The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-11-04
AN IRREpREssIBLE CONFLICT.
There Must De Change In Our Fin"n-
cinI Affairs and silver Restored
10 It's RiRbtfuI Place.

10 lis NiEhttui hlnct.
Cotton is quoted AT A., cents per
hound and wheat at GO cents per bushel.
II was the promise Of the republican
party dat ii it was given power so that
ihe money question might be decided IN
favor OF the gold standard. all uncor-
ta.nty would pass away, confidence
would be renewed and prosperity would
come swooping along as a natural re-
suit. Advantageous circumstances
arose. following The success Of Mr.. Nc
Kinley, 10 lend sorie plausibiliiy to this
claim. With western wheat selling at
one dollar bushcl. followed but few
months later by foreign war, the
certainty was felt that the people
would forget the hard times and that
the agencies of revival would go to
work AT once.
The months Of summer have passed
away. the war has become q matter Of
history. and we are now garnerng the
second crop after the advent Of Mr.. Me-
kinlcy into power. The result Is that
western wheat, which had been so large
" doomed owing TO wheat corner and
Providcntial causes, has gone back to
It's normal proftless price, and that
cotton has fallen to low-water mark.
thus threatening, not only the southern
planter, but the western wheat grower
with an indiscrimirate ruin in which
there seems to be nothing ahead for
the agricultural class but n condition
az serfdom ms hopeless as that which
prevailed in Russia but without the
guardianship which even the Russian
system threw around its unhappy agri-
sulturists.
The farmers of the entire wheat era
s-e now holding meetings pledging
themselves to hold their grain back
and thus attempt TO raise the price to
something like profit. The movement
has assumed such large proportions
that the metropolitan press is forced
TO give ii attention, which they denied
lis twin movement in the south when
cotton was the subject of consideration.
II is held by the farmers OF the west
that il costs fully 60 cents a bushel to
raise their wheat. Yet the highest
price which wheat has reached in the
Minneapolis market has been 63 cents.
The average price obtained by the
farmers throughoutth the wheat-grOwing
area has been even less than GO cents,
so that these growers who were so
prosperous under the spur Of Russian
famine two years ago are now parting
with their products for less than cost.
Altogether these two agrarian move
ments mean much more than appears
upon their face. They mean that the
agricultural distress belongs 10 no sec
tion. and that there must be some com-
mon underlying cause for The destitu-
iion which has come upon the prodrc-
ing classes II means that these pro-
Gucirg classes are arraycd against the
rxactons OF the single gold standard
mot from hostility o the legitimate
functions Of capital. bu, in protest
against the pernicious legislation
which has elevated the one at the eN-
pcnse Of the other.
Let II not be assumed in the face Of
these facts that the present decline %
populism throughout this country
means any decline in the earnestness
Of the people for redress. IT was in
their very desperation that they broke
away from the old parties several
years ago and struck out wildly on
new lines for redress which could not
come to them in such spasmodic ef-
forts. That movement has recoiled.
and hereafter the toiling millions will
recognize the democratic party as the
only agency through which they can
obtain their wishes. That party which
had been the champion Of the people 5
rights ever since the formation Of this
government will continue TO represent
those rights and TO fight the cause OF
the oppressed against the opprcssors
The masses are stirred up as they
have never been stirred before. In
the middle OF the Mckinley admins
tration, from west and south. comes
the cry ofnonproductivc labor. II will
not do TO turn deaf ear to the pie ad
ings Of the men in whose strong arms
the greatness Of our country rests.
There must he n change; that change
must be reform OF our financial sys.
tenn. the establishment OF silver &c
rs constitutional function. This alone
can bring about the good prices for
which the southern planter and the
western wheat growers are now ari-
tatinr.
This is the fight OF the future. and
II IL Just as well to look II in the IA ce
nanta Constitution.