Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1863-05-05
FOR THE SPECTATOR.
ADVICE TO FARMERS.

Inc HrSG section OF the tax Dill recently pass
ed by Congress, imposes a tax of 8 per cent. OF
all -four, and other agricultural productions no
necessary for consumption within the balance O
| the year 1868, which the farmers may have OF
| hand on the 1st July next.
In view of this provision of the law, it will b.
to the interest of every farmer to sell, with al
little delay as possible, all his surplus wheat
-four, corn, hay, bacon, wool and other produc
tions. AS the 1st of July approa ches, there will
be general rush to sell such things to escape
the 8 per cent. tax, and the prices will be great
ly reduced by the pressure on the Market
Those who sell soonest will do BEST
But there are other considerations which re.
commend this course. The tax in kind which
is to be levied, by which the farmer will be
obliged to pay one-tenth of his wheat, corn, rye
oats, buckwheat, wool, potatoes, beans, hay.
fodder, &C., will supply the Government to a
great extent with those articles. The Govern.
ment will, therefore, be taken out of the mar
ket, as purchaser of those articles for the ar
my, and in the absence of the Government de-
mand, prices must materially decline.
Again, the funding of Treasury notes has ia
ken probably two hundred and fifty millions OF
currency out of circulation. This win make
money comparatively scarce and must tend to
bring down prices. Currency is as much the
measure of value as the yard-stick and bushel
are of quantity. II you double the quantity of
money you double the prices ofproperty. So if
you reduce it one-half, prices must come down
in the same ratio.
The funding process has absorbed probably
one-third or more of the currency, and we must
look for corresponding decline in the prices of
agricultural productions. If to this course be
superadded the diminished competition in the
market by the withdrawal of the Government
from the market as purchaser, we may pretty
safely say that the products of our farmers win
fall to one-half the present prices.
INT oI1ot ha Sad fhoff
will be injurious to the farmer. Far from it.
Although he may get less money for his produce,
it will be OF better quality, as it will approx
mate more nearly to the standard of gold and
silver, the true constitutional standard of value.
The decline in prices will not be limited to what
the farmer has to sell. The same causes will op-
crate in reducing the price Of what he has to
buy. Cottons, woolens, tobacco, &C., must
soon go down rapidly, and wo to the spectators
who have been boarding for an advance. The
present high prices are artificial, produced by
the devices of spectators and extortioners and
senseless panic among the people. If the far
merS will act wisely, spectators and extortion-
ers will be caught in their own traps.
My advice to farmers then is--sell all you can
spare, speedily, so as to get, as far as you can
the benefit of the good prices, and buy nothing
that is not indispensably necessary until the fall
in prices takes place. The general decline has
commenced. And unless I am greatly deceived
cOLLOn yarns ana ClOCnS Will SOON IalI 0O per
cent.-possibly more. Tobacco has already de-
cIined to about one-half of the speculation pri-
ces, and now cotton in the South has fallen from
AZ cents to 20 cents per pound. Be assured a
better time is coming.
But it may be said the Government will have
to issue more treasury notes, and thus the vol
ume of currency may be kept up. This may, to
some extent be true. But it must be remember
ed, that under the tax law, the licenses of every
description must be paid within sixty days.
These will yield revenue almost sufficient to
meet the immediate wants of the government,
and hence the emission of new treasury notes
will be small. After harvest the new crop of
wheat, rye, oats and potatoes, will come in, and
the 1.-THE exacted by the Government will supply
all its wants in regard to these articles which
sources of heavy expenditures. On the whole
the people may rest assured that the volume of
currency will be greatly reduced.
And when the taxes in money, to the State
and Confederate Governments come to be paid,
very large amount of the currency that remains
will be in the hands of collectors or in the treas
ury, so that the amount in circulation will be
still farther curtailed.
We may therefore confidently look for very
apid decline in the prices of everything, and
prudent men should regulate their conduct
cordingy.
A FARMER.