The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965, August 20, 1896, Image 6

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    I GOOD TIMES COMING.
•'§" * i" '
> feCLI PBRKINS TELUS WHEN THEY
* " WILL BE RESTORED.
’ 4(.t;« t _
IfiSplilM th« Effect of Tariff Change*
Upon the Treneerr—A Prophet Not
Without Honor In file Own Countrj—
Bu e Dig at Cleveland.
The wisest men of the republican
party worked for weeks on their St.
Louis platform. It is a political Gibral
tar. It Is fortified by right and backed
up by experience taught by the disas
trous failures of the democrats. The
platform is sound on reciprocity, pro
tective tariff, pensions, money and the
tfonroe doctrine.
. What will the democrats do?
Why, they will fight against this plat
form, for they will fight against sound
mbney, reciprocity and protective tar
iff. The World has commenced its as
sault, ft says that Cleveland got $30,
OOd.OOO more revenue his first year than
Harrison did during his last year. Of
cotirse Cleveland did; but to get this
revenue, having a tariff 30 per cent
tcwer than Harrison, he had to ship 30
per cent more goods from Europe than
Harrison did. When Cleveland ship
ped 3p per cent more goods from Eu
rope; we manufactured 30 per cent less
goods in America. This kept 30 per
cent of our labor Idle, dropped wages
30 per cent, and closed down 30 per cent
of our mills, and 30 per cent more of
ourj$old went to Europe to pay for
goo&that went there under Harrison.
llrytn Against BmI Sugar*
In the house of representatives, on
Saturday, January 13, 1894, Hon. Wil
liam J. Bryan, of Nebraska*, said:
"There is no reason for a bounty on
sugar which will not apply to any other
agricultural product. If the bounty
paid went to the farmer directly, in
stead of the manufacturer, he has as
much right to ask for a bounty .on
wheat, oats, or cattle, as upon sugar,
beets, or cane; but so much of the
bounty as goes to Nebraska finds Us
way, not to the farmers, but to two
factories. If the people of Nebraska
pay their share of federal taxation, the
government collects for the bounty
from all the people of Nebraska about
$150,000, and pays over to two corpora
tions $76,000. It is thus seen that the
state of Nebraska pays out twice as
much as it receives, and that, while
everybody pays, only the two factories
receive. I have yet to learn the duty
of a representative if 1 am under any
obligation to plead for two sugar fac
tories because they receive large sums
and disregard the rights of more than
a million people because they pay in
email amounts. If I demand bounties
for beet sugar in my state, I cannot op
pose bounties and subsidies tor lndus
| tries in other states, and thus, to secure
a special advantage for two factories
In Nebraska, I must subject the people
| of that state to a burdensome tax upon
everything.
“I dissent, too, from the position
taken by some, that we are compelled
by a moral obligation to allow the
bounty to remain for the period named
j in the present law. Such a position is
wholly untenable. If the Fifty-first
congress could pledge the revenues for
the government for fifteen years, it
could just as well pledge them for fifty
or a hundred years, and surely no one
will say that one congress can thus
give a perpetual bounty and impose
obligations on subsequent legislatures.
The present law provided when the
bounty should terminate, but it could
not guarantee its continuance until
that time. If congress cannot properly
give a bounty directly to the sugar in
dustry, neither can it properly impose
a tax upon sugar for the avowed pur
DRIVE HIM OUT.
From a dollar country we become a
w-cent country.
Then why did Harrison's revenue fall
oS the lest year?
It was because importers stopped im
porting. They said: "We will wait
for Cleveland’s low tariff." When
Cleveland’s low tariff came, then our
mills began to cut wages and stop.
Steamships were loaded with foreign
'goods, and Cleveland did get a bigger
revenue than Harrison, but It woe at
the expense of our home manufacturers.
The result was bad times at home and
$160,000,000 In gold l^s gone out to pay
tor this over-importation, while our
own labor bas been idle. Democratic
experience backs up republican theory.
Still the democrats jump up and
shriek^
"Cleveland with free trade shipped
more goods his first year than Harrison
dttiili last year.”
Of' course he did; and the more
Cleveland bought In Bngl.yd the poorer
we got at home.
* Now, to discern the short-sighted ar
guments which the free-traders are be
ginning to resort to, I will give tho
,W>roscope of the future:
s*. The laet year of Cleveland will be
hjnat the opposite of the last year of
Tlarrieon. A good tariff prevented big
^milbrtations then, but Cleveland's low
.dgriff will cause big Importations dur
ing the last find of his term. Mer
chants will load up with low-priced
pauper-made English goods.
< »fi#d when McKinley comes In. What
<ifcen?
to''Why, for the first six months of Mc
Kinley Importation will bo email. The
.'laerchante will have on hand loads of
goods. McKinley will not get
jj.the old time revenue. Then the free
« Anders will Jump up and say: “We
t$ld yon so!”
.When will the good times commence 1
They will commence when the Me
^Kinley tariff begins to operate. When
people begin to use American goods
,‘Jjwhen our mills start up. When out
•^workmen all go to work, and the gold
Which has been going to Europe to pay
iafrolr cheap labor will be kept at home
~ pay our labor. Then the good old
will be back again. When the
►pie sep tlata prophecy—eee our gold
—- lag' at 'home, see the balance ol
krade In our favor, they will hold or
to the protection policy for thirty
as they did before.
BU PERKINS.
poee of protecting the sugar industry.
“IT IS AS EASY TO JUSTIFY A
BOUNTY AS A PROTECTIVE TAR
IFF, AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO
JUSTIFY EITHER."
"When I was called upon to choose
between a tax upon sugar which would
raise the price of it to every consumer,
and a bounty reduced gradually, i
chose the latter. I preferred to let
the bounty fall by degrees, and raise
the needed revenue in a way that, in
stead of taxing the poor man as much
ns the rich man on the same number oi
pounds of sugar, would make wealth
bear its share of the expenses of gov
ernment. In other words, I would
rather give free sugar to the people
and make up the deficit by an income
tax.”
The Bwl National Policy.
If protection, as a broad national
policy, la not sound in principle and
wholesome in practice, then it ought to
be abandoned, provided something bet
ter is offered in its place. The real in
terest which the people of New Eng
land, as well aa the people of other
sections, have in thla question la not
narrow or sectional merely, but general
and national. If any other system will
better promote industrial growth, con
serve national ends, reward individual
effort and the Just aspirations of the
people, then it should be adopted, and
adopted at once. In the discussion of
this question it is assumed, either
through ignorance or willful intention,
that the revenues secured from our
tariff are wholly unnecessary, and in
dulged lia largely, if not solely, for the
purpose of enriching the manufacturer,
forgetting or ignoring the fact that a
government oannot be administered
without taxation and income, and that
it is a part of the citisen’s duty to con
tribute each his share for the support
of the government which gives protec
tion to his property and person, and
security to his enterprises and invest
ments.—William McKinley.
London endorses Protection,
Mr. McKinley’s protective policy
will, of course, check the efflux of gold,
as no doubt it will cause a falling off
in the imports of British and European
goods, and there will, consequently, be
lesa gold required to pay for them.—
The Financial Post, London, June 22,
18M. < e
•*' V'V 1 -* gf - ■?
JUSTICE BIGELOW’S VIEWS.
Rmda'i Great Jurist Bays Bras Cola
ar* Will Injure Silver Miners.
Chief Justice R. R. Bigelow of the
supreme court of Nevada had a letter
In a recent Issue of the Reno (Ner.)
Gazette which states some of the ef
fects of 16 to 1 free coinage very clear
ly. Here Is a part of his letter:
It is not to be denied that the Re
publicans of this state are hard hit by
the action of the St. Louis convention
upon the monetary question. The free
coinage of silver Is believed to be so
much to the advantage of Nevada as a
silver producer, and we have for so
many years heard nothing but free
coinage ‘‘at 16 to 1” arguments, that
we have almost come to the conclusion
that no one can think otherwise who is
not a scoundrel bought with British
gold. But there Is another side to the
question that Is believed In sincerely
by millions of as pure patriots as any
who believe In free coinage of silver.
Any man who says that this country
can alone double the value of all the
silver of the world and bring It and
gold to par is either ignorant of the
lessons of the past or he willfully shuts
his eyes to them. If the free sllver
ltes carry the election this fall on their
id 10 i piauorm, it win not only par
alyze business—It will utterly destroy
It. There will be scarcely a bank or
business house in the land that will not
go down before the storm. It will send
gold to almost 100 per cent premium,
and, as measured with Sliver, every
thing else will go up In value wljli
it, but as It will take twice as many
dollars as now to buy the same ar
ticle It will be of no earthly advantage
to any one except to the man who
owes debts that he has not promised
to pay In gold. His silver dollars will
pay such a debt just as during the war
greenbacks would pay one, although
.worth but 33 cents on the dollar, but
they will only buy half as much flour
or clothing or groceries as now.
But if he owes money to banks or
money lenders—and who does not.?—
who have all protected/ themselves by
gold contracts, he will have to take
two of hie silver dollars to buy one In
gold, and at the same time, owing to
tl^e general stagnation In business, they
will be harder to get hold of than gold
dollars are now. It will be of no ad
vantage to the silver states, because
their silver will be Just as hard to get
from the ground as now, and a pound
of It will buy no more steel or pow
der or any of the necessaries of life
than now.
But the laboring man will be the
one who will suffer the most. The
Comstock miner will still get $4 per
day, the laborer 32 and the clerk 360
to 375 per month, but it will»bo In sil
ver, and, as it is now In Mexico, It will
only buy for his family or himself one
half what It Will to-day. The same will
be the case with the crippled veterans,
their widows and orphans, who arc
now getting pensions. Its effect will
be to scale their pensions. Its. effect
will be to scale their pensions down
one-half.
There is not one of the arguments of
the sllverites that cannot be complete
ly and successfully refuted. Free coin
age at 16 to 1 by this country alone
cannot poesibly benefit any one, but it
can bring fearful distress upon all.
A tmton for Farmers.
Bryan foi Onlrcraal Fm-Tradk
“When Michigan iron ore is placed
on the free list, Alabama ore is placed
there also; when Pennsylvania coal is
placed on the free list, West Virginia
coal is placed there also; when the
rough lumber of Maine and Wisconsin
is placed upon the free list, the rough
lumber of North Carolina and Georgia
Is placed there also.”—Hon. Wm. J.
Bryan in Congress.
\
Bryan ^n Fran Raw Material.
“When the tax on raw material is
not fully compensated for. in the tar
on the finished product; In such cast
the manufacturer is ixa a worse condi
tion than he would be with absolutt
free trade.”—Hon, Wm. J. Bryan ix
Congress.
VICTIMS OF CHEAP MONEY.
tUmUy'i Description of Tboao Who
goffered bj Clipped Colne.
Free coinage at 16 to 1 Is equivalent
to clipping from 45 to 50 cents from
the present dollar. It would give us
a debased dollar of varying value. The
world has had experience with clipped
coins. Poorly minted coins during
Queen Elizabeth’s time made It easy
to clip them. Coin clipping was car
ried on extensively during the rest of
the 16th and during all of the
seventeenth century. By 1695, Macau
lay tells us, "it could hardly be said
that the country possessed, for prac
tical purpose*^ any measure of the
value of commodities.”
Speaking of the effects upon the
people at large of this debased coin of
uncertain value, this great historian
says that "It may well be doubted
whether all the misery which had been
inflicted on the English -nation in a
quarter of a century by bad kings, bad
ministers, bad parliaments and bad
Judges was equal to the misery caused
In a couple of years by bad crowns and
bad shillnlgs.” He describes the work
ings and effects In the following lan
guage:
But when the great Instrument of ex
change became thoroughly deranged,
all trade, all Industry, were smitten as ■
with a palsy. The evil was felt dally
and hourly In almost every place and '■
by almost every class, In the dairy and
on the thrashing floor, by the anvil and
by the loom, on the billows of the
ocean and in the depths of the mine.
Nothing could be purchased without a
dispute. Over every counter there was
wrangling from morning to night. The
workman and his employer had a
quarrel as regularly as the Saturday
came round. On a fair day or a mar
ket day the clamors, the reproaches,
the taunts, the curses, were incessant,
and it was well if no booth was over
turned and no head broken. No mer
chant would contract to deliver goods
wltflout making some stipulation about
the quality of the coin in which he
was to be paid. Even men of business
were often bewildered by the confu
sion into which all pecuniary transac
tions were thrown. The simple and the
careless were pillaged without mercy
by extortioners, whose demands grew
even more rapidly than the money
shrank. The price of the necessaries
of life, of shoes, of ale, of oatmeal, rose
fast.
The laborer found that the bit of
metal which, when he received It, waa
called a shilling would hardly, when
he wanted to purchase a pot of beer or
a loaf of rye bread, go as far as six
pence. Where artisans of more than
usual intelligence were collected in
great numbers, as in the dockyards at
Chatham, they were able to make their
complaints heard and to obtain some
redress. But the ignorant and helpless
peasant was cruelly ground between
one class which would give money only
by tale and another which would take
it only by weight.—“Macaulay’s His
tory of England.’’- ,
Where Oar Trade Interests Are.
In declaring for the free coinage of
silver independently of all other coun
tries the Chicago convention in effect
declared for a different and lower
money standard than that used by the
great commercial nations with which
we trade. Trade and commerce follow
the lines of least monetary resistance,
and out of total merchandise imports
and exports last year of $1,539,508,130
only $163,893,827 was from single sil
ver standard countries—less than 11 per
cent.
Even in our South American trade,
about which so much has been said, out
of a total of $145,693,055 only 6\>er cent,
$8,991,853, was with sliver standard
countries, while 72 per cent, $105,217,
864, was with single gold standard
countries, and $31,483,338 was with bi
metallic countries.
Practically speaking, all ' bimetallic
countries are on a gold basis, ‘their
legal tender silver being exchangeable
for gold, but the bimetallic trade is
email. Let Europe serve as the exam
ple. While much less than half of Its
population has the single gold stand
ard, the following tabl.e shows our
trade:
_ Single Gold.
England ..*546,208,701
Germany.. 173.067,818
Austria .. 8,636,091
Portugal.. 4,682,064
Sweden A
Norway. 7,188,928
Denmark.. 3,800,153
Turkey ... 2,139.435
Roumanla. 19,330
Bimetallic.
France ...*106,729,646
Nether
landa ... 46,194.366
Italy . 37.214,886
Belgium... 35,384,063
Switzerl’d. 15,006,532
Spain . 14,501.195
Greece .... 479.745
All other. 812,316
Total ...6745,717,520 Total ...6256,322,741
Russia, single silver standard. *9,533,244.
To classify by standards, the total
foreign commerce of the United States
will surprise many.
Gold.
Europe .*745,717,520
S. America. 105.217.SS4
N. America. .
West Indies 17,541,622
Asia .
Africa . 9,836.424
Oceanlca ... 13,634,096
Bimetallic.
*256.322,741
31.483.333
92,630.723
82,882,360
1,269,844
16,926,061
Silver.
*9,533,244
8.991.S53
48,851,824
584.742
94,951.421
980.743
Totals ...*891,947.526 *481.515,072 *163,893,827
Unclassified, *2,151,705.
Our trade and commerce are not only
on "a gold baeiB,” but are on “a single
gold standard.” To adopt silver mono
metallism, which independent free
coinage would surely produce here as
It has everywhere else, would be to
permit Europe to fix the price of our
surplus products on a gold basis, while
it could pay us in our own legal ten
der silver dollars coined freely out of
53 cents worth of bullion. Is this busl*
ness?
Silver Question Brought Home.
Mr. Retail Salesman! Your salary is,
we will say, *15 per week; you pay *4
for board; a suit of clothes costs you
$12; underwear 50 cents per garment,
and so on. How would you like it if
you still got the same $15 and had to
pay nearly $$ for board, nearly $24 for
& suit, nearly $1 per garment for un
Iderwear, and so on? That’s what free
silver would mean to you, for some
time, at least.—Dry Goods Economist.
OFF ITS TROLLEY.
V. * .
A "BaTtnl” In Trmle.
The latest record of trade failures In
the United States covers the half year
to July 1 last. Bearing In mind that
the annual report of the chamber of
commerce of New York said that a
“revival of trade continued throughout
the balance of the year” 1895, after the
floating of the national loan in Feb
ruary; also bearing in mind the ac
knowledgments of the free-trade, daily
and commercial papers that the stag
nation in business during the closing
months of 1895 would give place to a
great "revival” in trade with the dawn
of 1896, the statistics of trade failures
for the first half of this year are more
than ordinarily interesting. We give
them, as taken from Bradstreet's, for
each half-year from 1890 to 1896, in
clusive:
TRADE FAILURES.
First
half of Number. Liabilities.
1890 . 6,466 162,867,962
1891 . 6,037 92,370,282
1892 . 6,351 66,535,521
1893 . 6.2J9 170,860,222
1894 . 6,528 82,555,339
1895 . 6,597 79,707,861
1896 . 7,602 105,535,936
A further interesting comparison can
be made between the years 1890-92, un
der a republican administration, and
1894-96, under the present democratic
administration. Thus:
TOTAL TRADE FAILURES.
First half of— Number. Liabilities.
1894-96-96. 20,727 2267,799,136
1890-91-92. 16,854 211,773,765
Democratic in
crease. 3,873 256,025,371
Under this democratic administra
tion there have been 3,873 more trade
failures, with $56, 025,371 more of lia
bilities, than occurred during the cor
responding half years of a republican
administration. The monthly averages
compare as follows:
MONTHLY AVERAGE TRADE FAIL
URES.
First half of— Number. Liabilities.
1894-96-96. 3,454 244,633,189
1890-91-92...- 2,809 35,295,627
Democratic
Monthly Inc. 645 29.337,562
It Will be remembered that the plat
form of the Democratic party, In 1892,
said: “We denounce a policy (protec
tion) which fosters no industry so
much as it does that of the sheriff."
With the subsequent records of trade
failures before us it is easy to under
stand why this democratic denuncia
tion was omitted in the platform of
1896.
Railroad Wrmkna
The effect of the democratic adminis
tration and Its hard times tariff legis
lation is shown in the increase of fore
closures of railroads. These have been
unexpectedly large since 1893, but the
record for the first half of 1896 exceeds
that of ’95. This year there were twen
ty-five lines foreclosed in six months,
representing 3,402 miles of road and
$349,049,000 of bonds and stocks. Dur
ing the first half of 1895 there were
twenty roads foreclosed, representing
2,936 miles of road and $100,941,000 of
bonds and stocks. This latest demo
cratic addition to adversity should
leave no doubt in the minds of any
raiiroad men that a policy of Amer
ican protection means prosperity for
railroads. Even President Roberts, of
the Pennsylvania road, which has sus
pended many contemplated improve
ments owing to the hard times, ought
by this time to acknowledge the root
of the evil that Is affecting bis com
pany.
Sound Beni* on Small Scat*
The smallest paper in the United
States is the BernardsviUe, N. C. Times,
published every Monday morning. Its
pagee are only six by eight inchea, but,
small as they are, they contain such
sound sense as the following:
Give us sound protection, sound
Americanism, sound patriotism, and
place sound sense at the helm, and the
“Old United States” will glide merrily
on and continue to be the home of free
men, the refuge of liberty and the
abiding place of freedom.
Bryan for Fraa Iron Ora.
"I believe we can make no perma
nent progress in the direction of tariff
reform until we free from taxation the
| raw materials which lie at the founda
; tion of our industries; and I believe in
free Iron ore, whether we leave the
tariff at 35, 25, or 5 per cent upon car
i pete.”—Hon. Wm. J. Bryan in Congress.
Hard Times and Free Silver.
The Clarksville (Tenn.) Leaf-Chrdh
Icle has the following:
“There Is not a first-class commercial
country on earth now that has free
coinage.
“There Is not a free silver country on
earth that has as much as $5 per cap
ita In circulation—all kinds of money.
“There Is in circulation in the
United States $24 per capita, or $19.50
more per capita than any free silver
country on earth.
“We have more in circulation to-day
than ever before and more per capita
than any free silver country on earth.
"Our dollar will buy more sugar,
coffee, flour, meal, meat, medicine,
hardware and clothing than In 1873.
“A barrel of corn, a bushel of wheat
or 100 pounds of tobacco will buy near
ly double as much of the articles that
farmers consume as the same kind of
corn, wheat or tobacco would buy in
1873.
“The wages of the laboring man will
buy double as much of the necessaries
of life now as in 1873, and his wages
.have not been reduced one-fourth as
much as the purchasing power of his
money has been increased.”
All of the above propositions we as
sert without the fear of intelligent con
tradiction. Then, If It be a fact that no
free silver country on earth has as
much as $5 per capita; and if it be a
fact we have about $24 per capita; and
if It be a fact that we have more sli
ver in circulation per capita than any
free silver country in the world; and if
it be a fact that the purchasing power
of our dollar is now about double what
it was in 1873, and that the products or
the farm will purchase more necessa
ries of life than in 1873, our free sil
ver friends will have to hunt farthef,
for the hard times complained of. They/
can’t charge it to a reduced circula
tion, or to higher prices.—Galveston
News.
Power of e Preetdest.
As I said before, without any parti
san feeling whatever, looking at this
as a plain business proposition, I want
the government, under all conditions
and circumstances, and our president,
whoever he may be, to have the power
during,every moment of this govern
ment’s existence to borrow money by
selling bonds whenever for any reason
it occurs that there is no money in the
treasury. Why deny that power to the
government? I know the constitution
says congress shall have power to bor
row money, but this does not prevent
congress from conferring power on the
president to sell a 3 per cent five-year
bond to realize money to pay the debts
of the government when for any rea
son the money in the treasury is ex
hausted. This is a wholesome- power
to prevent national dishonor and na
tional bankruptcy, and this is the
power for which I contend—Hon.
Stephen B. Elkins, U. S. ST. of Wpst
Virginia.
A Poor Argument for Free Slleen.
The free coinage agitator* ask the
people to vote for the 16 to 1 scheme, on
the ground that the bankers, manu
facturers and merchants are all In fa
vor of a sound' currency. ‘‘If the bank
ing and business interests are opposed
to free silver,”' say the cheap dollar ad
vocates. “the- farmers and: workers
should support It. There must be
something good for the poor In this
free coinage scheme fast because the
rich people do not want It.”
<)l all unreasonable and demagogic
■iloas for 50 cent dollars this is the
worst. An exactly similar argument
would be a demand on the part of the
millions who do not own homes or
buildings of any kind that all houses
should be burned down because it
would hurt property owners. There la
no doubt but that every man in Amer
ica who owns a building would say, if
asked, that he is opposed to having hia
property destroyed. But that would be
no reason why the people who have no
homes should favor arson.
The attempt to create a prejudice is
favor of debt repudiation because busi
ness men and bankers believe in hon
esty can never succeed with fair mind
ed, honorable citizens. They will de
cide the silver question on its merits
and will not be led astray by appeals to
one class to vote for cheap and trashy
money merely because it is favored by
another class.
A Knndrm millions Lost*'
The "TarifT for revenue only" of the'
free-traders brought $102,275,791 less
money into the treasury during the
first twenty-two months of its opera
tion than the McKinley tariff did dur*
ing its first .twenty-two months.