Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-19
TWO SCALES OF PRICES.


Everything the farmer has to sell is
very low; everything. or at least nearly
everything. that the farmer has to buy
is co paratvely high. Wheat over a
large proportion of the region in which
it is produced brings the raiser but so
cents per bushel. The price of grain
harvesters and self-binders, however.
rema ms the same rs when wheat was
worth dollar a buShel in the pl'|e
where 1t was raised. The same is the
case W tn the plow that turned the fur
row, the harrow that pulver zed the
soil, and the seeder that put in the crop.
Everything that is turned off from the
farm is very cheap, but everything that
IS turned out from the factory is dear.
The old scale of pr ceS for farm products
has all been changed, but the scale of
p ices for products of manufa ctor.es re-
mains unchanged. Beef. mutton, and
wool are all low, but posts and wire
necessary to fence a pasture cot "a
much as they ever did. The cost of
procuring materials and of putt 'ng them
together so as to afford protection to
animals during storms and in W ntar
has not been reduced W tn all the de-
81 ne in farm products. The price OF
cloth is not affected aprreciably by the
fall in wool. A farmer may get a small
price for the hides he has to di pos of,
but he pays high p ice for the boots,
shoe, and harness that he is obi ged to
purchase. Potatoes are cheap, Tut the
bags in which they are put aDd the wag-
on that is used for taking them to mar
ket cost as much as they did when pc
tatoes brought twice the money they do
at present. 1t is also noticeable that
the rates of transportation and the COM
mission merchants charges for selling
them are as h Oh as when potatoes
brought dollar bushel
Formerly the price of articles reguir-
ed for food governed the price of al
most all other articles. The price of
almost everything was governed by
that OF wheat, a that was regarded as
the most important of all products All
this is changed now. Farmers have
nothing to do in regulating prices. They
take wnat is offered FOR their products.
Tney are too numerous and too widely
scatt red to comb ne. The price of
nearly every article they are obliged TO
purct ase, however, is regulated by as
socia.ions and combinations formed
amCns manufacturers. The manufac-
turers OF nearly every important article
combine to limit product on and to keep
up prices. They even com oine to pre-
vent the establishment OF manufactories
similar to their own. In many depart
ments of manufactur there is no
compel ton between different establish
ments. A uniform scale OF prices is
adopted which is rigdly adhered to.
Tne western farmer learns the price of
wheat and pork by reading the market
reports of Liverpool. He gets no in
formal on about the prices of cloth and
articles made from iron and steel 10y
consulting the quotations in the papers
of Manchester, Sheffield, and Birming-
ham. These quotations are OF no value
in this county, except it may be to eu-
able our enterprising manufacturers TO
double the figures. The producers OF
art cles of food in this country are OBJ
Ii ed to compete with the producers of
similar products in every part OF the
world, tut our manufactur rs, whose
goods farmers are oDl ged to have, have
no comp, t;tion except among them
selves. As before stat d, they gener-
ally manage to prevent such competi-
t on. W tn such state of affairs, it is
no great marvel that farmers are not
pros G. Gus.