The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-02-01

patriots who seek by the power OF the
| ballot to wrest the re.ns OF government
| from this heartless plutocracy who would
ruin you and your contry for self gain?
And now. my dear sir, l would like to call
+! your attention to the remedy we would
| apply for the body polite.
rlrst: We would give you the free and
unlimited coinage Of gold and silver at a
| ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one of gold.
which would have a tendency to equalize
| the exchange Of the world. So our farmers
and manufacturers would not be at dis
| advantage with the farmers and manu-
facturers of free silver countries. Previous
to the decentralization of silver in 1873 the
farmers and manufacturers of the United
States had no competition in either North
or South America, save a little that came
from Canada. Competition In these two
leading industries of our country came
with the demonstration of silver; and the
competition has grown sharper as the
divergency Of gold and silver widened.
From 1890 to 1898 manufacturers sup
piled the Argentine farmers with self
binders; in 1890 they shipped their binders
to Argentine and received in payment 100
ounces Of silver for each self-binder; the
100 ounces of silver was brought back TO
the United States and it was worth $l2
but in 1898. when congress repealed the
Sherman act, and the minis OF Germany,
France, Bombay and Calcutta were closed
to the individual coinage of silver. then
silver immediat ely fell to 81 cents per ounce
Then when our manufacturer shipped his
binders to that country he received 100
ounces of silver, just the same as IN 1880,
but when he brought it back to the United
States it was only worth $62, cutting the
price of his binder in two!
The result was the plant was moved to
Argentina and our commerce was re-
stricted
Is q
silver is not restored to where it was pre-
viOuS to 1873, before the factories of Ar
gentina will be shipping their goods ard
wares to our shores. underselling our fac
tories. compelling them to reduce wages or
suspend business which means idle labor
and hard times.
They will do it in the same manner that
Mexico is shipping plows into our North
western states: the plows manufactured
at a cost of 81 each Mexican money; they
are shipped into Texas, Louisiana and other
Southwestern states and sold for S. each
Of our money, which Is gold; they take the
gold back to Mexico and 1t is worth about
$13 Of Mexican money.
Now, let us take peep at our manu-
facturer. He builds his plow for 81 In our
money which is gold. ships it to Mexico
sells 1t for Sc in Mexican money, which Is
worth s.. 50 in our money!
And now, my dear sir, you have seen it
asserted in the public press that there was
or, in other words. that the price of silver
bullion had nothing to do with the price OF
wheat in Liverpool
Now, my dear sir I will suppose you are
| a British grain dealer and want 20 buy
wheat as cheaply as possible. What is there
to hinder you from going into the bullion
| market and buying silver bullion at from
81 to SO cents per or; and otter you have
bought the bullion what is there to hinder
you from taking 1t over to the Argentine
froo silk haV N o.
| it coined into the standard coins Of that
! country, making your q cents worth CT
! silver worth $129; then what is there to
| hinder you from giving the Argentine farm
er $1.OO Of it for his bushel of wheat, and
| have 20 cents left to pay transportation
charges to Liverpool double the amount
| required?
| So you see you are actually laying down
| Argentine wheat in Liverpool for less than
| 60 cents per bushel, and you can do it as
| long as they have wheat to sell, and we will
! have to meet the competition to sell our
| surplus. But when free-silver country
! has a bushel of wheat to sell and the de-
mand of all western Europe falls upon the
| Z. S. the situation is changed. Just as 1t
! has been in the past year and a half when
| we were the only country in the world that
had any wheat to sell.
And now, my friend, can you see there is
| but one thing for us to do-open our minis
| to the free and unlimited coinage Of both
| bullion the spectators of western Eu-
rope buy no cheap silver bullion and
compel our farmers and manufacturers to
meet the unjust competition Of free silver
countries, impoverishing labor and driving
our farmers and manufacturers into bank
ruptcy.
We are the leading commercial country
of the world producing three times as much
wheat for export and can produce twice as
much silver as any country in the world.
1t is for to lead and all gold standard
countries will have to follow, to protect
themselves from loss of trade. The moment
We open our minis to the free coinage Of
both gold and silver at a ratio Of 16 to l
that moment we command the entire trade
of South and Central America, because 81
of their money, exchange added, would buy
81 worth of our goods, when it would take
81 of their money to buy 81 worth of goods
! in gold standard country. Thus. you see,
Great Britain, Germany and France would
have to follow us instead Of us tagging after
them.
We have been aping Great Britain too
long to suit the liberty-loving people Of
this republic. Our national banking sys-
! tenn was patterned after the Bank Of Eng
, land
When that institution was chartered and
began business there were $780, 900 home
owners in Great Britain; after it had been
in successful operation for 80 years there
was less than 900 home-owners and today
less than 1900 men own all the realty Of
Great Britain.
We also see a determination on the part
of the money power to create a national
debt in this country that will be in keeping
with that Of Great Britain, country whose
debt is so vast that the people of that coun-
try have not tried to pay anything but the
interest for over half century; and the
men who own the debt, and live in ease and
afiuence from the interest, do not want it
paid: they want to pass it down from gen.
Grafton to generation and make slavery per-
petual.
At the close Of the civil war our bonded
debt was only $3.50, 600, 600; the soldier and
the sailor had been paid the manufacturer
and the farmer all had been paid, but not
withstanding these facts four years after
the close of the war our bonded debt had
swollen to over 81, 10000 0C0, and a large
portion Of that was fixed so 1t could not be
paid until 1907. And for fear that some
thing w~ald happen. that the people would
pay it at maturity, the money-power com
manded Grover the First under the pretext
of maintaining the national honor, to issue
bonds and buy gold and keep the gold re-
serve intact. We know it Is not few
dollars in gold borrowed of foreign bankers
on interest bearing bonds that makes
credit or our money good and maintains
our national honor, but fertile soil AMI
an energetic, industrious people, who pro-
duce a greater surplus of agricultural
products for export than any other country
in the world thus giving us solid base
Of credit which makes our money good
uhather II he silver gold or paper. Re-