The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1900-09-14
CHAPTER u-Centinned.l

you do not tel it in BoonsviIle. If you
were a laboring man, you'd be Popu-
list Wages are low. Hogs in BooHs-
vile are only worth little over cents
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
was making money with them, SO
thought il would be a good scheme TO
buy more / also needed more hogs,
but didn't have the money necessary
to buy them, SO ! mortgaged my place
TO get it Well, 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 al have left is the
mortgage"
wait a moment" said Ezra. You
say that a few years ago wool was
good price What kind Of a 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 / remember, you
wrote me the fall Of 80 that hogs were
cents. Didn't that satisfy the farm
err"
II suppose that such as them that had
hogs was satisfied"
We'll, If they didn't have, it wasn't
the governments fault Cattle were a
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. Of course, prices are
regulated more by supply and demand
than by anything else"
We'll" said Simon, supply and de-
mand have nothing TO do with it. and
viii yeu please explain why we are
having hard times now, when gold is
still the standardg''
Simply because there is now lack
of confidence, which did not exist in
90 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
/ el1
cheaper than the farmers in this coun-
try can, and now they can bring their
wool over here, and sell it without pay
ing anything for the privilege. They
can underseu farmers here until they
have TO go out Of sheep-raising 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. If we
stopped backing it up with gold il
would fall to its market value. which,
at the present time, is only about 90
cents. Of course, when the silver dol
lars fell to 80 cents, everybody would
pay their debts with it, and keep back
the gold money. 1t would be all that
would circulate"
In your opinion" said Simon. Now,
III tell you how things viii be If Nc
Kinley's elected. 1t 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
/ I 1T ~,
hope that no such awful calamity viii
befau rs, and l do believe Mckinley
viii be the worst defeated candidate
that ever run for Office, and hope Glen
Harrington viii 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 viii be about
ten times as bad as they are now
Money will be SO scarce many viii be
| obliged TO live without any. Times
| viii get in such an awful condition that
| with some brave leader like Coxey, q
| great army will be raised ! prophecy
that there viii be the awfullest war
this world has ever seen. II VIII be
labor against capital"
"Wait and see If your prophecy comes
true, Simon. II is the only thing that
win convince you Of your mistake. You
viii 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 day
work viii 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. Its
because England is grabbing ii all up.
She is glad we have gold for our stand
ard money"
THAT'S probably what your paper
tells you," said Ezra, but there is No
truth in it. The enlightened nations
found II necessary. In trading with each
| other. TO have q universal standard OF
money, and they chose gold. because