People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1896 — SILVER RUIN [ARTICLE]

SILVER RUIN

The Railroader’s Living Expense* Jfearly as High v Xow as Before The Currency Contraction. YELLOW PHILOSOPHY REFETED. Protection ana Tariff Reform Have Both Failed Because We have Been hiving Under The English Gold Standard. If the yellow metal men have omitted any class of people from the benefits of their dire predictiors regarding free silver it is not apparent to the closest observer. Tney say without a blush that the railroader would suffer, because his present starvation wages could not be raised to the old scale that existed when money was more plentiful. That is very yellow philosophy; it is an argument not intended for railroad men, but for*those who know nothing about the railroad business. The railroad man knows that since the demonetization of silver and the inauguration of the policy of contraction of the currency, his wages have been constantly on the decrease, and his position ever becoming more insecure, as unemployed men stood ready at all times to take his place at lower wages. He knows that though freight and passenger rates have remained as high as in the days of greater prosperity the earnings of the roads have 'fallen off, men has been discharged by thousands, the equipment of the roads have been cut down, and one half of the entire railroad system of the country has passed into the hands of receivers. He knows that this depression of business has been the excuse for each succeeding cut in his wages and it requires more tnan mere assertion to convince him that his wages will not be speedily influenced by the restoration of the business activity that will follow an expansion of the money of the country as is proposed by the opening of the mints to the free coinage of silver. The railroad man is aware that the first pulsations of reviving business will be felt in the great arteries of commerce; more men will be needed in operating the roads, more money can be used in repairs and improvements, giving employment to still others; as the army of idle men is diminished each em ployee will become more secure in his place, the brotherhoods and unions will be more potent in securing advantages for their members, and wages will go up. Now thee, give a little thought to the unsupported assertion that it don’t help the wage earner even if he does get twice as much for his labor, as he will be paid in 50c dollars and he will have to pay twice as much for his living as he does now. To be real plain both statements are yellow lies that won’t skin. As to the cost of living, you just ask t»he first railroad man you see if his rent has been reduced in conformity with the reduction of his wages. Ask him, if, in the city where he lives, the gas companies and eleetic light corporations have been cutting down the regular monthly bill. Ask him if the water rate or street car fares are lower now than they used to be. And don’t forget that item called taxes. Ask about his coal bill, perhaps he will tell you the great barons have cut the price on that, but if they have it has not been mentioned in our hearing. Ask him, and don’t forget it. if his butcher, who is no longer the butcher, but simply the retailing agent for Mr. Armour, the philanthropic price setter on meat, ask him if his butcher (?) is weighing his steaks and roasts on his gold standard scales. As a matter of fact he will tell you that the real reduction of his living expenses from what it

formerly was, before the volume of money had been contracted to a panic supply, is very small, too small to take into serious consideration, and a restoration of good times, even though groceries, dry goods, etc., do advance in price, will benefit him nearly all of his advance in. wages, besides giving him steady employment. The railroad man will tell you that he has lived under protection and under tariff reform, but always under the financial policy of England, and that for years he has seen times getting harder and harder, wages lower, more men out of work, and that he can t be fooled any longer on what is the cause of it all. He may not be parading his views to the gpld standard officials, who threaten to discharge him if he does not hang a McKinley picture in the front window of his home and wear a McKinley button, but if he knows you will not violate his confidence he will tell you his vote this fall will be for silver and currency reform. It wonld be hard to convince a man suffering from bilious colic that his agony is due to a microbe with an unpronouncable name. But one dose of DeWitt’s Colic & Cholera Cure will convince him of its power to afford instant relief. It kills pain. A. F. Long.