Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-07-31

trade and a larger demand for labor do not
come soon, the deposits Of the poor must
be used for their subsistence: They have
already drawn heavily upon their savings,
as appears clearly from reports Of many
OF the savings banks, and especially from
the experience of the building and loan as
stockholders have not only been compelled
to cease paying on their stock but to with
draw that already paid in. The labo-tng
man Is more concerned in getting employ
ment and living wages than in maintaining
the nigh purchasing power of his little saw
lngs, while he consumes them in idleness.
with no hope Of anything but the poor house
when his money is gone
What Gen. Warner Says.
Gen. A. J. Warner president of the
American Bimetallic Union. in discussing
free silver and the wage earners. said:
1t has somewhere been said that fools
| utter what knaves conceive. At any rate,
1t is certain enough that many things that
| are repeated in a parrot-lke way about
| money have been artfully shaped to give a
surface appearance of truth and then set
agoing for the purpose of binding and mis-
leading those who are not well enough
Versed in monetary science 20 at once pene-
t1ate the veil of error that DISCUSSES the
real truth. And 1t is surprising to find how
| many, even among intelligent business men,
| are blinded and misled by mere catch
phrases. One of these is the declaration
ClteH put out Win an ar OF superior So
licitude for the laborer, namely, "a de-
preciated dollar paid into the hand of toll
Mr.. Cleveland in his letter prior to his first
| Inauguration as President said:
Labor. already depressed. would suffer
still further depression by scaling down
OF the purchasing power of every so-called
dollar paid into the hands Of toll.
And Mr.. Harrison, on a number of occa-
sions, has made use Of similar expressions
Do MI. Cleveland and Mr.. Harrison, or
does anybody else. suppose for q moment
that the wages of labor. any more than the
prices OF the products of labor, can be kept
the same very long while money is either
approaching or depreciating? With q ma
jority OF those who earn a living by toll
wages or earnings are determined directly
by the prices of their products. This is
true Of all farmers who work their own
farms. and o. all others who sell directly
what they produce, and sooner or later the
price OF products In general must deter
mine the wages Of labor. II is true that in
organized industries the effect of a fall is
felt first by capital. but the moment the
margin Of profit is gone the effect Of a de-
cline in prices, II not before. must fall on
labor. 1t may first be made manifest by
reducing the number of laborers employed
and thus OF the total earnings of labor.
What Will Eventually Result.
Eventually, however, fall in the prices
Of the products of labor must result in a
fall in the wages of labor. The number
of laborers forced into idleness will in
crease as long prices continue to fall.
Idle labor produces nothing to exchange,
and hence cannot buy what others produce.
Markets are thus restricted, and this
acts on prices and ultimately again on
wages. Wages in the long run is the
share labor gets of what labor and capital
together produce. For instance, if in the
United States labor and capital combined
produce in year, as 1t ought to, $1,000
0oe,o0O worth of commodities. and labor
gets three-fourths of this sum. then the
total earnings of labor alone that is. the
aggregate of all wages will be s12.HD.oo9.-
900, while If only s12,00,0OG,0OO worth is
produced. then. the proportion of labor
being the same. there would be but 81
OOo,N0,OOO to divide as wages or as the
earnings of labor In this division it is
manifest that If some got the same wages
as before, others must take less or go
without any. 1t is, therefore, the interest
Of labor to have at all times conditions
maintained that favor the largest possible
never attend upon shrinking volume of
money rise in the value of money.
1t is, therefore, the highest interest of la
Dor to have the money supply keep pace
at all times with the increase of popu-
lation and wealth.
Prices and Wages.
Nor is it true generally that prices go
up before wages advance. This is doubt-
less true when the price of thing rises
from its scarcity, but it is not true when
prices rise as the result of depletion IF
money. In that case, as Prof. Cairnes
has shown, the tendency would be to
abundance, and not to a scarcity, which
would operate to keep the price from ris-
ing, and rise would not take place till
the demand increased, which would only
come, for the things consumed by labor,
by more money being offered for them.
This could not take place till laborers
had money to spend which would only be
better
wages.
THE solicitu lie, therefore, Of those who adj
vocate making money scarce in the interest
of labor Is like that of a railroad company
which opposed reducing the fare from 10
to cents for the reason that a laborer
by walking, as many of them did. could
save 10 cents, while If the fare
duced to cents he would only save 5.
The fallacy, then. that it is the interest
of labor that the dollar should be made
dear by being made scarce. or that the free
coinage of silver would provide a depreci-
ated dollar for labor, is easily exploded
as all other fallacies brought forward to
support the gold standard What labor
Dor employed at good wages.
Mr.. TOyvne's Free silver Speech.
The famous free silver speech of Mr..
Towne Of Minnesota also contained refer
ence to the wage earners' interest in the
silver question. 1t was as follows:
II must not forget sir. that 1 promised
to say something about wages. 1 am
prompt to admit that the great republican
policy of protection (applause) has vastly
benefited the laboring man in the United
States. Sir. nobody upon fit occasion can
speak upon that great policy with more
enthusiastic enc omium or more intense con-
viction than myself. But it cannot do
everything. Handicapped by the single
gold standard 1t can work out only a por-
ton of its proper results When 1 plead
for bimetallism 1 plead for the other half
of protection. Applause). Free trade and
the gold standard both aim at low prices;
are both embodiments of British aggres-
sion upon the Industrial independence of
my country. 1 will resist them both to the
utmost. Applause).
Protection and Wages.
II do not question the fact that protec-
ton has had beneficial effect upon wages:
but. sir, organized labor Is also largely to
be credited with the maintenance of wages.
Diminishing the number of hours of labor.
lessening the number of apprentices, or
ganzing against proposed reductions, they
have fought their way by one method and
another and have succeeded to a large de-
gree in warding off the natural effects Of
al approaching money. Let me add that IL
you will consider the number of mon x,,bo