The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-10-26
THE SCRANTON TR1BUNE-FR1DAY OCTOBER 2e 1900

raidY fon will say. Sin money" That is true,
but the money is only an intermediary TO that
in, IN Which you are really paid. viz. things that
is measured finally by what your work will pro.
cure You are paid two dollars per day, IN go'o
or its equivalent. Two dollars will buy sack Of
Hour pair OF shoes. OF 4 thousand pounds OF
coal, and on. The value of your labor is.
therefore. equal TO the vaue of sack of -four
u pair of shoes, n thousand pounds of coal, or
what not.
buy is silver. With two dollars OF the money IN
winch You are now paid YOU can buy 1,6OO grains
OF silver bullion. That quantity Of silver bullion
hns us cNchahgcoble value all over the world
value to sack ci -four, q pair OF shoes. or A
thousand pounds Of coal. IN other words. your
labor pay aud 1000 grains of silver are equiv.
alent to each other IN their power to command
those things that minister to the comfort and
happiness of yourselves and your families
:. LET Us now examine the freesilver proposition
!, is simply this: Open the mints to everybody
Permit the owners Of silver to bring In 3Ilh
grains OF silver. stamp II one dollar and give
IL back 10 them. Clothe that dollar with legal
tender quality, so that it may he lawfully used
10 pay debts. That is all. Il il simple enough,
isn't itI But we know that one dollar o! orr
present Kind of money the money in which YOU
are paid Your salaries and your wagcs--is worth.
not STA grains. but more than 500 grains.
grains for your pay than the equivalent of aIlh
grains?
And yet. II you consent to the freesilyer pre-.
Silyeristic supporters come INTO power. that pro.
grainme will he adopted. and You inevitably get
your pay in the new dollars containing 3Iih
grains OF fine silver. Before you vote for this
sort Of business bc wise enough to get stipu.
laton from Your employers that YOU shall then
be paid. as YOU are now paid, in something
equivalent to 500 grains of silver. II yon do no,
do so. YOU will get the equivalent OF only 3'li4
grains for every dollar paid YOU. Can you at
ford it?
But they will tell you that these new dollars,
containing a7li4 grains, will be as valuable then
as 500 grains arc now. They will tell you that
a dollar is dollar and that free coinage will
bring the value Of the bullion up to its coinage
value. So that then 31lA grains will be worth
dollar. That is true in one sense, but IL is
not eruc in essence or in fact. Three hundred
and scvcnty.onc anil onc.fourth grains in silver
bullion will he indeed worth one of the new sill
vcr dollars. because with that number OF grains
YOU can get one of the new dollars. and one of
the new dollars will be worth 37lh grains of
silver because there are just "Ilh grains in it,;
hut the questionable question in whicl, YOU arc
intcrcsted-is ths: What will be the value OF
that dollar in wlicl, / am now paid? You know
;ic value OF your present dollars. Are yon pre-
pared TO guarantee to yourselves and to your
families that these now proposed dollars will be
OF equal or even Of approximate value? NO.
gentlemen. you cannot afford TO do so. Take
the risk of such an empty chance If YOU will.
hut when the hour Of your grief and disappoint.
n,rnt shall come az come it surely will then
blame yourselves. but absolve the Republican
party from any responsibility for the ad'ersitics
you will suffer.
nh. po,1x;, ,,a p,,,;,a.s r,+.ras+
Ane banning "Ao o"'AAess
But the Democratic orators will tell you that
what | ain saying is the voice of the banker
and that the banker has special interest in
the gold standard; that gold is the rich mans
money and silver is the poor mans, and other
rot OF that kind | want to speak Il moment
OF the bankers position. | want to show, you,
as l readily can, that the banker il he had re.
gard only for an immediate and il.gotten profit,
would himself advocate the irec.coinagc meas
ure of the Democrats. Let's see how he could
make it serve his profit.
Assume that the free coinage law would me o..
elativc in two years Knowing this the banker
having, saw $500 600 in deposits, could buy at
the present market price, say, one million Mcx.
lean dolars or an amount OF silver equal there
to in bullion, each one little heavier and "
in, nt, 1n Ir 'nnm % t,e opoSGa Id ser M @ do's @
ion Mexicans to the mint and receive in return
one million and fourteen thousand of the new
American dollars With these in hand, and they
being legal tender, he could pay off his deposits
with 100000 of the coins and keep $4,000 of
them ,s the reward of his slrewdness His real
profit would not be .sjli 900. They would be
cheap dollars. and compared with gold dollars,
would possess but lalf their purchasing power,
we must divide the S5l4, 900 by =, which gives
Him net profit oil $257, 900 on the transaction.
You will ask, then, why with such possibilities
before them, the bankers oppose the measure. I
will tell you truly. IL is because they forcsec,
as everyone who understands the matter must
foresee that with the adoption of the measure
gold would disappear into private hoards; the
reserves of the banks now largely in gold, would
be drawn out; they would be forced TO contract
their loans; a general and exhausting liquidation
would take place; merchants and manufacturers
would fail. and in the general wreck and ruin
the banker would be exempt from the general
disaster. Shops and factories would be closed !;
a sharp halt would be called on all enterprises; !;
labor would go into idleness: wages would be re-
tucc,l. and general misery realized. There would
be a resurrection, no doubt Our country is too
great, its resources too manifold. to long remain
in bankruptcy and dlcnesS With the old wrecks
silver money would be til" money standard and
Wv VI WV