The repeal of the McKinley law in 1893 closed down factories and manufactories by the hundred and deprived tens of thousands of American workmen of employment.
UNDER THE OPERATIONS OF THE MCKINLEY LAW THE WAGE EARNERS OF THE UNITED STATES WERE RECEIVING EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT A LITTLE OVER $41,000,000. UNDER THE OPERATION OF THE WILSON LAW THEY ARE RECEIVING A LITTLE LESS THAN $19,000,000 AS A SATURDAY NIGHT PAY ROLL, A FALLING OFF OF OVER $22,000,000 PER WEEK TO THE WAGE EARNERS OF THIS COUNTRY.
If you ask me what has been the most unfortunate and appalling result of this wonderfully shrunken pay roll, I will answer by saying that American workingmen by the thousands have lost the roof that covered their heads for themselves and families, have been turned into the highways and are beggars to-day in the most unfortunate sense of the word. The questions of free trade and protection however, have practically been relegated into the background this year, and the sixteen-headed monster of free silver pushed to the front.
FELLOW CITIZENS, FREE TRADE AND FREE SILVER ARE TWIN SISTERS OF INFAMY, THE ASSERTIONS OF MR. HARVEY TO THE CONTRARY NOTWITHSTANDING.
It was the province of the Republican party four years ago to send forth its protests and warnings against free trade, and to-day with equal vehemence it is sending forth its warnings against destroying the high standard of our nation's finance, and reducing this country to a second class basis of silver monometallism.
BREAD AND BUTTER THE ISSUE.
FELLOW CITIZENS, THE PAPER ISSUE IN THIS CAMPAIGN IS ONE OF FINANCE, BUT THE REAL ISSUE IS ONE OF BREAD AND BUTTER. FREE TRADE DURING THE LAST THREE YEARS HAS PAUPERIZED ITS TENS OF THOUSANDS, BUT THIS FREE SILVER CRAZE, IF PLACED UPON OUR STATUTE BOOKS, WILL PAUPERIZE ITS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS.
My friends, I believe, and believe most earnestly, with every throb of my heart, that in the present campaign the Republican party is the only true friend silver has. We seek to elevate the silver dollar, our opponents seek to debase it. The Republican party has provided a redeemer for every silver dollar. Our opponents seek to destroy and alienate this redeemer. If the silver dollar was not exchangeable with gold, it would not be worth any more than a Mexican dollar, or not as much, for there is less silver in it. Coin's Financial School and free silver advocates generally, have much to say about the money of the constitution. Let me say to you, the money of the constitution was based upon the relative market value of the two metals. The history of the last 404 years, from 1492 to 1896, is replete with evidence proving beyond the question of a doubt that the relative or market value of these metals is continually changing. When Columbus discovered America in 1492, ten ounces of silver would purchase one ounce of gold; when the Pilgrim Fathers landed on the rocky and barren coast of New England in 1620, thirteen ounces of silver would purchase one ounce of gold; in 1792 fifteen ounces of silver would purchase one ounce of gold. In 1873 one ounce of gold would not purchase sixteen ounces of silver. To-day one ounce of gold will purchase almost thirty-two ounces of silver.
THIS FLUCTUATION OF VALUES OF THE TWO METALS IS CONTROLLED, NOT BY LAWS WE SPREAD UPON OUR STATUTE BOOKS, BUT BY THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND, GOVERNED BY THE COST OF PRODUCTION.