The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-08-19

that men can be enriched by swelling the VOL
ume Of currency is the Oldest delusion WIZ.
has affected mankind since the very oeglnnins
OF civilization. lApplause.l
Continuing these illustrations at some
length Mr.. Cochran said:
Money never can circulate freely and
| actively unless there be absolute commences
in its value. [Appiause.l If q man douo's
whether the money in his pocket will be as
| valuable tomorrow as it is to-day he will de-
cline to exchange his commodity against it,
and this Populist agitation threatening the
/ integrity OF money has been the cause of the
hard times through which this country is
passing. aud from which it will not escape
until the heel of popular condemnation is
placed upon the propaganda which under
mines the foundations of credit. Applause. ]
The basis of sound trade is sound money.
| [Applause.l Money which is intrinsically
valuable, money which, like the gold coinage
of this country, this country cannot affect ii
1t tried to. [Applause.l can take ten dollar
| gold piece and can defy all the power of all
the governments of this earth to take five
cents of value from 1t. [Applause.l Having
earned it by the sweat of my brow, having
earned it by the exercise OF my brain, having
earned it by the exchange of my commodities,
| Call 20 70 buc uttGTluOSL eHuS Oh the 0dItH, anu
wherever present it its value will be unques-
toned and unchallenged [Applausel
| Now let us see how Mr.. Bryan proposes TO
deal with this question. l looked through his
speech to find out just what he thinks he is
| going to do for the laboring man. and / Ind
| that he dismisses him with very few and some
very unsatisfactory phrases. But it is per-
feetly clear that the purpose of the Populist is
| to put up the price of certain com m ODDITIES.
In, 49,
! prove the condition of the people OF this coun-
Try; not all of them. but of the greatest num-
| Der. Well, now, / don't suppose Mr.. Bryan
/ pretends to any miraculous power. l don't
suppose he claims he can multiply the number
| of chairs upon this platform or upon this floor
although he has shown his capacity to empty
them. [Laughter.l If he is going to work any
change in the conditions of men he must in
crease the material possessions of some part of
| the community.
| 1t requires the labor of man and the labor
OF man alone to create wealth. II, then, Mr..
Bryan is going to enrich somebody, the thing
| which he means to bestow on him he must
take from somebody else. Who is to be de-
| spoiled and who is to be enriched by the exer-
else of this new scheme OF government? lCry
of ''Silver mine owners."l My friends. the sill
yer mine owners will get cheated with the
rest [Applause.] If ever the Populist obtains
his way nobody will be benefited, not even
Mr.. Bryan. [Laughterl l will venture here
| to say that If the face of Providence should be
averted from this land, and such calamity as
Mr.. Bryan's election were permitted by it, the
man who would suffer most by that event
would be the false prophet who, having torn
down the temple 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
| light. We see that he cannot enrich one man
without impoverishing another. Govern
ment never can be generous, because If 1t be
generous to one it must be oppressive to an
! other. [Applause.[ Mr. Bryan does not pre-
tend that by any power given him from heaven
he can find anything on the surface of the
earth that has not an owner, and, therefore,
he cannot honestly bestow it upon favorite
But his financial scheme contemplates an in
crease in the price of certain commodities.
[Cry of Except gold.''1 do not think any
thing Mr.. Bryan can do will affect gold.
daughter and applause.l
But, my friends, we are coming now pretty
close to the wondp:Ie behind which the Afri-
can is concealed. Mr.. Bryan proposes to in
crease the price of commodities If the price
OF commodities be increased and the price of
labor be left stationary why that means cut
ting down of the rate of wages-if, instead of
a dollar which consists OF given quantity of
gold equal to 100 cents anywhere in the world.
with the purchasing power of 100 cents, the
laborer is to be paid in dollars worth so cents
each, with which he can only buy half as
much with day s wages as he buys now.
sWage-earners, Mr.. Bryan says know that
while gold standard raises the purchasing
power of the dollar, it also makes 1t more dif-
fcult to obtain possession of the dollar. They
know that employment is less permanent, loss
of work more probable and employment less
certain. If, then, 1t means any thing it means
that cheap dollar would give him more
employment more frequent employment,
more work and chance to get re-employ-
ment after he Is discharged. lLaughter.l Well,
now, if that means any thing in the world to
sane man. it means that If the laborer is will
ing TO have his wages cut down he will get
more work.
Mr.. Cochran devoted much attention
to this particular question. He argued
that there should not be high wages un-
less there is an extensive production in
every department of industry, and claims
that wages is the one sole test OF the
country's condition. Continuing, he said:
The Populist loves to say that the creditor is
a person who Expresses the Western farmers.
He loves to declare that the money-lender and
the creditor are synonymous expressions; but
as matter OF fact, the creditors of this coun-
try are not the bankers; they are not the So
called capitalists, they are the laborers, and it
is at the expense of labor that this change is
made. [Applause.l Every great indus trial en-
terprise has for its chief creditors its own labor
ers. The pretense that the farmer OF Nebraska
is suffering under the weight of mortgage
contracted under a metal which has steadily
increased in value is but Populistic meta
phor.
Two-thirds of the farmers have no mortgage
debt whatever. [Applause.l do not believe
there is five per cent of them that owe mort
gage over three years old, during which time
there has been no change in the value of the
metal, but every single farmer is creditor in
the shape of his own labors. This proposal OF
the Populists is an attempt to enlist the farm