Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1898-03-08
rHr R1oHr or rnn prorf.E.

OF their cause, for tell you that Jher,
is no subject that has to be decided
| by the votes OF the American peODl,
that is either too sacred or too difli-
cult TO be Investigated by those thai
must cast the votes. (Applause.l w,
deny the right OF any class in the
community 10 legislate for the rest.
This is government ol'the people
and when IL is said that IL Is a gov
ernment of the people, we mean that
IL is a government Of the whole people
(Applause.)
They tell you. my friends, that they
are in favor of a dollar OF the great
est purchasing power. | say 70 you
that the dollar of the greatest pur
chasing power is the worst dollar iu
the world, and will illustrate it and
prove IL in a moment. But you know
and | know, and every honest man
knows, when he stops To think about
10, that the best dollar is the dollar
that, over the longest period of time
together, will come the nearest u
possessing the same purchasing
power (Applause.) That is the best
dollar.
THE FARMER AND HIS WHEAT.
Now let Us use, for a moment, the
illustration we started with here, IL
give an example OF the Significance OF
debt. A man, we will say, is a
farmer. He is engaged ia the raising
Of stock and the raising of grain. He
feels ambitious. lie has good farm,
out there is adjoining it some excel
lent land that he would like To annex
70 his farm, in order to extend his
facilities Of productions and become
more prosperous. He, therefore, not
having the ready money with which
10 buy it-it costs him $1,000, say
goes into debt for the $1,000. He bOr-
rows IL; he put mortgage upon all
the land, the new and the old, in
order TO give adequate security to the
lender; aud agrees, after a certain
number OF years, TO pay back that
$1,000. Now, my friends, in justice
70 the demand of the gold standard
men, whose illustration we have just
employed, let us understand that, at
Jhe time when tue debt is incurred,
Chis large piece Of money which we
nave come 10 know as 81 was effecting
Che exchange of those equivalent
values, namely, Of leg OF mutton
lad bushel Of wheat. What, then,
toes the farmer consider? He has
IOJ in debt, for he has borrowed $1,000,
remember. The $1,000 is named 10
the bond la that language-''dollars, d"
always "dOllars;" and, my friends, it
occurs to me here TO stop moment 10
remark that the producer of the
United States ought To learn how,
II he can, TO think and express his
thoughts in terms of commodities,
rather than Uf dollars. We get TO
dinging into our ears this constant
repetition of "the dollar, The dollar,
the dOllar"a so continuously sthat we
become calloused TO its Significance.
The dollar, my friends, is what pays
our taxes. The way we get dollars is
by the sacrifice of our commodities
and our labor; and the dollar, there
fore, means TO use-it means to the
masses OF the producers OF the world
a certain equivalent of effort, and it
ought TO continue TO mean, for as
long a time together as possible, the
same equivalent OF effort and the
same degree Of sacrifice. (Applause,)
Now | say this: That il that al.
teraJion in the ratio between his
and the money for which
he dlsposes OF his commodities and
with which he pays his debts, has
changed the quantity OF the money
substance which he has heretofore
been able TO avail himself OF, then it
is the law which has robbed that
producer TO the extent of 100 per cent
of the value OF his debt. (Cheers.)
AN IMPREGNABLE POSITION.
My friends, somebody may say this
Is only illustration, | would TO
Heaven that it were only an imag-
mary case. here, again, is the posi-
tion OF the bimetallist absolutely im-
for, fortunately for us, the
facts and theories upon which the de.
fense OF our position rests, are not to
be begged in order to be made the
foundation Of a successful argument,
but they are conceded by the statis-
tlCal authorities of the world. For
fear that somebody may not quite
credit Jhat statement, you may take
the London Economists figures,
founded upon the average price for
The past thirty or forty years OF
twenty-five staple commodities. You
may take those of Augustus Sauer-
Dech, the statisticlan OF the London
Board OF Trade--also "A gold standard
luthorlty-founded upon forty-tive
,bulfiS Ou may ldhC
Jhe figures of DR.. Soetbaer, as con-
Jinued by DR.. HeintZ, OF Hamburg,
founded upon III commodities. You
nay take, If you please, the figures |
)f Prof. Faulkner, which were used |
ly the Allison Carlisle committee in !!
This country in 1892, founded upon |
,23 commodities. You may take |
hose founded upon the prices OF 100
that have been recently |
md are still, being complied by the |
'ditor OF the American, in Phlladel- |
,hia. In fact, my friends, you may
AXE the acknowledged, conceded |
results of the statistical inquiries OF !
III places, In every language, and they |
how this appalling fact: That to-
lay, on the average, given quantity |
Il gold Will purchase twice as much |
n the open markets of the world as
I would purchase twenty-five years
,go (Applause.)
In other words, that average prices
Il all commodities in the market, as
eckoned In geld, have fallen 80 per
ent., and that the purchasing power
4 gold has risen, therefore, 100 per
ent (Applause,l
MONEY MAKES TIMES GOOD.
You will remember, where else