The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-10-07

ablest arguments In favor OF tne golu
standard that have yet been made. The
gold standard advocates speak of them as
containing Moses and the prophets, the
law and the gospel of the money question.
From the manner In which these people
speak OF them, we are warranted In con-
GLIDING that every argument and every
fact that can be marshaled upon that side
OF the question is contained In these
speeches This being the case, we natural
ly examine them with the deepest interest,
for II the gold standard Is to be maintain
cd we want to know what we may reason
ably hope from 1t
No Hope In Either.
It would have given great relief to the
minds OF thousands of patriotic men TO
have had presented some balm for the ills
of our land, and as i love my country
more than party or honors am sorry to
have TO say To you that in these long
speeches, containing as we are told, the
law and the gospel of the gold standard,
there is not line, not sentence, not
syllable, that offers any hope TO the Amer
lean people That we are in distress is not
denied In either speech, but there Is no
suggestion of % remedy. The substance of
the whole argument is that we will be bet
ter off and suffer less II we keep quiet
and that the remedy proposed by the Chi
cago platform would only make matters
worse instead of better, or, as Mr.. Schurz
puts It, the application of this remedy
would be jumping out OF the frying pan
into the fire, and, IL he Is correct In this,
then the only question which is left for
the consideration of those of our people
who are dying in the frying pan is wheth-
or they would be any worse of In the fire
Mckinley Panacea-
The straight out adherents of Mckinley
have panacea They realize the unsatis-
factory conditions in our land and propose
TO remedy them by an increase of the tariff
They feel that some hope must be offered
TO the American people, and, having moth
ing else to present, they ask us to ag,.in try
the idea of increasing the tariff tax.
They ask the people TO shut their eyes
to the fact that the distress from which
we suffer exists all over Europe as well ms
this country; that Ii exists in the coun-
tries having n high tariff and in countries
having n moderate tariff and countries
having no tariff Mt all and is clearly due
to some cause that has no connection with
the tariff They ask us to shut our eyes TO
the fact that we have already very high
tariff and that the decline in prices began
many years ago under a still higher tariff
and that it went right on under the high
est tariff ever known in this country, call
ed the Mckinley tariff They ask us to
shut our eyes To the fact that In 1853 the
conditions in our country were unsatisfac-
tory and that the remedy that was then
proposed as cure was an increase OF the
tariff and that this Immediately followed
the election of MIR. Harrison, when the
famous Mckinley bill was enacted. They
ask us 10 shut our eyes TO the fact that un-
der that law wages were not raised, prices
kept steadily falling and that Immediately
after its enactment In 1890 there was
marked reduction in wages in several hun
drcds of the largest manufacturing estab-
lishments of this country They ask US TO
shut our eyes TO the fact that while the
tariff shielded the manufactures In some
cases against competition IL permitted him
to I'll his factories with the cheapest kind
Of pauper labor brought from the fields of
Europe. and thus, instead of raising tho
wages OF the American workmen, not on
| " reduced their wages but drove them
ont of employment They ask us to shut
our eyes to the fact that it was in the
spring Of 1899, while the Mckinley law
was in force and while Mr.. Harrison was
| president, that the famous Homestead Ia
| Dor riots occurred, being among the most
bloody that ever took place in this coun-
| try; that at that time the conditions Of
| the laborer were rapidly getting worse, and
| the prices of Ame-' IAN products were
steadily falling They ask us to shut our
| eyes to the fact that the Mckinley law for
| the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, pro-
duced "a deficit to the United States treas
ury of $40, 600, 900.
| They ask us to shut our eyes to the fact
that neither the laboring man of this
country nor of Europe has derived any
substantial benefit from the tariff because
the employer is always permitted to fill
his shop with cheap labor. They ask us to
shut our eyes to the fact that the tariff is
no longer matter of theory, but n matter
| of history. 1t has been tried, and 10 has
been found wanting. Consequently with
the adherents of Mckinley 1t is n question
| In this campaign of seeing how often they
can fool the people. Both Mr.. SchurZ and
Mr.. Cochran ave been avowed enemies of
this tariff. They cannot and they do not
offer IL as "a remedy for any of the ills OF
the land, and having no other remedy to
offer and seeing no prospect of n change
for the better under existing policies they
simply tell the patient that II he will only
lie still he will suffer less than II he at
tempts to bestir himself. They have nc
remedy to suggest, but they strenuously
object TO permitting the people To do any
thing toward helping themselves.
That bishop who told an anxious negro
that there were only two ways open fol
him. and that one led directly down e
hell while the other led away of TO ctor
mai damnation, was evidently the MAJ
who furnished the text for both u thes'
speeches. The negro scratched bis hea'
and replied. "If dat 20, massa, den di
chile takes TO de woods''a And IL Messrs
Schurz and sGcckran are correct then TN
American people will have to take to tn,
woods,
7 Not a focal Question.
In considering the question as TO wheth
or the decentralization Of silver I'm TIN
world reduced prices they shrcwdly leav
Europe out OF consideration, shut thci
eyes to the fact that the effects produce,
there are the same as those produced here
treat the whole question as though IL wcr
local TO our country and then argue that
inasmuch as there had not hccn many sill
YER dollars coined In our country, and thos
that were coined went abroad because q
the fact that they commanded premium
Of per cent, therefore the dcmonetiza
ton Of silver In the United States coul
not have affected prices because there wa
U (CODffDUod on paUo ~