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A Dangerous Pastime

A Dangerous Pastime image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
October
Year
1896
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Some weks since a man iu Chicago got into a conversation with the grip man of a cable car. The car was out of the congested district of the city and was booining along at a lively clip, making but few stops. The grip man noticed a McKinley button in the lappel of the passenger's coat, said: "Are you going to vote for gold. "I certainly inteud to rote for Mcliinley and I suppose the prevailing idea is, that to vote the Republican ticket means to vote for eold. How do yoa intend to vote?" The grip man in answer opened hia coat and on kis vest wa the silver button of Bryan. "Whyï" asked the passenger. "Because we will have lots of money, "How do you know?" The grip man hesitated a moment. "Well," he said at last, "if there is more money it will be easier to get it, aud under free coinage there would be more silver. We nerer see much gold anyway, you know." "The fact that there ia more money won't make it uny easier to set. Xt ia no easier to make money sweeping out a bank which has in its vaults hundreds of thousanda of dollars than in sweeping out a warehouse of a stable. The fact that there is money in the building does not make it any easier to get, unless you can get the job sweeping out. Then you will get paid for it. But the fact that there is a lot of money in the buildins won't make thrm pay you any more." "Tüat is so," admitted the grip man, with a shake of his head. ■ "Well, if there is a lot of money in the country it will be just the samo. You won't get any of it iinless you can get a job, and then you will get no more of it than you get uow." The grip man looked straight ahead and thought hard. "It was pretty easy to get mone and work in, this. country five years ago, wasn't it';" "Why, yes, I was never out of work then, but gold has beea cornered since then." " liow do you know ï" interruptea tne passenger. "Wliy, times are hard." "What makes them hard?" "Theve isn't enough. money to keep things going." "Wheré has it gone? There was plenty five years ago. Has someone thrown it in the lake, buried it, or what?" "Wel!, Bryan says its gone and - " "What does he know abont it? Don't you suppose that tho bankers, the financiers, Sherman, and the solid business men of the country know more than Bryan? He never was in business in bis life." "Neither was I," said the grip man with a grin. "Neither was I," said the passenger. "I have worked for a salary all my life, and I don't pretend to know ïnuch about the financia} system of the country. Since this silver talk carne up I have studied some and I can't see how anybody is to be better off by having a lot of money, good or bad, if I can't set a chance to earn some of it." "You talk sense," said the griprnan, "but Bryan will help the workingman to get money. Don't he say, every time he speaks? He ain't no millionaire. He is one of us." "He ain't one of the kind that I belong to," said the passenger. "I am willing to work for what I get. and if I can get up, all riïht. If not, I am satisfied as long as I have a home and live. Jiyerybody in the world can't be rich, and the man who says it is possible is not only a fool, but a liar. Nobody can tell me this country is going to the devil. This is the best and the greatest country in the world for such men as you and I." "I guess that's right," said the gripman, "or all those foreigners wouldn't have come over here." "You bet. And the financial system of this country is the best. It was worked out by experience, and whenever conditions changed so that it was not the best, the old heads went at it and fired it. And they can do it again, too. They don't need Bryan or any other fellow with no experience and. a lot of talk to help them. "I get off here. Think it over and see if you can vote for Bryan." The passenger got off, and the gripman waved nis hand as the car went on. Only the other day the same man happened on the same car with his acquaintance of weeks before. He recognized him at once and made his way to a seat near him. "Well, how is Bryan?" he asked by wav of salutation. In answer the gripman turned the lapel of his outer coat so the passenger could see it, and there was the good old red, white and blue button of McKinley. "Well, how ia that?" asked the passenger. The gripman smiled and said: "You know what you said about studying? Well. I hare been. doine a little of it myself." "And you think I was right, do you? "Dead right; it's a f rand. It won't stand lookin' at. I would like to get Brynn where I could look him ia the eye. I'll bet he wouldn't teil me that fillin' the country with a lot of silver will help me to take care of my wife and baby. He is a. taker, that's what he is. Like these fellows that stand on. the street and teil you that their medicine will cure anything; then you buy it and it ain't no good. He is out talkin' for votes, but he won't get mine nor none of the men that have good sense." The gripman's tones were savage. He was in deadly earnest. There is no man who hates fraud like the honest laborer, and the man who holds out promises which he, in his soul, knows ue cannot fulfill, had better kav a care how he makes them.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier