The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1898-10-13
Mr.. rowne,s speech.

On Monday evening Hon. Chas. A.
Towne, the fusion candidate foc con-
gress from this district, spoke to q
large audience in the Grand Opera
House in this city. Mr.. Towne's
reputation as an orator always as
sures large attendance, and he GER
tainly had no cause for complaint
Not so his audience. He certainly was
not at his best. The speech was dis
appointing. 1t lacked that quality
which fixes the attention and interest
of his listeners. In fact many got
very restless and tired and not a few
left the hall before the conclusion II
was abored-lacking that spontaneity
which has always been strong point
in Mr.. Towne's addresses heretofore.
His introduction was really fine. II
scintillated with brilliantly expressed
platitudes as to the requisites for pa.
triotic citizenship, and his illusions
to the declaration of independence
we're very entertaining. Passing
thence marked decadence in both mat
ter and manner was painfully evident.
He set up men of straw and attacked
them MISUNDERSTANDING their heads
off and Remembering them most ruth
lessly. He did not affirm that they
we're real men-but by implication in
simulated it merely. When he referred
to it's being a terrible thing when a
dozen men in Lombard-st., or on the
Bourse, or IN Wall-st., could control
the ebb and flow of all the gold in the
world, he did not. would not, could
not state it was a fact that any such
dozen ever had or could so control
gold. tits fact that the production
and distribution of gold is not and
cannot be controlled by any combina-
ton. except within extremely limited
lines. A balance of trade in our favor
will turn a current>of gold toward our
shores, and an adverse balance will
turn it away. It is coming now in
vast volume; it went away under the
previous administration quite as rap
idly.
And so, too, relative to the argument
of falling prices, for which free coin
age was the sole panacea. Mr.. Towne
knows very well-and it is noticeable
he quoted no other commodity than
wheat-the average, or as he pleased
to call it, the general level, of prices
of all farm products is much higher
than it was in 1896. Since that time
silver bullion has fallen from IS to So
cents per ounce, while stock, hogs,
sheep, butter, cheese, hides, wool,
faxseed, corn, oats, rye, yes, and
wheat to a less degree, have risen in
market price from three to fifty per
cent. These figures and comparisons
are from accepted market reports.
The trouble with wheat, according to
the St. Paul Globe, which certainly
must be accepted as democratic au-
thority, is that, to quote: "American
this year, are confronted
with an aggregate gain of $4,000, 900
bushels. There is at present worlds
increase estimated in Europe, of
236, 100000 bushels over the crop of
1897, according to Bradstreet's collec
ton of reports. Even in Russia the
latest figures indicate an increase that
has not been heretofore regarded as
possible. This has been year of
excessive production of wheat, not
only in this country, but the world
over" So it is not the silver ques-
ton that ails prices at all. Every
thing is higher save wheat, and the
price of that is depressed by an excess
sive supply, Certainly Mr.. Towne
will not attempt to make any capital
out of falling prices in face of these
figures.
And so with the banking argument,
and the state nominations-he was
and disingenuous. His
whole speech was perfunctory and
labored. His attack upon his oppon-
ent was peculiar, to say the least. He
claimed Morris worked for duty of
two dollars on lumber at the instiga-
tion of tn ose who would be benefited
directly by it. Mr.. Towne, acknowl-
edging himself protectionist, worked
for free trade in lumber as the paid
attorney for those who would be bene-
fitted by that-the Canadian lumber
men who could then shut every saw
mill and empty every lumber camp
this side the International boundary
line. DR.. Dubois was far more felici-
tous in introducing the speaker, than
was the speaker in justifying the in
PRODUCTION.
THE STATE.ISSUE.