the cost
of your living moved on SO swiftly
II have sketched very hastily some Of
the evils that will result from this change
to n debased dollar-a contraction OF our
currency by the exporting of our gold
and a readjustment of everything. Now.
who will get any benefit? Well, the man
who owes a debt that he contracted upon
gold basis and Is able TO pay II with q
50-cent dollar. He and the mine owner
who gets an exaggerated price for the
products of his mine are the only two
people, or classes of people. that can see
that would have any benefit out of II.
They make q strong appeal to the farmer
They say It will put up prices. Well, in a
sense, yes. Nominally. yes. Really. no.
II wheat goes from 80 cents to sl.20 the