The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-09-18
A FEW BRYAN FALsEHooDs.
Globe-Demoerat

FEW BRYAN FALSEHoODS.
Globe Democrat.
The people who listened to Bryan yes
terday in ST, Louis heard a strange med
ley of irrelevaneies. of misinterpretAtions
Of conditions and OF misstatements-of
assertions. that is to say. which had no
application to the things which he was
talking about, OF confusion of mind as
to the meaning OF these things and Of
falsehoods, The first and second classes
Of Bryan's ohliquities are too numerous
to be mentioned here. but we VIII touch
on few of the third class. The idle
man" says Bryan. is the menace to the
man who has employment. and the num-
Der OF idle men mus necessarily increase
II We have money system which con-
stantly raises the value of the dollar and
constantly lowers the market Of the prod
ucts of labor.
There is a triple falsehood here, for
Bryan, OF course. intended those words
TO apply to existing conditions The num-
Der OF idle men is smaller than it was four
months ago, or four years ago. Every
body, incluling Bryan, knows this. Our
money system does not constantly raise
not buy as much labor. skilled or un-
skilled. as it did fifteen or twenty years
ago. or in more recent times. Here is
something which every workingman has
to sell. This thing will command more
dollars than ii did in 1873 when silver
was demonetized. It will command more
than it did in 1879 when gold payments
by the government were restored. The
prices OF the products of labor are not
getting lower. They are getting higher.
Wheat is 20 or 50 per cent higher than
it was when Bryan was running for pres
ident. and when, for a time, there seemed
to be some danger that he would be
elected. Fork, corn. oats. hay. and three
fourths OF the other products are higher
than they w-re then, and are steadily
advancing. Every mechanic OF worker (
of any sort who heard Bryan knew he !.
was telling a falsehood when he insin- /
uated that wages were going down. Ev-
erybody knew Bryan's insinuation about I!
the decline in products to be false. Bryan T.
himself knew both insinuations to be
false
Injunctiors, says Bryan, are generally I
sought by employers who after com-
bining among themselves, endeavor 10 /.
prevent cooperation among their en-
ployees". This assertion. too, Bryan I
knows to be untrue. Not a single instance |
in the whole history Of the labor disturb /
ances Of 1894 or 1897 can be cited in which |
an employer has obtained an injunction /
to prevent the formation Of labor So
cieties or 10 stop any other sort Of l-glt- |
innate combination among employees. ~ .
Injunction for any such purpose has ever
been asked by any one. No judge Of
any court, state or federal, in the United
States. would grant an injunction on any
such plea. Injunctions have been granted
10 prevent workmen who wanted to work
from being maltreated or intimidated 10
protect the persons or property Of en-
ployees that were in danger and TO pre-
vent strikers and agitators from commit
ting crime for which they would be pun
ished For these reasons and only for
these, as Bryan is well aware have injunc-
tions been issued.
During the last campaign" declares
Bryan, ian attempt was made to rob the
Australian ballot Of much Of its use
fulness. so-called sound money clubs
were organized by employers among their
employees. Men working for wages were
compelled to announce their position upon
the issue then paramount and in some
instances were given to understand that
they were expected to vote with their
employers or risk the loss Of employ
Vent-" Ignorant as the country believes
l yam to be, nobody believes he thinks
this assertion is truth Bryan knows
that the Australian ballot prevailed in
nearly every state in the Union, he knows
the employer can by no possibility learn
how the employee votes unless the en-
pIoyee tells. and therefore he knows the
employer would not use pressure which