The sun., 1900-09-18
CHAPTER u.-(Continued.)

vile are only worth a Itlle over = CeHCS
per pound, corn IL cents bushel, and
everything else to correspond. Now,
one thing sure, something is wrong, and
we are in favor of a change. A few
years ago l had flock of sheep, and
was making money with them. so
thought it would be good scheme to
buy more. l also needed more hogs,
but didn't have the money necessary
to buy them, so 1 mortgaged my place
TO get 1t. WE'LL most of the hogs ]
bought died with the cholera. l don't
suppose that was the governments
fault, but wool has gone down to al
most nothing, and all have left is the
mortgage"
"Wait moment" said Ezra. You
say that few years ago wool was n
good price. What kind of money ba-
sis had we then?"
"Gold, reckon"
"Then you admit that prices can be
good, with gold for the standard
money!"
mo, not as good as they ought to be-"
"Oh, yes, Simon. l remember, you
wrote me the fall of '92 that hogs were
s cents. Didn't that satisfy the farm
err"
II suppose that such as them that had
hogs was satisfied"
well, il they didn't have, 1t wasn't
the governments fault. Cattle were
fair price, too, | believe, and all other
live stock was valuable property, In
spite of the awful fact that we had gold
for the standard money, and Harrison,
a Republican, was President of the
United States. or course, prices are
regulated more by supply and demand
than by anything else"
WELL" said Simon. supply and de-
mand have nothing TO do with it, and
will you please explain why we are
having hard times now, when gold is
still the standardy'
"Simply because there is now lack
Of confidence, which did not exist in
'92. This Is the principal reason, al
though the low tariff policy of this
Democratic administration has hurt us.
The low tariff laws have closed hun
dreds of factories, shutting men out of
employment and it has knocked the
bottom out of many industries. That's
the trouble with wool. The sheep rails
ers in Australia can raise sheen muck
cheaper than the farmers in this coun
try can, and now they can bring their
wool over here, and sell it without paw
ing anything for the privilege. They
can undersell farmers here until they
have to go out of sheep-raisng entire
| ~. The cause of lack of confidence is
the fear of Bryan's election. The silver
dollar now passes for 100 cents, be-
cause it Is backed up by gold. liz we
stopped backing it up with gold il
would fall to its market value, which,
at the present time, is only about 81
cents. Of course. when the silver dol
lars fell to so cents, everybody would
pay their debts with il, and keep back
the gold money. 1t would be all that
would circulate"
in your opinion" said Simon. Now
I'll tell you how things will be il Ne
kinley's elected. 1t won't matter how
scarce hogs, cattle, or products are. o,
how great the demand, they won't bt
worth raisin' if the Republicans win
and these goldbugs continue to hav,
control of the markets. am living il
hope that no such awful calamity vii
befall us, and l do believe McKinle,
will be the worst defeated candidat,
that ever run for office, and hope Glel
Harrington will be the next worst
He's the fellow the Republicans in thi
county have put up for Superintendent
OF Schools to run agn Winnie. Rathe
singular, too. when he's her beau. Bu
to return to my subject. Men wht
have studied the subject say that con
dttions among farmers will be abou
ten times as bad as they are now
Money will be so scarce many will bC
obliged to live without any. Time,
will get in such an awful condition thst
with some brave leader like Coxey. .
great army will be raised. l prophes,
that there will be the awfullest wa,
this world has ever seen. II will bf
labor against capital"
"Wait and see if your prophecy comes
true, Simon. 1t is the only thing that
viii convince you of your mistake. Yor
Will find that our country's all right
after all. 1t has been said that Amer
lea is just another name for onnor
tunity.' That country where a day's
work will buy most Of the necessaries
or life is the country most blessed OF
heaven. Men are afraid to spend gold
now' for fear of free silver; that is the
reason we do not see any at present"
"Ah, Ezra, that's not the reason. It,s
because England is grabbing it all nm
She is glad we have gold for our stand.
ard money"
That's probably what your manor
tells you," said Ezra, "but there l. nn
4 truth in it. The enlightened nation
found it necessary. in trading with oanh
other to have a universal standard of
money, and they chose gold because
! they considered it the one metal steadr