Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-07-02
Hard Times and the Decline in Prices.

Hard Times and the Decline in Prices.
"what goes up must come down." is an
old saying. Lord Byron spoke from expe.
rience when he said that while it was a
heaven on earth to get drunk. it was hell
to get sober. We had hoped that some
among our readers would have attempted to
make reply to the observations of Henry
Carey Baird and another writer whom we
quoted in recent issue. We have our own
opinion on these questions, but would be
glad to receive and print intelligent rehec-
tions upon them, especially from such farm
ers among us as have carefully thought
them over. What we find in the average
newspaper in regard to the financial ques-
tion isvery unsatisfactory because it is always
biased by partisanship-- the thought of
what effect the condition of the public mind
in relation to it is likely to have upon the
prospects Of this or that party-which means
in truth the prospects of certain favorite
politicians.
But in the present state of the nation we
poets of politicians however popular they
may be with those who depend upon them
for a stand at the public crib. We want to
know Of safe way out Of present trouble
and difficulty; or if there is no way out,
we want at least to learn the lesson of the
times, that hereafter we may avoid SINH
lar catastrophe. 1t seems to be supposed
that "panics" and crises" are, like death
and taxes, unavoidable; but certainly the
question is worthy of persevering investiga-
ton before we finally agree to such ia
talistic view of it.
Farmers complain of the low price OF
their products. When butter was at twenty
five cents pound and wool at forty-ive
cents they thought farming did not pay.
Now that butter is at twelve cents and wool
at twenty-five cents they feel sure about the
matter But the prices of agricultural
products are no less than they were before
the war, and the prices of all other COM
modties have declined along with those of
the farmer 1t would be very nice to have
cotton and wool and all kinds of food high,
while manufactured goods and labor were
largely reduced, but that is plainly impossi-
Bile. The decline in values now is the le-
gitimate consequence of the advance which
followed the war. Most writers lay that ad-
vance entirely to what they call imitation of
the currency, and credit the present decline
to corresponding contraction. But our
eI-Congressman Willard tells us that there
has been in fact very little contraction OF
our currency, and we, being at first of the
other opinion, have not been able to confute
him by reference to the figures. There has
been perhaps slight contraction of credit
money in some ways, but not enough to
cause the widespread destruction of values
which has made so many thousands, who
thought they were well off, wretchedly poor.
Those who argue on that side Of the ques-
ton, whether called greenbackers or by any
other name, seem to forget that the business
depression which marks the time is not lin
tied to the United States. Our Canadian
neighbors are as badly off as we are and
England, though we are supplying her with
food, and with raw material for manufac-
lures, cheaper than ever before, is in the
midst of depression in business worse than
anything experienced there for fifty years.
Germany is in similar state. The only
nation in Europe that seems to be fairly
prosperous is France; yet France, like the
United States, has but recently emerged
from costly and destructive war
There is another school of writers who
lay the hard times to over production, and
say, ia substance, that the rapid increase Of
valuable merchandise in the form of crops,
cattle, the precious metals and manufac-
tured goods, and Of fixed property in the
form of buildings, improved farms and rail-
roads, is the cause of our present unpleasant
condition. We think the mere statement
of this opinion is sufficient refutal of it.
1t amounts to saying that the increase of a
nations wealth has impoverished its people.
Statistics show beyond the chance for
doubt or dispute that there is more wealth
in America to-day per head of population
than there ever was before. Such is the
superabundance of it, indeed, that all sorts
of property has, when measured by money,
declined greatly in value. Aud even the
money metals have declined in value,
silver faster than gold, but both of them can
now be borrowed at lower rates Of interest
all over the civilized world than were ever
known before. Yet their purchasing power
has greatly increased, because their decline
in value has not kept pace with the decline
of other commodities. What, then, is the
cause of the trouble We say DEBT, and
nothing else. Farmers that have kept out
of debt are all right, all the time. 1t is the
same Of business men. The nominal value
Of their property has sunk, compared with
money, but they have as much real value q.
ever. You cannot exchange your farm and
stock and produce against money for a:
many dollars as you could ten years ago
but you can make just as good an exchange
against any other kind of property as yor
ever could, and if you are not in debt vol
are all right.
Why has money kept its value so much
better than other property Simply be
cause it is the only legal tender for debt
and because there is such vast mass of in
debtedness, national state, municipal an,
individual, which money only will pay. Thi
is the chief reason Of the hard times bu
a, a cause it is reinforced by the fact tina
the legal credit system tends constantly \
the accumulation Of money in the hands o
a comparatively few persons In every CON
munity. The legal credit system make
debt easy and payment hard. 1t creates tn
class Of money-lenders, and in "good times
increases the rates Of interest far beyond tn
natural rate Of increase in the value Of othe
kinds Of property. A man who is maxim
only three per cent on the value of his prof
erty, pays six, seven, eight, nine or ten pc
cent on borrowed money. As long .
that kind of property can command .
large rate OF increase 1t must be MOI
valuable than other kinds, and those VIII
hold It and deal in 1t must grow rich, Will
those who borrow it must grow poor. I'll