Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-04-29
Threshing the Same Beaten Straw.

InJ,r the double caption oi Point
al uHr-t;"n~-Which to Choo>c,' sur
rounded 10y hordcr-linc> To- give il
Prominence, thu 0rrnottao pr'p"und,
the iollow.n. rondcrou> queries:
Which wonId the wa-e-carncr, rather
haN, i,r a Iay>'s wuih-a dollar in sill
Yer Il dollar in gold"
Whi,h would Ia" pen homer rather
have
WA.,h the man VIII" wlthlraws his
dc;n'>It from savings bank
Which would he prefer to he paid IL
h- family hy the inSuranc" company
aztec his death
Which would the farmer rather get
for his wheat. his cotton, or this wool
OR the manufacturer Tor his pluws, his
boots and shoes, or his clothing?
Which would all the world rather
have
There is only one answer to all these
questions Gold. The world would
rather have it than silver thirty-six
times over.
The only logical Inference to be
drawn from these questions is tina,
there i, Il vast difference between the
purchasing power of the gold dollar
and the silver dollar, in the exchange
made for the ordinary commodities OF
life. This is not true. What differ
ence does it make to the wagc-earner
whether he pays gold or a silver dol.
lar for a given number of pounds OF
sugar or -four, or any other article for
which it is exchanged, almost as soon
as it reaches his hands? What differ
ence to the pcnsioner, if the one dollar
constitutes as effective means of sup
port As the other? How can the man
who is so fortunate as to have a few
dollars in savings-bank object to the
kind OF money he is paid in, or in re-
cciving possibly the same kind of
money he has deposited in small
amounts, when it will buy just as
much as any other money when he
changes it into any kind of property
he wants? What difference would it
make to the farmer or the manufac-
turer, except that restriction of the
volume Of currency has increased its
purchasing power Of all commodities
so much as to cut in two the pay of
the wage-earner, diminish the prices
the farmer receives for his products,
and reduce the margin of profits so
that the manufacturer must grind
labor down to the lowest possible limit
to keep his factory running?
The pensioner, whose monthly al
lowance may have been fixed before
the gold ratio had decimated property
values; the office-holder, whose salary
may have been apportioned before
prices of commodities had fallen a
hundred per cent. under the apprecia-
ton of the value of restricted cur
rency, or the money-lender who finds
that his thousand dollar mortgage on
property thrice its value, has absorbed
the security and enabled him to take
a deficiency judgment" or anything
remaining, may bless the scheme by
which they have been enabled to alb
sorb values that under bimetallism be-
longed to Others. but they do not con-
stitute the world" nor indeed larg.
err portion of it, when individuality is
considered.
1t is by such specious pleas as these
that the goldbug newspapers attempt
to deceive the masses. They state
what seems to be a self-evident propo.
sition that gold as redemption money
is worth double the legal ratio of silver
in the form of specie, and it is to cor
rect this glaring wrong to the poor
man, that nearly 100000 of people
voted against the selfish, grasping, ar
rogant demands of wealth, last year,
and it is the justice involved in the
measure that keeps it living issue
despite the desperate efforts made to
consign it to oblivion.
One of the humors of the war is
noted in the fact that Moro Castle,
at Havana, opened fire on the Ameri-
can blockading squadron, Saturday
night. After ten shots had been sent