Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-10-26
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| pete IN manufacturing with the older
countries, were labor is cheap Wages
and salaries are too high here The
labor cost of what we manufacture is
too great. We must reduce the labor
| cost. To undertake to reduce wages
directly would simply breed strikes,
lockouts; disorders, and riots, but can
not you see he continued that if we
adopt silver as a standard money for
our domestic use We WILL while nomi-
nally paying the same wages, pay them
in kind of money which will be OBJ
| tanned at cost. measured in finished
products, Of not more than one-half the
present cost in gold?'
Yes" / replied, l see this clearly.
1t is strictly true, but you said it was
for the interests Of the people Don t
you recognize the wage-worker and the
salaried man as the people? Your
proposition is a proposition to blind
fold their eyes while you pick their
pockets. | cannot agree to your plan.
Better strikes. lockouts. ana riots than
this kind Of Juggling and cheating
through the medium Of payment. If
protection Will not protect (which time
will show. If our labor cost be too
| high, if wages must. as you claim, be
| finally reduced. the grind Of competl-
| ton viii determine when and how
much. Against such a result. reason
! able ana just resistance should De Of
| fered. while you would surrender the
! whole question at once without strug
gle"
! Was the gentleman right? Would
the free coinage Of silver and the con-
seQuent adoption of the silver standard
| in our domestic affairs have the effect
he predicted? Would it deprive the
wage-earner uf one-half his present re-
ward? | have no more doubt Of the
! truth of it than ! have doubt that
grapes grow grapes or that thistles
grow thistles.
You can sea it for yourself If you
will really Try. Give attention now.
| 1t is not difficult. 1t T. simple. You
work for pay. In what are you paid?
| You will say. In money" That is
true. but the money Is only an inter-
mediary to that in which you are real
| ~ paid, viz, things that you use and
consume. The value of your work is
measured finally BY what your work
will procure. You are paid two dol
| Two dollars viii buy sack Of -four. a
pair of shoes, or 1000 pounds Of coal
| ana SD on. The value Of your labor. is
| therefore, equal to the value Of a sack
Of flour. a pair Of shoes, 1000 pounds Of
| coal. DR. what not.
! Now. among other things your labor
will buy il silver. With Two dollars Of
the money in which you are now PAID
| you can buy 1900 grains Of silver bull
| lion That quality Of silver bullion
| has its cXchanSeable value all over the
world. IN our market 1900 grains OF
silver are equal in value 70 sack OF
| Hour. pair Of shoes, or 1000 pounds Of
| coal IN other words. your labor pay
and 1860 grains Of silver are equiva-
lent u each other in their power 70
| command those things that minister to
The comfort and happiness Of your
selves ana your families.
Let us nos examine the free silver
| proposition. 1t il simply this: Open
| the minis 10 everybody. Permit the
owners Of silver to bring in 31I4 grams
| If silver. Stamp it one dollar and give
| it back to them. Clothe that dol
! lar with legal tender quality
50 that it may be lawfully
used Ia raw debts. That is all " is sim
| PIE enough. isnt Il? Eut We know that
! one dollar of our present kind OF money
| the money in which YOU are PAID your
| salaries ana your WagtS-ls worth, not
| 37Il4 grains. but more Jhan 81" grams
/ Would you not rather have the equiNafeht
Of 500 grains for your pay than the equiv
! alent of 35il4 grains?
| And vet. il you consent 70 the tree SIT
Yer program. If Bryan ana me- Dem
| ocratic- Populis tic-Si!veristic supporters
| come into power, that program Will be
4 adopted. and YOU VIII inevitably gel Your
| pay in the new dollar containing ~ =
grains of fine silver. Before you vote for
| This sort Of business be wise enough ~
Get Il stipulation from your employers
! that YOU shall then be paid, as you are
/ now being paid, n something equivalent
| III sDa grains Of silver If you DO not do
| so, YOU will get the equivalent or only
SIN. grains Tor every dollar PAD you
| can yOu afford IL?
| dollars. containing Bib grains, will be
fas valuable then as 500 grains are now
They will tell YOU that a dollar IS a doI-
| value of the bullion up 70 its coinage
| value So that then 31L grains Will be
worth a dollar. Three hundred ana SeN-
cnry-one and One-fOurth grams in SILVER
bullion Will be indeed worth one Of the
| new silver dollars, because with thai
number of grains YOU can get one Of the
new dollars. and one Of the new dollars
| will he worth 31ii4 grains OF SILVER be
cause there are just SIN grains IN IT; hui
the questionable question in Whlch YOU
are interested-iS this: What VIII be the
| value of that dollar when paid 70 me IL
wages. compared with the dollar in which
| am now paid? You know the value oi
| your present dollars. Are YOU prepared
| 10 guarantee to yourselves and TO toui
families that these new proposed dollars
| will be of equal or even Of approNimat e
| value? No. gentlemen. you cannot AFFORD
| to do So Take the risk of such an empty
chance if YOU will. but when the hour Of
YOUR grief ana disappointment shall come.
as come it surely Will. then blame your
| selves but abSolVe the Republican part
| from any responsibility for the universities
| YOU will suffer.
| But the Democratic orators will tel YOU
| that what | am saying is the voice OF tht
| banker. and that the banker has specia
| 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 a moment of the banker
| Dostion. | want to show you, as | read
iIy can, that the banker. ii he had regarc
| only for an immediate and ilgotter
| profit would himself advocate the free
| coinage measure OF the Democrats Let:
| see how he could make il serve his pront
| Assume that the free-coinage law
| would be operative in two years. Know
ing this. the banker, having, say, 500. 00t
in deposits. could buy at the present mar
| lxet price. say, 100000 Mexican dollars
| or an amount of silver equal thereto in
bullion each one Il little heavier and a
| little finer than the proposed silver dol
| lars The mint being opened, he could
take his 100000 MeXicanS to the mint and