The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-04-29

823; that is, it cost that much mora
10 produce it than it is worth on tbo
market. "e
The yield of the three great stanIo
crops OF corn, wheat and oats for
1889, exceeded the yield of 1888 br
242,355,84O bushels, and yet the cro1
OF 1888 was worth $l44 599.I78 morpo
to the farmers.
Crop. Bales. Price. T,1.
18n..--.... 4,852817 20 certs. s39tT 8 en
1887........... 6,513,623 10 cents. 293098'oS s
So that the crop of 1871 was =
l6I, 3O6 bales less than the CROP ~
1887, yet it brought the cotton farm
ers $98, 613, 595 more ,money. n.
two crops of 1886 and 1887 aggro
gated 1908, 838 bales, three times .,
many bales as the crop of 1871, and
yet these two crops brought onr
farmers only $l96, l64, O8O, or abont
so per cent. more than the cron 81
1871.
In 1870 the value of agricultural
lands in the ten cotton States No.
$l,478, 600, 900. In 1880 thew wa~o
$l,O19, OOO, 600, a decrease of S45q
600, 900, or 81 per cent.
Cent.
1860 to 1870, average price per pound 49,
1870 to 1880, average price per pound ...... Is I&:,o
1880 to 1887, average price pc pound ..... , -"
Price to-day II cents.
So that the cotton farmer paws IN
the products of his labor over fonr
times as much for a dollar as he did
in the years 1860 to 1870.
If a farmer had given a MORTGAGE
in 1870 for $1,000 he could Ra1o
paid it with l,O25 bushels of corn
but if he has paid one,half of it tbo
remaining $500 without interest
would now require 1851 bushels If
corn to pay it. He could have maid
the $1,7OO with COG bushels of wheat
in 1870, but if he owed $500 of tho
debt to-day it would REQUIRE 599
bushels to pay it. He could have
paid the $1,000 in 1870, with 10
bales, or 5000 pounds of cotton, bnt
if he owed $500 of it today it takes
10 bales, or 5000 pounds to paw il,
In other words, the farmer must nav
his debts with the products of his
labor, and he must work twice as
hard, and give twice as much cotton.
corn, or wheat today as was REQUIRED
in 1870, to pay the same debt. But
we are told by those high in position
that the law of supply and demand
controls prices. That may have
been true before the operations of this
ancient law of trade were practically
supplanted by the more imperious law
of greed, as now enforced under the
mandates of monopolistic combinations
for the pillage of honest labor.
In 1881 we produced 498, $40, 867
bushels Of wheat, or 9 IL bushels per
capita, and its price was Sl.l5 per
bushel. In 1889 We produced AGO.
$50, 600 or IL per capita and its
price is 70 cts. per bushel. We should
not forget that the financial history
of all countries and of all ages shows
that the law of supply and demand,
as applied to money, is memorable
and never-failing in it's operations.
Scarcity of money has never failed to
enhance its prize; a plentiful supply
means cheap money. A contraction
of the circulating medium always
raises the price of the dollar, and as a
natural result, it always depreciates
the price of labor products. Nothing
can so surely control or annol the law
of supply and demand in labor pro-
ducts, as a reduction of the volume of
currency below the legitimate require,
ments of business and trade.
But granting that the law of supply
and demand is in full force and effect,
there r two ways in which prices
change under this law. Either a
change in demand, supply remaining
the same, or a change in supply, de-
mand remaining the same. But I as
sert, and statistics will sustain the as.
sertion, that there has been no change
in the great staple products relatively
to demand or to population to justify
this great depreciation in prices; un.
q~uestionably the demand has not
diminished. Where then has been
the change? Has the weight of the
dollar been increased ? Has the area
of our acre of land been curtailed that
should have fallen in value from 80
to SO per cent? Does not a pound
of beef now weigh Is ounces /? Do
we not now measure oar wheat or
corn by the same measure ? Does
not the cotton farmer give now the
same number of ounces to every
Has the change been made
the quantity or quality of the com
modify, or has it been made in money
the measure of it's value ? This is
the great question that the farmers of
the country desire and expect this
Congress to explain.
But L apprehend that the most
jealous advocate of the theory that
the law of supply and demand con-