People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1896 — Not So Fast. [ARTICLE]

Not So Fast.

Editor Pilot: In last week’s Republican was the report of a political meeting held in Newton township at which Mr. D. B. Nowels, J. A. McFarland and myself were said to have been “most gloriously downed” by vexing questions being put to us by O. C. and Evert Halstead. The two Mr. Halsteads were present at this meeting and in a manly friendly way asked us a few questions, which we, as politely and friendly as we knew how, tried to answer as we understood them. There was no heated, excited debate between us; with one exception there was nothing new brought up, every question asked and answered, was asked and answered just as they are here on the streets, dozens of times every day. Mr. Evert Halstead asked Mr. McFarland if free silver increased the price of farm products, would it not be against the interest of the school teacher who now gets S4O per month? Mr. McFarland in substance said, if the teacher did not improve in his profession so that his services would command more pay, if he taught 4 or 5 months in the year and did nothing the rest of the time, free silver would surely be against him. Mr. McFarland did not deny but what free silver would increase the pi ice of farm products and thereby lessen the purchasing power of fixed salaries. The farmers of Jasper county are not lying awake nights planning how to make fixed salaries reach as far as possible. The Mr. Halsteads did not think gold had appreciated. We thought it had. They would agree with us that the supply and demand regulated t.he value of all products until we came to gold, and gold with them was God, unchangeable, the same, yesterday, to-day and forever. They claimed that silver was not demonetized in ’73. We claimed it was. They called for the reading of the act of ’73. We had it, but did not take the time to read it.

Anybody who wants to exam ine the act of 73 will have no difficulty in finding it. If Mr. Halstead will look on pages 237-8 of A. S. Barnes’ U. S. School History (the text book used when he was my district school boy) he will find that silver was demonetized in 1873. One of the Mr. Halsteads asked Mr. McFarland, if his party did not repeal to the Sherman law. Though Mac never voted the democratic ticket in his life he defended them this time and said, it was Cleveland assisted by the republican senators and representatives that repealed this act. He gave the vote of the senate only where the fight was made. For repeal democrats 20 “ republicans.. 23 Against repeal dem 19 “ “ rep io “ .“ pops 3 We find the percentage of democrats for the repeal to be a little over 51, and the republican percentage to be 69 plus. Mr. Evert Halstead asked, or rather stated, that there was a party here or coming here that would offer a suit of clothes for $lO in silver or 15 in gold. McFarland said he knew nothing about this, bnt supposed the suit was not worth $5 in either gold or silver. These were the leading questions and answers, as far as I remember them, nothing particularly new was presented by either side and I think nobody was scared, hurt or mad. If either of the Mr. Halsteads wish to discuss the questions raised at that meeting and the Republican will give us the use of its columns, we wili gladly discuss them with the gentleman.

LEE E. GLAZEBROOK.