The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1896-08-27


material possessions Of some part Of the
community Now If IL got possession Of
the government tomorrow, he could ut
create one single thing Of value by any cx.
ercise of governmental power in the world
Money and Property Not Identical.
Nothing Is more common than the mis-.
take that money and property are iden-
teal They are not \ redundancy of
money does not prove any prosperity.
There may be a Very large volume Of cir
culating medium and very great poverty.
The issuc of paper money simply IS no
more an increase OF wealth than the issne
by an individual of his promisSory note
would show an increase Of his property.
As matter of fact an increase in the coin
age is no proof of an inereas in property,
but may bc strong proof of decrease in
wealth
The volume of money plays but ii small
part even in the ordinary transactions of
life 1t Is not the volume of money, but
the activity of money that counts If
person wants to SEE Just how IA dollar
works In the ordinary exchanges, in what
might be called Il retail business he has
but to take a dollar out of his pocket and
60 out into the street and buy some fruit
lar and buy some Vegetables. The green
grocer with the sane dollar could buy
neckties The dealer in necktics with the
same dollar could btiy meat and 50 on.
That one coin passing from hand to hnnd
might circulate SO worth of commodities
in the course of a single .Lrly. That one
dollar circulating S2o 8orSf of commod-
ties makes more business and more trade
than two dollars could mike ii they cir
culatcd between them only $40 worth of
commodities
Money never can circulate freely and ae-
lively unless there he absolute confidence
in lis value. If n nun doubts whether the
money in his pocket will lac as valuable to-
morrow as it Is today. he will decline To
exchange his commodity against it, and
this populist agitation threatening the in
tegritv of money has been the cause of the
hard times through which this country is
passing and from which it will not escape
until the heel of popular condemnation is
placed upon the Populist agitation which
undernincs the foundation OF credit.
Basis of Trade Is sound Money.
If, then, Mr.. Bryan IS going to enrich
somebody the thing which he means to
bestow on him nc must take from some
body else. Who is Ia he despoled and who
IS To he enriched by the exercise of this
new scheme of government
Ny friends, the silver mine owner will
get cheated with the rest. ii ever the Pop
ulist has his way, nobody will he benefit
ed, not even Mr.. Bryan | will venture to
say here now that If the face of Providence
should be averted from this land and such
u calamity as Mr.. Bryan'S election We're
permitted by it, the man who would suffer
most by that event would he the false
prophet, who, having torn down the tenn
pie of credit and Of industry, would be
torn to pieces by an outraged public whose
prosperity he had ruined Let Us follow
this argument little. Let us see what he
means to do, according to his own lights.
We see that he can't enrich one man
without impoVcrishing another Govern
ment never can be generous, because if il
be generous to one il must be oppressive To
another. Mr.. Bryan does not pretend that
by any power given him from heaven he
can find anything on The surface of this
earth that has not got an owner, and, there
fore, he cant honestly bestow ii upon II
faNOrite
But his financial scheme contemplates
an increase in the price of certain COM
Dir. Bryan can do with reference 10 gold
will ever affect 1t
A Cutting Down of Wages.
But, my friends we are coming now
pretty close to the wood pile behind which
the African is concealed. Mr.. Bryan pro
poses to increase the price of commodities
II he means anything, he means that ant
| am not quite sire that he means any
thing !.
Now, if everything in this world or il
this country, including labor, he increased
in value tomorrow, in like proportion, moi
one Of us woald be affected at all If thai
was Mr. Bryin's scheme, he would nevel
have a Populist nomination to give hin
Importance in the eyes Of this community
If that were ~ thQt he meant, he would
not he supporting 1t, and | would not b.
taking the trouble To oppose it,
II everything in the world be increased
10 per cent In Value, why, we would pay Il
per cent in addition for what we would
buy and get 10 per cent more for what VT
would sell and we would be exactly in thu
same place we occupied before Therefore
il is fair 10 assume that is not the lame and
impotent conclusion which this Popnlsi
1t is an increase in the price Of eem
modities and allowing of labor Ia shift foI
itself If the price of commodities be i'll
creased and the price of labor he left sta.
tionary, why that means cutting down
of the rate of wages. If, instead OF dol
| lar which consists of a given quantity al
gold equal to 100 cents anywhere in thu
world, with the purchasing power IF Zoe
cents, the lahorcr is to be paid in dollars
worth 30 cents each, why, he can only buy
half as much with a day : wages as ht
buys now.
Test Question for Mr. Bryan.
If the value of this Populst scheme then
is To be tested let the laboring men Of this
country ask MIR. Bryan and his Populist
friends "A simple, common, everyday ques.
ton, where do | come I'M
Mr. Bryan himself has glmmerng
idea of where the labGirt will come in, or
rather of where be will 90 out There is
one paragraph in his speech which. whcth-
er it WAS the result of an unconscious
stumbling into candor or whether it was
IA contribution mace in the stress Of logical
discussion ! am utterly unable Ia say
But it shakes flood of light upon the
whole purpose underlying this Pupulist
agitation Wage earncrs Mr. Bryan says,
Know that while a gold standard raises the
purchasing power of the dollar il also
make il more difficult To obtain possession
of the dollar. They know that employ.
ment is less permanent loss of work more
probable and accomplishment less certain