The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-10-21
earner"? Trot him cut. Give US his
name. We brand him as a dirty liar
and slanderer. g.
HOW 1T WILL HELP.
ACQUISITION ANSWERED.

Hon. Ignatius Donnelly:
1t goes without saying in this
meek OF the woods" that the Sage OF
Nininger, is the clearest and ablcst
mind on the silye. side of the great
question now before the people, not
excepting the eloquent, magnetic
Bryan. This is my individual opinion
on the matter, and therefore, ask of
you to present to the readers of THE
REPRESENTATIVE in concise compact
shape, the logical, relevant, competent
answer to the question frequently
asked by my Republican and Demo
cratic gold standard friends.
What good will the free coinage CT
silver at the proposed ratio, or any
other ratio, do to you as an individual
or to the country? How will it help
the wage-earners, the farmer, the
manufacturer or the merchant. or any
particular industry or calling?"
can answer these stock inquiries in
such manner that when you are
through the proponent would be
somewhat in doubt as to where he was
at.
l do not ask that you elaborate or
emit ellish the article with anything
unusual in the line Of rhetorical or
literary achievement having an abid-
ing faith that should you graciously
incline to have deliverancy upon
this question, it will be not only very
clear and intelligent, but will be
clothed with sufficient amount Of
lightning to reach the place with both
feet.
am a farmer, too busy Just now to
DO anything for the paper, but when
the hurry is over will send you the
largest club that our office receives. l
think that strong and sustained ef-
fort in this state this fall would turn
the Republican machine wrong side
out and wipe the earth with it. Very
truly yours, MEUD BA1LY.
Eimwood, Wis, July p.
We reply:
The prices of commodities and la
Dor are fixed by the relation which
the amount of primary, metallic
money in the world holds to the guam
tity of labor, property or wealth in the
world.
If money is scarce it is necessarily
dear. That is, it will buy SO much
more of all mmodities and of the la
Dor which produces them. Hence
scarce money is dear money, and dear
money means cheap goods and cheap
labor;-and consequently cheap men
and cheap women. The value of the
human race sinks and the value Of
gold rises. This is as plain as a pike
staff. 4-.-...,,
Now when silver was taken out of
the supply Of the worlds money and
added to the supply Of commodities,
one-half the metallic money of the
world was swept away,-so far as its
power to regulate prices was con-
cerned.
Gold alone remained as the basal
foundation Of prices. AS one-half the
metallic money of the world had
ceased to be primary money, the re-
mainder, gold, by the inflexible law Of
demand and supply, doubled its pur-
chasing power; and thereby caused a
falling off of one-half in the prices of
commodities, Hence dollar wheat is
now fifty-cent wheat; fifteen cent cot
ton is now seven cent cotton; and a
corresponding fall has taken place in
all this made by human industry.
To remonetize silver is to put it
back where it stood for 5000 years. 1t
will double the basal, metallic money
of the world. which alone regulates
prices. The purchasing power of the
dollar will be cut in half, but the pur-
chasing power Of wheat, cotton and
all products of industry will lie
doubled. Is that not clear? ''.-
If you are in debt you will have
twice as much with which to pay that
debt. If you are producer. on farm,
in mine, or in shop, you will get twice
as much for what you produce. II
you are a professional man the pro-
ducers will have twice as much with
which to pay your fee. II you are a
merchant, living by supplying the
wants of others, those wants will be
increased with the increased capacity
of your customers to pay for them. If
you are manufacturer, the backs and
feet and heads now bare will, with
double pay for their productions,
clamor for what you have for sale.
Who will suffer?
The money-lenders. For fifteen
hundred years the Christian church
condemned all men to hell who took
any interest on money. Hedry VIII,
that Blue beard Of monarchs, who
chopped the heads off his harem as
fast as his brutal appetite was sati-
ated, and who hung two hundred men
in London in one year for begging @
first legalized money-lending for
profit. He made the rate ten per
cent.
With free coinage of silver, and on,
abundant supply Of national paper money.
the white leprosy Of mortgages would
disappear from the face of the land;
interest-charges would cease to de-
YOUR the people; business acould be con-
Quoted on q cash basis; the breeding of
millionaires would stop; and the
whole people would rise up to splen-
did prosperity.
Have we answered our friends uues-
tion?