Show TH OFFICIAL F FAMilY II I I I I AH Are In Accord On the Subject of I Bimetallism II II I I I I G iGES OWN WORD FOR IT ii i i EXPRESSED I A SPEECH AT PHILADELPHIA i Inuendos and Declarations From Various Sources to the Contrary I Notwithstanding Said the Secrc I tary Gold Standard and Wage Bryan Touched Up Philadelphia Jan 25The seventh annual meeting of the Trades league of Philadelphia washeld last night In the Academy of Music at which the principal speaker was Hon Lyman J Gage secretary of the treasury Secre i eG f tary Gage I in part I I is not upon wages that the injudicious inju-dicious effect of a gold appreciation falls I is upon those who own the land the forests and the mines if upon any that the injudicious effect is visited vis-ited This is all so plain that one cannot can-not comprehend how the wageearner can be misled by that irridescent orator ora-tor who by multitudes of words couched in ambiguous and sophistical phrases seeks to obscure judgment I is the complaint now of labor that rent and interest are able to take to themselves I a disproportionate share Do we indeed not know that the tendency of I wages is to become conventionally I fixed and that as a dislntegral though i follows the law of supply and demand i de-mand it is not so quickly responsive to I that law as are wares and merchandise merchan-dise the product of labor I I would to us appear that an effort to reduce the power of official salaries and fixed incomes by payIng them in I cheaper money would have an elfect in the same direction upon wages Besides I this it must be remembered that fixed incomes is the relative term it includes in-cludes the few upon whose large income in-come the decreased power would not be noticed as an inconvenience even but i Includes also the humble Investments of the multiplied thousands and would blight the savings of toil and economy representing the savings of more than 5000000 of people now held in the sayings I say-ings banks of our land I CUTS TOO DEEP No it will not dothis silver scythe I cuts too deep It reaches the widows and wageearners pay The revival of I industry now witnessed and the easy I condition a to interest which now transfers capital are the best witnesses to the dangers from which we have I been delivered Nevertheless that fervid fer-vid orator who Is recognized as the leading exponent of free silver doc trine > s not satisfied In a recent I speech he said Read the daily papers and you will find the items of news arranged ar-ranged under two headsthe formation of trusts and the reduction of tr1sts a reducton wages As to the trusts he cites no examples but hastens to emphasize one industry in New England in hich by reason of special circumstances well known to him a reduction in the wage scale was under debate Let him point if he canto can-to ore single instance of an advance in wages between the date of the Chicago Chi-cago convention of 18iO and the November No-vember election of that year when that ruinous platform was condemned by the verdict of the people He knows that within a few weeks after the November No-vember election iSIS 15000 men idle for a long time were put to work In the window glass industry Since then as the revival has pro grgssed instances of ad lances in wages anu of increases in numbers employed have multiplied In the Iron and steel j industry direct dependent upon the Consumption of iron a material I have i upon authority that there is an increase In-crease of at least 276000 men employed over the preceding year In addition to I this large increase in the worklrg forces employed In iron and steel and dependent branches advances in wages I ranging from 10 to 20 per cent have been made in some cases much greater as a result cf wages paid on a tonnage basis Notwithstanding all this Mr Bryan says I our entmies boast that they have burled bimetallism we point to these wag reductions as the weeping lows which have sprung up about > its temporary tomb Beautifully expressed ex-pressed but quite beside the point In the first place the record is against them Wageshave been advanced NO WEEPING WILLOWS There are no weeping willows around the tomb of bimetallism at which to point Besides his enemies if he means the Republican party Republcan are not boasting that they have buried bimetallism bi-metallism they proclaim themselves its friends they approve f In their platform The present head of that party has been active to secure it un der the only conditions by which it can me maintained namely Intra tional agreement with open mints to both silver and gold In his efforts he has the supportof all the members of his official family Inuendos and dee larations from various sources to the I contrary notwithstanding Until i can I be secured in this rational manner we propose to maintain the kind of bimetallism bimet-allism we have now upder which 500 000000 or more of silver are kept on a parity with gold The proposed reforms in our currency cur-rency and banking system are as abhorrent ab-horrent to the silver propagandists a I I the general proposition to maintain the present gold standard This is to them u stone of stumbling arock of offense i of-fense They charge i to be a scheme I to give to the national banks full and complete control of the paper money of the natlonHdangerous power but all power may possibly be abused The I i motive of elfinterest guiding and compelling the milk dealer the butcher and the baker to perform faithfully I and well his function operates with j an equal coercive force upon the banker I bank-er As these traders live by selling so i the banker lives by lending He can j not stop if he would and within limits of the law and the estimate of his I ability he would not stop if he could I is a strange phenomenona people very respectable in number and intelligence intel-ligence becoming hysterical amid dem fe outcries against the banks and bankers NO NEW SCHEME I It is believed by many that the proposi tion to allow bank note issues against assets Instead of through the system now in use requiring the deposit of bonds of the government as collateral security is a new proposition a purely American scheme which having in former times been tested was found to be a source of loss and discredit to the peoplj The same system or a similar system is inv In-v gue and for a long period has been successfully employed In many foreign countries and I was successfully main i I tamed in several of our states before the war I In closing the expressed the hope that out from the present misunderstandings the vain discords which now surround the great question relating to our money standard and to our currency and banking systems the way of truth and wisdom may be found and followed A land so I fair and full of promise should not be I marred through Ignorance and passion A I 1 society under conditions so favorable to I I Its progress and happiness must not be mutilated and weakened by a wilful dls obdiencs of the economic laws which arc I the laws of God |