SHALL PRICES BE RESTORED.
T he question is, do the people of the United States want these prices restored?
WE ARE WILLING AS AMERICANS THAT AMERICAN INDUSTRIES AND HOME COMPETITION SHALL ADJUST PRICES, BUT WE ARE NOT WILLING THAT PRICES OF LABOR SHALL BE ADJUSTED IN THIS COUNTRY BY AMERICAN WORKMEN ENTERING INTO COMPETITION WITH THE PAUPERIZED LABORERS OF EUROPE.
From the same reliable statistics and undoubted authority we find that wages have materially advanced in this country during the last third of a century. The increase from the old double standard wages of 1860 to those of 1890, have been no less than 58 per cent, in money, and 72 per cent, in purchasing power. This does not look very much like a falling off. I will admit that the price of wheat has declined and declined rapidly since 1892, but you must remember that Grover Cleveland was elected president that year and is still in the White House. Give us back a protection that protects, and we will not only insure abundance of labor for all our people, but will guarantee that farm products generally will command better prices. (Applause).
FELLOW CITIZENS, I EARNESTLY BELIEVE THAT "COIN" HARVEY AND ALL THOSE WHO ARE ADVOCATING THE FREE AND UNLIMITED COINAGE OF SILVER AT THE UNJUST AND UNTRUE RATIO OF 16 TO 1, AS A NOSTRUM FOR OUR ILLS, ARE ADVOCATING A THEORY AS MISLEADING AS IT IS WICKED AND UNHOLY. NO THEORY MORE FALSE WAS EVER ADVANCED OR CALCULATED TO MORE THOROUGHLY DECEIVE THE EARNEST, INDUSTRIOUS, GOD FEARING PEOPLE OF THIS NATION.
Let us undo the free trade blunder of 1892 and we will hear no more about the mythical crime of 1873. (Applause.)