Middletown transcript., 1897-03-13
SILVER AND WAGES.
Speech of Secretary Carlisle
| at Chicago.

dG OulCdSUS
He Addresses a Mass Meeting Of Work.
ingmen on the Currency Question.
Makes It Clear That Cheap Money Always
was and Always VIII Be the Wage
Earner's Enemy-Free Coinage Means
Silver Mouometallism and Reduced Pur-
chasing Power OF wages-Such Has Been
the Experience with Deprecated Silver
In Chile, Japan and Mexico and With
Our Deprecated Currency-Would Rob
Workingmen Of Billions Of Dollars De-
posted In Savings Banks and Building
and Loan Associations and Invested In
Insurance Policies.
We reprint below in full Secretary Carlisle,s
clear, forcible and unanswerable speech to the
labor organizations of Chicago, ct the Audito-
rum, on April Is:
MR.. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN-l am here
this evening in response to communication
received several months ago from number o.
gentlemen connected with various labor or
Ranizations Of this city inviting me to address
them and their fellow workingmen upon the
currency and financial questions, which were
then and are still agitating the minds OF our
people in all parts Of the country. When shat
communication reached me, 1t was not in my
power to designate q time when my official
duties would permit me to come here, Dut
promised to hold the matter under considera-
oryha might
to do 80, and / now congratulate myself upon
nv good fortune in having at last found an
| opportunity to meet this great assemblage OF
laboring people and to discuss in their pres
ence what I consider one Of the most impor-
| tant economic questions that can possibly en-
gage the attention OF wage earners IN tnlS OF
any other country.
The Wage Farmers Interest In Good Money.
Whether the general business Of the people
shall. be transacted with good money or bad
money, whether the wages OF labor shall be
paid In q sound and stable currency, with full
| purchasing power In the markets where they
are exchanged for the necessaries OF life, or In
q deprecated and fuctuating currency, hav-
ing no fixed value and therefore bearing no
| permanent relation to the current prices Of
| commodities, are questions which affect the
comfort and happiness of every home and the
peace and prosperity of every community.
| While all are deeply interested in the settle-
| ment Of these questions it is unfortunately the
| case that all will not be equally affected by an
| erroneous decision upon them. The wealthy
| man. the man who has accumulated property
| or boarded money, Is always exempt from
| many of the most serious consequences OF a
4 financial or industrial disturbance. He has
| both means and credit, and, while he may be
| subjected to much loss and Inconvenience,
neither he nor his family will be pinched by
| hunger or compelled to go without raiment or
1 shelter.
| 1t is the Door man and the man of moderate
1 means-the man who has not been fortunate
| enough to accumulate property or money, but
1 who depends upon his wages or upon the prod
/ ucts of his own labor for the means Of sup
/ porting himself and his fGmily-that always
1 feels the first and most disastrous effects OF
i business or industrial depression, no matter
4 whether it results from deprecated and huc-
i tuating currency or from other causes. Such
4 q man has nothing to dispose Of but his labor
| and nothing with which to support himself or
| his family but his wages or tho proceeds OF
| his own labor, and any policy that even tenn
i porarily suspends or obstructs the Industrial
/ progress of the country by diminishing the
Il demand for the products of labor, or by i'm
i pairing the capacity or disposition OF capital
| TO employ labor, must be injurious to his in
Il terests and infict more or less suffering upon
all who are dependent upon him. Labor can
\ not be boarded; the idle day is gone forever;
| lost wages are never reimbursed, and there
fore steady employment and good pay in good
| money are essential to the comfort and happi-
ness Of the American laborer and his wife and
| children, and he will be unfaithful to himself
| and to them If he does not insist upon the
| adoption and maintenance of such policy as
viii most certainly preserve the value and sta
bility OF all our currency and promote the
regular and profitable conduct Of all our in
dustrial enterprises. He cannot prosper when
the country is in distress, when its industries
are prostrated, it commerce paralyzed, its
credit broken down or its social order dis
turbed. nor can he prosper when the fuctua-
tions C the currency are such that he cannot
certainly know the value of the dollar In
| which his wages are paid or estimate In adj
vance the cost Of the necessaries of life.
Whether we shall or shall not have long
period Of financial, commercial and Industrial
disturbance in this country, and whether la
| Dor shall be deprived Of permanent employ
ment or be partially employed and made
duately paid, are questions directly and neces-
| sarily- involved In the demand now seriously
made by many Of our fellow citizens that the
| United States, without the cooperation OF any
other government in the world, and in oppo-
| sitiOn to the established policy OF every
other great civilized and commercial nation,
| shall authorize the free and unlimited coinage
of full legal tender silver at the rate Of 10 to j.
notwithstanding the true market ratio b.
| tween the two metals is about 81 to l, ors In
other WOr0S, 6n8b bno Ou1b6O obabSs dLuuo eLthlA
declare by law that 16 ounces OF silver are
equal in value to ounce Of gold, when 1t Il
| an indisputahle fact everywhere recognized
| that in all the markets Of the world. in silver
standard countries as well as In gold standard
countries, 10 ounces Of silver are worth only
about one-half as much as ounce Of gold
and viii purchase only about one-hah as much
Of the necessaries Of life.
what Free Coinage Really Means.
The naked proposition is that the United
States shall coin, at the public expense for the
} exclusive benefit OF the individuals and COR
porations owning the bullion, all the silver
that may be presented at the 'mints into dol
lars containing 871H grains Of pure silver, or
E2k grains Of standard silver, worth intrin-
sicaily about 81 or So cents, deliver the coins
10 the depositors Of the bullion and compel all
tthe other people in the country to receive
these coins at valuation Of 100 cents each IN
the payment Of debts due them for property
sold, for labor and service Of all kinds, for
| pensions to soldiers and sailors and their wild
ows and children, for losses sustained under
policies issued by life and other Insurance.
companies, Tor deposits in sayings banks, trust
companies, building associations and oehex ipr
| Htitutions, for debts due to widows and orphans
by guardians, executors and administrators Of
, dacedents estates and other trustees. for salRr
ries Of all civil. military and naval officials
and the compensation Of private soldiers and
seaman, and, in short, for every kind Of obli-
cation recognized by the laws Of the land, ex-
cept only In cases where the prudent capitalixf
has taken the prepaution In advance Co CON
tract for payment Of debts dpe him in eold q
[ its equivalent
10 say nothing Of the gross partiality ane
! manifest Injustice a such policy rs fmme.
diste effect would hs 70 contract our currency
30 the axsent Il about 500 900 900 By stopping
| the use nE g11d ns m0nsy and putting pre-.
mIum upon the coins nk that metal equal, Of
nhnst e4nal. BE- ths dlzzeEanee hstMsanl the In.