Birmingham state herald., 1896-10-27
To the State Herald:


 l come in contact with various kinds of labor and people and business men of diff ferent section. concede sincerity to him and ask it for myself. From the begin ming of the silver agitation it has been conceded that fixed incomes would be hurt, that capitalist bondholders' salaries, when fixed and held for life, had been greatly benefited by the law demone- tizing silver and as a result of its re- monetization would have to give up in part or whole the benefits secured by this class legislation.
 If any class of labor comes under this head, it will also be hurt. Supply and demand govern the price of labor just as it does wheat, corn or cotton, and there is a kinship in all labor No union has ever been found close enough or strong enough to permanently keep up the price of one class of labor when another has been stricken with the poison of low prices. To deny this would be to deny the capacity for and the result of con- petition in the American labor, and when you boast that the dollar of today buys more of the necessities of life than it ever did, you admit that the laborers who produced those necessities are get ting less for days work than they ever did. The average price of the farm la Dor in Alabama does not exceed 25 cents a day, and yet you, a laborer, challenge the world to disprove the fact that you are fattening on that state of facts. You say that labor is paid as much as in 1873. As an employer of the largest number of farm laborerS in Alabama, will state they are not earning over one-half as much as in 1873. Will also state that in 1890 I built a mill in Birmingham; that I paid day laborers 10 cents an hour and car penters $2.50 to $2.75 a day; that In 1893 I built another mill in Birmingham; that paid day laborers cents an hour and carpenters from $1.25 to $150 day; that in 1890 l paid miller $5 a day; that in 1896 $40 day; that in 1890 draymen SIPS a day and in 1896 70 cents a day; in 1890 an engineer $3 a day, in 1896 $1.75 a day. Will also state that in 1890 wheat was $1 and corn 75 cents per bushel, and all neccessares of life much higher than now, and yet labor was immeasurably better off than now. Will add that this year Dun and Bradstreet, the great sta ticians of America, reported that pro- ducts of every kind had reached the low est level of prices ever known. MT. Ker- noodle will of course, admit that the prices of labor also reached the lowest level ever known. l do not mean any particular class of labor, I mean all la bor. l will cite the reports of Dun and Bradstreet for proof that never was la- Dor so irregularly employed. Will also cite them for the statement that this year business failures reached the largest amount and general business was at the lowest ebb. Labor without employment, labor working half time on half price has been the rule. Labor working full time and price the exception, and, basing this assertion on the kinship of labor, never will mechanical or clerical labor be well employed and well paid until farm labor is well employed and well paid. In other words, as long as dollar will buy two dollars worth, so long will farm labor quit the farm and compete with every nth hnfs a1n If tn nnt
 The white miner two years ago-With rifle, and in defiance of the law-defend- ed his job against competition at Pratt mines. Eugene Debs recognized that the only strength in labor unions was in the union of all unions, and that they must strike at once and in defense of each oth- CT You state that the Santa Fe railroad pays on the Mexican side of it's line $1 a day and on the American side $1 a day, and that the Mexican dollar Is worth only half as much as the American dollar This assertion also carries the assertion that the Mexican laborer ifs equal to the Amer ican laborer. If this is so, and there is only a river to cross and no law to for bid, why don't the Santa Fe road SubSti- tute the Mexican laborer for the Ameri- gan laborer? The Americans are going 10 Mexico for better jobs. Why don't the Mexicans come to America for better Jobs, particularly as there is only line to cross, and there would be no change oI climate! 1Ou certainty WOULD not nave us believe that the Santa Fe does not hire la bor as cheap as it cani There is no sen- timent in business You or I go into the market and buy labor and the products of labor as cheap as we can, and so do the railroads labor immigrates and emil grates for more pay. You say that dur ing the war products went up 116 per cent and labor only 43 per cent, leaving the inference that labor suffered. In an- swer I will quote you letter from Sena- TOT Sherman, written in November, 1863, when we were actually using an unre- deemable less than 50-cent dollar:
 "The wonderful prosperity of all classes especially of laborerS-has tendency to secure acquiescence in all measures demanded to carry on the war. And this IS not shown simply by inflated prices, but by increased production, new manu- featuring establishments, new railroads, houses, etc. Indeed, every branch of bus mess is active and hopeful This IS not a mere temporary imitation caused by pa per money. but is steady progress, ana almost entirely upon active capital. The people are prospering; taxes are paid cheerfully"
 Now there was the laborer-when gold was at premium, the dollar worth less than 50 cents and based entirely on cred it-yet Senator Sherman says he was prosperous and happy.
 Now bimetallism is suspended, for, as MT. Bailey said, what nonsense to coin silver dollars to be redeemed III Solu uol- lars if we are on a gold basis. What is the condition of labor? Perhaps never so bad Yet in the prosperous days we not only had all the silver and all the gold, but also $500 900 of unredeema- ble greenbacks. Gold and silver metal consequently gold and silver money-are subject to the law of supply and demand The two together were twice as much as either. The demonstration of silver de- stroyed silver as money, all but cavillers admit; and all the $500, 100000 in silver we now have in circulation Is exactly on the same basis as national bank notes, and 1t was mistaken judgment or deception and fraud-one or both--that caused its issue. You admit that a short wheat cotton, corn or iron crop, the demand be- ing the same, increases the price. How can you shorten the money metal crop by half and not affect the price? If we sub stitute the use of silver for gold, will we not depreciate the price of gold? and would not the very cotton, corn and wheat that we are now shipping to Eu- rope and selling for gold bring larger price of that very gold? To deny this would be the same as denying that the unexpected demand which has come rom India for wheat has caused the rapid ad- nf yuh