Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-10-14

pa NE -
last Sundays Tribune, among ~
thing, the following;
First.-We were told last fall that an
ciating dollar was a national blessing mtt~
within a year the entire Republican pre- ~"
ecstasy because the purchasing power !. =
dollar as been TO some extent decreased
second.-Ihe wage earners were told H.
fall that a rise in the price Of commn5,4st
would be detrimental to them, and W,
hold how happy the Republican spel6inaes
are because one great staple, -four, has rss.
Thlrd.-Laboring men were told that r.
wages would be virtually reduced when -. -
CURED more dollars TO buy IA given amonr,
food and clothing. Can it be that our
nents have forgotten the railway SOUND ma.
ey clubsY'
First. Most of the above is tbs |
manufacture of the boy Orator of n.
Platte himself. He is the man wb, |
proclaimed from several hundred stumrs
that gold was approaching to the area,
injury of the country, that it " ould bny
more commodities than it did hef,,.
the crime of stopping the free coin.
age OF silver was perpetrated in 1914
and that it bought more solely becau,a
Of that crime.
The reply was made to him scores ~
times by The Tribune and other leadin,
newspapers that gold had not appreci
ated, but had deprecated by the great
crucial test Of wages for labor. They
cited congressional official reports prov.
ing it, showing that from 1850 to 1894
gold had deprecated about 3 to 3 Der
cent a year by that test on the compen.
sation of s 5000, 600 or more wage earn.
ers of all classes, and that from 1860 Ia
1890 wages measured by grains Of gold
paid per hour on day had more than
doubled, and that from the date Of the
crime of stopping free silver coinage
in 1878 to 1898 wages in gold had IN.
creased Sc TO IS per cent. These fact,
knocked out Bryan's false assertions.
and he neither denied nor attempted to
explain them.
Second. wage earners were not
told by the Republicans last fall or at
any other time that "a rise in the prices
of commodities, or wages Tin sound.
gold standard money!, would be detri-
mental to them Bryan sncaks i'll a
falsehood by suppressing the qualifying
phrase, sin sound, gold standard mon.
ey."
The rise in the price of commodities
which Bryan called for was a rise meas
ured in 46 ZEN dollars. OF such a rise,
measured in a half bogus money, the
Republicans said last fail a million
times that in reality the seller got no
better price, that no one was benefited
if he received in deprecated silver with
only 30 per cent OF purchasing power
twice as high II price as had been paid
him in full value money, and that two
As cent free silver dollars were not as
good as one 100 cent gold dollar
Bryan never could be coayed or
driven to face this self evident propose.
ton. If he could not explain it away,
his free silver argument Nas left with
out n leg to stand o II As he could not
c%ontrovert that proposition he lodged it
to the end of the campaign Ee is dodg-
ing still.
Bryan will not admit even yet that
one 80 cent silver dollar is of less value
to the holder than one 100 cent dollar
The question is one he evades whenever
he can, but when crowded to the wall
and choked till his tongue hangs ont h.
gasps out a dishonest declaration that q
39 cent free silver dollar Is as good, II
1o,,g,.,-r. CO ,,,,.+a ~ - ,g,Il dollar Tlr
paying debts made on the gold standard
and worth 100 cents. Cheating a cred
itor out of 81 cents on the dollar by eN
post facto, or rather by retroactive, leg
islation does not trouble the conscience
or kind of elastic or bogus honesty will
which William j. Bryan is endowed
in his idiotic or mad chase after the
shadow of the presidency.
Third. The laboring men were not
told that their wages would be vlrtu'
ally reduced when it required more dol
lars to buy a given amount of food ana
clothing. What they were told was
that if they had to pay the inflated
prices for commodities occasioned bY
the depreciation of the currency they
would be great sufferers.
For, as was explained to them, wheh
there was a slump in currency the wage
scale would not go up as rapidly as the
price of goods and wares, Thus Their
wages would be reduced because, While
they would not be receiving two cheap
silver dollars where they had receive!
one gold dollar, the shopkeepers woula
be demanding more than two cheap sli-
yer dollars where they used TO ask one
gold dollar. The workingmen were
also told by The Tribune and other he,
publicans that If free silver coinage hal
not been stopped in 1873 the la6orlns
classes or masses would have been pall
in rapidly depreciating silver money
from the time of resumption i'll 1873 20
the present day instead OF in gold money
Mr. Bryan has never tried his TEEN
in cracking that nut, fearing he woul'
break his teeth rather than the nut ~
lodges that point also
As TO the railroad men, ap2u'
100. 900 Of them are getting work no"
who were idle last year when II was
thought that free silver at Is 70 ] mlEH.
be substituted for the gold standard ana
that Bryan might possibly be electv'
prasidsur aud the tendency is now 10