Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-09-27
CHAPTER I.-(Contfnued.)

i w ell IL lAldL ) Ou LS Opl1lOIIs L Iuli>N
TASK one favor Of you, and that is that
you do not tell it in BoonsviIle, If you
were 1aboring man, you'd be a Popu-
list Wages are low. Hogs in Boons-
vile are only worth little over cents
per pound, corn y cents a bushel. and
everything else to correspond. Now,
zone thing sure, something is wrong, and
we are in favor Of a change. A few
years ago I had a flock of sheep, and
was making money with them, SO
thought it would be a good scheme to
buy more. also needed more hogs,
but didn't have the money necessary
:. to buy them, so I mortgaged my place
to get It Well, most of the hogs l
, 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 q moment" said Ezra. You
SAY that a few years ago wool was a
eood price. What kind of a money ba-
> sis had we then?"
: Gold, l 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. I remember, you
; wrote me the fall of '92 that hogs were
-t8 cents. Didn't that satisfy the farm
Ter"
p al, hon n0t 81
'Ihogs was satisfied"
= well, If they didn't have, It wasn't
1.-The governments fault. Cattle were q
i fair price, too, l believe, and all other
:, live stock was valuable property, in
:, spite Of the awful fact that we had gold
r g Republican, was President Of the
3 United States. OF course, prices are
regulated more by supply and demand
than by anything else"
:, We'll" said Simon, supply and de-
~oand have nothing to DO with it. and
-" please explain why we are
I. g. 'e lIS II Is
h though the low tarin -
y Democratic administration has hurt US.
u dreds Of factories, shutting men out of
J. employment, and it has knocked the
Il bottom out Of many Industries. That's
Il the trouble with wool. The sheep rails
- eGs In Australia can raise sheep much
= cheaper than the farmers In this coun-
o try can, and now they can bring their
0 wool over here, and sell it without pay
!, ing anything for the privilege They
8 can undersell farmers here until they
!, have to go out of sheep-raising entire
= ly. 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. IF we
!. stopped backing it up with gold it
t would fall to its market value, which,
q at the present time, is only about so
4 cents. OF course, when the silver dol
g lars fell to 80 cents, everybody would
j pay their debts with it, 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 Nc
2 Kinley's elected. It won't matter how
scarce hogs, cattle, or products are, or
how great the demand, they won't be
worth raisin' if the Republicans win,
and these goldbugs continue to have
control of the markets. 1 am living in,
hope that no such awful calamity will
befall us, and l do believe Mckinley
VIII be the worst defeated candidates
. that ever run for office, and hope Glen
Harrington will be the next worst.
He's the fellow the Republicans In this
, county have put up for Superintendent.
, Of Schools to run agin Winnie. Rather
singular, too, when he's her beau But
to return to my subject. Men who
have studied the subject say that con-
ditiOns among farmers will be about
ten times as bad as they are now,
Money will be so scarce many will be
obliged TO live without any Times
will get in such an awful condition that
with some brave leader like Coxey. O.
great army viii be raised / prophesy
that there Will be the awfullest war
this world has ever seen. It will be-
labor against capital
"Wait and see If your prophecy comes
true Simon. 1t Is the only thing that
will convince you Of your mistake. You
will find that our country's all right,
after ALL It has been said that Amer
lea is just another name for oppor-
tunity.' That country where a days
work will buy most of the necessaries
of 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 Il all I'D. /
She is glad we have gold for our stand4I
ard money
That's probably what your paperE
tells YOU" said Ezra, "but there IS no |
truth IN 1t. The enlightened nations
found it necessary, in trading with each |
other, TO have a universal standard of |
money, and they chose gold, because
they considered it the one metal steady |