Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1896 — MANUFACTURERS NEED SILVER [ARTICLE]

MANUFACTURERS NEED SILVER

Hon, Charles R. Sligh, President of World’s Largest Furniture Factorv and Always a Republican Till the St. Louis Platform Was Adopted. FARMERS AND WAGE EARNERS The president of the largest furniture factory in the world declares for Bryan and the remonetization of silver in the following letter: "Sligh Furniture Co., "Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept. 4.1898. “Colonel R. M. Johnson, Elkhart, Ind. Dear Sir —It affords me pleasure to comply with your request to submit a few reasons, from a manufacturer’s standpoint, why the independent, free and unlimited coinage of silver by the United-States would be beneficial to our country. “It is a well established principle in finance that the quality or value of money is regulated by the quantity, and that the quantity of all the money in the world regulates the value of all commodities and products that are bought and sold. If the volume of money is large prices will be high, and if money is scarce or horded (and if it is scarce it will be horded) prices will be low. This principle has been repeatedly demonstrated in all times of the world’s history, and the men who secured the demonetization of silver were perfectly familiar with it. They were the moneylenders of the world who desired that their money should become more valuable, and they accomplished their ends through corrupt and dishonorable means. The results of demonetization have justified their judgment, and, while it has brought misery to millions, it has doubled the value of their dollars, and in its culmination in the last two years has brought the producing classes and the manufacturers to the verge of bankruptcy, and if continued for two years longer, three-quarters of the manufacturing establishments now operating will be wiped out of existence, and their plants will pass into the hands of the money-lenders, who will acquire them at from one-quarter to one-third their value. The election of McKinley, which promises nothing but higher taxes and a monopoly of the spoils, cannot avert this disaster, as the United States senate is anti-gold standard and sure to remain so for at least the next four years. The Only Hope. “The only hope of the producing classes is in legislation that will cheapen money, thereby compelling it to seek investment in productive enterprises, employing idle labor and making a market of farmers’ products. The only way to cheapen money is to make more of it. With our mints open to the world’s silver, as they were previous to 1878, and as they are now to gold, the demand for gold must be lessened, and its value thereby decreased, and the demand for silver must be Increased, and its value thereby appreciated, ultimately bringing the two to a parity. How the Farmers Are Situated. “All manufacturers who understand I this question are convinced that naiasting prosperity can be attained until the agricultural classes (one-half of our population) receive prices that will give them a profit on their products, and that they can secure better prices under a gold standard is absurd to contemplate. Our farmers today are selling their surplus products to Europein competition with Russia, India, Argentine and other countries in whlph gold is at a high premium. It is this premium on gold which acts as a bonus on exportation and has stimulated production in all silver standard countries, the farmers there are getting as much for their wheat, cotton and other products now as they did 20 years ago, while our farmers .are getting only half as much. “This is accounted for by the fact that previous to 1878, when England bought our silver to pay for purchases in India,Russia, etc.,she had to pay $1.38 an ounce for it, while now she is buying it for 69 cents an ounce, and she can secure the same quantity of products from those countries now for an ounce of silver that she could then. Under free coinage by the United States, silver would be worth <1.29 cents an ounce, and no one would sell it for less, because he could take it to the mint and realize that; therefore, England would be compelled to pay nearly double what she pays now for our silver, and this would mean nearly double cost to her for the wheat and cotton she buys of India, Russia and Argentine, and a corresponding increase, in the price in the United States. This would enable our farmers to again become consumers of manufactured goods, which they have largely ceased buying during the last three years, and would afford a home market, not only for our protected industries, but the |yast number of manufactures which are not directly benefitted by a high protective tariff, chief amon g which are furniture; agricultural implements, bicycles, iron, leather, carriages, oils, tablets, etc.

Manufacturers Threatened. “The manufacturers of the United States are also threatened with a competition from the Asiatic countries, that under a gold standard will be blighting in its effects. “The premium Of 100 percent on gold in Asia has stimulated manufacturers there, as it has also in Mexico, and with labor at only 20 cents a day, it gives them an advantage that cannot be overcome in this country under a gold standard. “An Asiatic manufacturer can ship his goods to this country and receive his price to gold, WWbh gives him 100 per cent bosno borides his regular proft.

That they are not slow to appreciate this is evidenced by the fact that Japan exported to the United Stotea in 1890 <8,919,719 worth of good*, while for 1896 she exported to us <27,654,764, as reported by William E. Ourtis and Con-sul-General Mdvor. Free coinage in the United States would bring the Japanese up to our standard and obliterate the 100 per cent difference in exchange. Free Coinage. “Free coinage in the United States would not only increase the price of our farm products, but would largely Increase our trade in manufactured goods with all Latin-America, as it would enable them to pay in silver for purchases instead of gold at 100 per cent premium as they are now compelled to, and would eventually lead to the consummation of Blaine’s idea—a Pan-Ameri-can dollar, which would be a legal tender in every country on this western continent. “I urge manufacturers everywhere to study this question and lend their influences to the election of the only candidates who can bring relief—Bryan and Sewall. Charles R. Sligh. “President Sligh Furniture Company, Grand Rapids, Mich." Always aa Active Republican. Mr. Sligh has always been an active Republican until the St. Louis convention adopted the gold standard policy and ‘‘went back on its whole history," when he, with hundreds of thousands of other patriotic Republicans, refused to follow after strange gods and became parties to the crime of attempting to fasten on the United States the financial policy of England and the bondholding aristocracy of Lombard street in London and their Amorican-Tory-Wall-street-annex of this country, and openly declared themselves for such a policy as would sustain and protect the interests of American common people and prevent the doubling of our public and private debts to Europe and the London holders of our public and private securities. There can be no particle of doubt but that the interest of all American manufacturers lies in the direction of the remonetization of silver; and that the raising of the tariff, as proposed by McKinley and Hanna, will drive them still further to the wall than they now are, and thus subserve the very end which the British lords of finance aimed to secure by their procuring our congress, without the knowledge of our people, to demonetize silver in 1878. The gold standard policy will destroy our manufacturing interests as well as our ag cultural interests, as Mr. Sligh so clearly shows, and these destroyed, British manufacturers will have a clear monopoly of the markets of the world and will soon render the United States dependent upon them for all the goods and merchandise consumed by our people. Every manufacturer of the United States ought to read this article, ponder it well and follow its concluding advice and vote for Bryan and Sewall.