Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1891-03-04


has its influence in proportion 20 its extent.
The stupid idea lodges IN some minds that
n foreign do lar is better tn Il domestic
one. Thirty years ago "A fore gn dollar paid
for cotton WAS regarded as atred unit of
value--a sort OF tali~man TO ward off all
economic Ills, but Z is found that a dollar
paid by Georgia cloth naker to his neigh
Dor who grew the cotton is worth just as
much, and in a.d ton incidental benefits ac-
crue and are diiiuscd through the entire COM
munity. Aud there ara people in the South
who deliberately pro pose to manufacture at
least a third OF ali cotton grown, and they
have no fear that the otton States will be
any the worse for it
single illustration viii aunihiiate the
falicy that the price OF our products is fixed
by the price of the aynount exported" Corn
is the great Am rican tillage crop. No otner
approaches it in value Last year the eX.
ports (grain and mcit were lf3 4 S, 709 bush
els, the largest exportation of any year.
Why 50 much; Because the average export
price IS only ais cents per bGshel. The
lowest price ever known mldc the largest
shipments ever known The next largs st
expectation was in 1879 so when the price
was 54.3 cents, which is the next lowest rate
in our records of exports. The smallest ex.
portation in forty years took place in in 1853.
20, when all the exported corn. exclusive of
meal, only 1892 li5 bushels Whv
the smallest: Because the price
was 81 c~Its. Corn has never
been wanted in Europe except when
cheap enou2h to supercede other feeding
stuffs that be used in its place So far
from making tae pr ce" of American corn
our IS per cent. of domestic consumption not
only makes the price, but determines
whether any shall be exported or not When
very low price increases fifty fold the
/ meager sale at highest prices one should be
! ashamed to reitcrate the stupid falsity that
( Liverpool fixes the pr.ce of American corn.
1t is 20 be hoped that editors and pseudo
statesmen will hereafter avoid this ridicu-
lous absurdity, which is becoming slightly
nauseatin daily constituent of econo-
mic dietetics. j r DODGE
Whether the Economist came dam
gerously near advocating fallacy or
not is matter of opinion, but it is very
true that it did not so do, and its col
umns will show that it did not saw
that no corner on farm products can
be successful in this country while the
price of the American product is fixed
by the price of the amount exported"
| Mr.. Dodge does not say, but he implies
that these words were used by the
Economist The Economist has
quoted as the accepted doc
trine of ali modern political
economists that the price of the amount
exported fixes the price of the entire
product. Mr. Dodge in dissenting from
it simply dissents from the accepted
position of the Leading economists of
the day. The Economist took no posi-
ton for or against that doctrine, but
/ quoting it as standard proceeded to
demonstrate the sub-treusury idea so
conclusively by IL as to leave the econo-
mists no alternative but to accept the
| sub-treasary as the discovery of a new
and great principle in political econo nv,
or ject that land mark of political econ
omy whioh mp to date has not been de-
! MED MIR. Dodge chooses the latter
course. Fortunately the sub-treasury
idea does not depend on that argument
alone, but has even better ones, when
the economist, like Mr.. Dodge, all for
sake their strongholds 1t is, however
doubtful whether any person capable
of a full conception of the question ever
held that the fixing of the price of the
American product by the price of the
amount exported wou d prevent cor
ners in such products 4 better deduc-
tion would be that it would facilitate
such corners.
The bare assertion that cit is demand
that makes prices" classifies its author
at once, the readers of The Economist
know, exactly where he belongs as an
economist, if he is sincere, and it is fair
to presume that he is. Prices on an
average are less than half what they
were twenty years ago. consequently
there is less demand than there was
twenty years ago. Then the people of
the United States consumed over eight
ounces of -four a day. and now they
consume less than six ounces. Then the
product was greater per capita than It
is now, and every other statistic bear
ing on the subject will tend to
prove that the actual demand and
the relative demand was less than
now, and still. Mr.. Dodge asserts
that the fall in prices is due to de-
cline in demand. The truth is that
prices come much nearer regulating
the demand than demand does regu-
lating prices. A rise in price always
diminishes the demand, and a decline in
prices always increases the demand to
a certain point. But neither propo-
sition is correct in the abstract The
force of each proposition is modified bv
the respective wants and necessities of
the buyer and the seller. The price a
seller will accept is a compromise be-
tween his want or necessity for money!
and the price buyer will pay is a COM
promise on his part between his
desire or necessity for the com
modify, and his ability or disposition to
part with the money. Price as ex-
pressed in dollars and cents is such Gan
account as will express the equitable
ratio between the gross volume of
money in circulation and the gross vol
TIME Of value Of all commodities, esti-
mated both directly as substantial enti-
ties and indirectly according to the rate
of speed with which they circulate or
change hands. That is to say, on the
one side OF the balances is the volume
of money and the speed with which it
circulates, and on the other is all COM
'modities that have exchangeable value.
the speed with which each changes
hands, the cost Of production, and all
other considerations affecting utility
A fixed and arbitI ary unit from
one side is used fer measuring
both. They can never be equal 1t is
not held. that they should be- But a
great disparity between the amount of
transactions ard the volume Of money
with which to consulrmate them in
creases the purchasing power of money
and produces q corresponding depres-
sion in the prices of all commodities as
an indueement to money to circulate
faster, and thereby make up for its de-
ficiency. Demand does not make prices
with the poor. Prices do not make de-
mand with the rich. Demand does make
prices with the rich Prices do make
demand with the poor. The doctrine
of the older economists is that price is
made by demand, and supply governed
by the ability to purchase.
The effect of the sub-treasury plan
will be to adjust the volume of money
to the demand for its use SO that they