Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-08-06
sILvER's EFFECT ON nAILaoADMEs


New York Herald: II can't argue the
case like you." said thtf hired nah. ''bnt
! know that il Bryan Is elected you viii
have TO pay me SIG for moving tsia
aT Tsr nsa ass Of ycs sss sN
ss tss D'Ss"'S|s sSsfss a. T 'e ss
hired man were the representative or any
considerable class Of liborcrs we might
we'll wish that the schoolinnster would
come home and attend to business In tie
agricultural districts during this prsd'
1t would. however. be an 'ii.rrlt to the
intelligence of the working misses to
assume that their. type i, toShr fonpd
In this thick skulle,f mower f0f awis.'
About 4a pe5 ceptof Y, all taeRrossct u,
ss% thsss OG psos they are insde s .
fairly understand the issIlc.# mqy BIZ
trusted 70 vote for what isHcteH and
Numbers OF Railroad Men.
Next to tillers Of tic soil the. lai ges.
group Of workers is nihlef up of those
engaged in the transportction Industry
the railway employees. In the state OF
New York alone are about 10000 of
these. and. taking in the whole country.
they number, about 1OO0O0O. or ,p9t far
from 10 per cent. Of tho eiitir,. voting
population The various grades Of rail-
way workers have their ys'vcralforsa
tions. and these are studying the effects
of free silver. ms Is evident from the nu-
merous letters that reach the Herald ask,
ing for infcrmation: and we will state
here. a, few suggestive facts By. way OF
general reply.
The vast army Of railway toilers would
suffer more hardship than perhaps nny
other class by unlimited coinage OF 81
cent dollars All wage-carners. of
course. would be" distressed because nli
the necessities of life would immediately
double in price. while, wages would be
increased cost of living Bnt the rail-
way worker would find il particularly
hard to secure an advance of wages,
because his employer. the railway COR
poration. would itself be so hurt by the
change in the currency that il might be
unable to comply with the reasonable
demand of its employees
why IL Could Not.
"But whyT' asks the brakeman: why
would the railway company not be n M
good n position to advance wages as any
other employer" For a very simple real
son. The merchant and the mannfactir.
or can instantly mark up the price OF
their goods to Offset the lowered value of
the dollar. but You. as brakeman. Fave
no goods to sell. What YOU sell is your
service your labor. and You know from
experience that this cannot be marked up
as merchant can reticset Il piece of
cloth. Now. your employer, the railway
company. is like yourself. personals
artificial person. created by law--anl.
like yourself. it has nothing to sel but
it's services iii transporting passengers
and goods.
More than this. it is under control of
the state that created it, and cannot. Ike
yourself. quit work If il doesn't ike the
pay: il is compelled To keep on working
or forfeit it's very existence. With n ~
cent legal tender dollar in circulation the
railway would naturally have to accept
its pay,in those dollars. and its income
would thereby be cut down nearly one
half BUT when 1t attempted 10 double
it's charges in order to 'even up the dol
lar. you know what Il tempest of oppns;-
ton would arise. particularly in 1grlcul-
tural communities. and the legislatures
would make the company painfully
aware that il il under control of the
states il travcrses. The railway. Exc
yourself. would find the cost of III its
supplies nearly doubled. but it would
have 70 fight for every fraction of Il cent
in advance in its rates for transportation.
When You and your fellow workers find
that the COST of living has doubled y"u
will naturally demand double wages; but
how viii You get them: You cant get
blood ont Of a turnip.
A vote for Bryan would be a vote to
cut your own wages in half. and ~ yUu
are not fool we are sure that you and
all the rest Of the million railway EN-
ployes will vote for an honest dollar