The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-08-28

Ii, will be appointed to destroy 1t.
In the time to which must confine my
self tonight can do nothing but examine
that one question which Mr.. Bryan him
self declares to DO the overshadowing issue
of this campaign. l am little puzzled
when / read this speech to decide just what
Mr. Bryan himself imagines will be the
fruit of change in the standard OF value
throughout this country. do not believe
that any man can follow wholly with the
speech, because If he dissents from one set
of conclusions he has got to read but few
paragraphs and he will find another Of
different variety. But / assume that 1T Is
fair in a discussion of this character, indie
pendently of what Mr.. Bryan may say or
what Mr.. Bryan may think himself he
stands for, to examine the inevitable eco
nomic effects of a debasement of the coin
age, of change in the standard by which
existing debts are to be measured in baser
measure Of value
A Test of Prosperity.
Now, will imagine that Mr.. Bryan
himself may believe that in some way OF
other he is going to benefit the toilers of
this country. He says he is, but he de-
clines to show us how. For my part am
willing to state here that If Mr.. Bryan
could show me that by any means known
to heaven or known ON earth, any means
revealed to the comprehension of man,
wages could be increased, I will be ready
to support him here and now. do not
make this statement through any pre-
tense of special affection for the man who
works with his hands. Such q pretense
made in the heat of a presidential canvass
would merely insult and discredit the in
telligencc to which it is addressed / repeat
that would support any measure calcu-
lated to increase the rate of wages because
know of no test of prosperity absolutely
infallible except the rate of wages paid to
laborers. Where the rate of wages is high,
there must be prosperity. Where the rate
of wages is low, there must necessarily be
distress.
If, then, Mr.. Bryan can show me that
by the enforcement of any portion Of his
programme wages will be increased in this
country, will not only support him, but
Twill recognize him as the wisest orator
that ever opened his mouth on platform
since the beginning of the world. I will
be ready to confess that the rhetoric which
I do not now understand is really the Ian
guage Of inspiration. would regard his
administration of the presidency as the
kindling of great light before the foot
steps of man, showing him broad path
way to endless happiness and measureless
prosperity. But in searching through his
speech, in reading through the whole reams
of Populistic literature with which this
country has been flooded for four years,
have never yet found one syllable which
showed me how q Populist expected to in
crease the rate of wages.
Now, in order to understand the sig
nifcance of the remark that wages is the
only test of prosperity, we have but to con.
slider for a moment just what is meant by
the term wages. Wages, as 1 suppose ev-
erybody here understands, is that part of
the laborer's product which is given to
himself in compensation for his toll. If,
for instance, 1 be engaged in the manu-
facture of chairs, and If I can make five
chairs every day worth $50, and the rate
of my wages Is 81 day. what / actually
get is one chair out of the five which
make. The other four chairs, the other
four-flfth of my product, are devoted to
the payment of all the other labor that has
been expended in preparing the elements
out of which the chair was made. To the
man who felled the tree in the forest the
person who sawed it in the mill, the car
rier who transported it, the workman who
fit on the capital which set all this labor in
motion.
1t is plain, however, that could not
take one chair home with me at night and
attempt to settle my bills with it, for the
moment 1 undertook to divide the chair
among my creditors that moment it would
lose it's value. So, instead of taking the
chair, which 1 cannot divide, 1 take its
equivalent In money, which / can divide.
But my wages all the time are fixed by the
quantity of my own products.
If, instead of five chairs, 1 were able to
make ten from it, and the rate of my COM
pensation remained the same, would OBJ
tain for my wages two chairs, or SO a day.
But instead Of there being four chairs, or
$16, available for the payment of other
labor, there would be eight chairs at $32,
and thus the larger my wages the larger
my product, the greater the prosperity in
the chair making industry
Now, applying that principle to every
other department of trade we can see that
the man who works on q tunnel cannot
take part of the tunnel home with him
for his wages; the man who paves the
street cannot take part of the highway
with him, but each one takes the money
equivalent of that part of the product
which is the result of his daily toll, and
the laborer Is the man who has the most
vital interest In the character of the money
which is paid to him.
Some of Mr.. Bryan's Contradictions.
Now, when we come to find out just how
Mr.. Bryan expects to increase the wages of
labor we find ourselves lost in maze Of
contradiction and in a haze of obscure ex-
pressions. No man can tell how or where
or when the wages of the worlingman are
to be increased, but any one who examines
the scheme can sec that the inevitable tend
ency, the inevitable consequence of de-
basement In the standard of value, must
be reduction in the rate Of wages, and
that Is the conspiracy In which tho Popar
INST Is engaged.
Now, Mr.. Bryan tells us that he wants
to cheaper the dollar; that he wants to in
crease the volume of money. do not be-
lieve that any man who ever lived could
quite understand a Populist's notion OF
what money Is further than that he be-
lieves 1t is desirable thing to get and
that he Is not very particular about the !.
means by which he can get his hands on
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