St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-23
MORE FREE COINAGE.
Another Silver Letter From
Ex-Congressman John L.
Macdonald.
The Decline in Wheat Ex-
plotted and Ex-
planned.
The Story Of the RuinouS
Competition Of
India.
Some Startling Facts and
Figures Plainly Set
Forth.
To The Editor of the Globe.

I'D your paper OF 4 recent uale. pre-
Sented statement of the legislation OF
congress relating TO silver coinage, from
the establishment of our first mint IN
1892 to the present time. 1 showed that
the free coinage" of silver, provided
for by the bill pending in congress, and
known as the Bland BILL" provides for
simply a return to that system of free
coinage" that existed, to the perfect
satisfaction of our people, from 1892 to
1878. ! there also showed that i'll 1873
silver coin commanded a premium, for
export, of three per cent. over gold, and
that there was no honest or JuStltiable
reason for then suspending the coinage
Of our standard silver dollar; and veri-
fed my statement, that the demOnetiZa-
ton OF the silver dollar was only secured
''by the basest of conspiracies," and
showed that Senator John Sherman, of
Ohio, is now recognized, throughout the
country, as the chief conspiratOr. In
closing that communication. / stated
that in my next l would endeavor to
show o. that the decentralization of sill
yer has robbed the farmers and produc-
erS of our country of thousands of mill
ions of dollars. and (2) that the return
to that free coinage" which existed
from our first mint to 1878, has 10 such
terrOrs as its opponents would have US
believe. | will now proceed to do so,
as far as an article of this limit will
permit.
1t is hardly necessary for ME to say
that we are all vitality interested in the
welfare and prosperity of our farmers.
Our prosperity is entirely dependent
upon their success. and every one of the
merchants and business men of our
whole state and country should be on
the alert and ready to take I'D arms in
defense of our farmers interests the
moment he sees them aSsailed Instead
of our farmers feeling, as they do now,
that they can only rely upon them
selves to protect their own interests,
whether from railroad transportation
eXtortiOn, or wheat buyers cOmbina-
tiOns, or other injUstice-they should
have reason to believe, and feel, that in
each of our business men. they had a
champion and defender. That they do
not so feel at present, must be admitted;
and that business man who sincerely
desires their welfare, and this feeling to
be otherwise. will be willing TO inveSti-
SoAG lA-C 1EaSOllS SlhCll lOl kllGll NlSGOEl-
tent. AS the staple product of the
Northwest is wheat. l will largely con-
fine myself to showing how the de-
mOnetiZation of silver has affected its
price.
Surprising Decline in Price of
Wheat.
The large wheat crops for 1891 (of-
ficially estimated at Gil, 000, 900 bushels
was expected by our people-on account
of the shortage throughout Europe-to
bring largely increased prices. All eX-
pected higher prices than for many
years before, and while we did not eX-
ult over the misfortune of the European
farmer, we looked with bright anticIpa-
tons TO a realization of all this. But we
have been previously disappointed. The
expected high prices have not material
lied. and. as a consequence, many of
our farmers are still holding their sur
plus wheat. Those expectations were
justified, for it was estimated last fall
that the shortage in Europe would be al
least SOC. 900, 600 bushels of wheat and
4C0,O00.OOO bushels of rye. and recent
estimates go to show that this aggregate
was about correct: except that the
shortage was more of wheat ana less of
rye.
In YOUR issue of Nov. 20 last you be-
gan an article on 1.-THE Wheat Supply
with these words: 1.-THE price of wheat
has not shown the aspiring disposition
that was expected i'll view of the short
age in Europe" and you closed thus
hopefully: 1.-The farmers of the United
States, no doubt. have on hand more
wheat than ever before at this season.
but there is hardly a question that il
will be found less than the deficit il
The old world supply, and consequently
the market must advance before an
other CROP" You must now admit thai
your predictions have not been fulfilled
Six months have passed. anG, instead
of an advance" there has been 6
steady decline in the price.
This continued decrease has been sc
different from what has been expected
and so surprising, that many attempts
have been made TO ascertain and eX
plain the cause, but without success, as
many OF them confess. The last "eX
plorer" for this source of the farmers
robbery is the Pioneer Press. limits is
sue of April it made very cOmmenda
bic effort in that direction; and, in q
hYe-cOlumn article, gives the result OF
Its efforts to ascertain why it is that
notwithstanding the great foreign short
age in the grain crop, the price of wheat
has not advanced; but, on the contrary
has declined until, at this writing, it /.
about ten cents per bushel less tnan i
was in December last. In its investi
cation it ''has traced the progress of
buShel of wheat all the way from the
field in Minnesota or Dakota to the mar
ket in Liverpool, and states that ''tht
comparison and verification of the DAFT
alone have been the work of many
days"-which is manifest. But l mus
pass over its Data, comparisons anC
facts. and content myself with giving
its conclusions. Here they are:
There has been distinct shrinkage,
loss from the rise of the Liverpool price,
ranging from to II cents per bushel. WIZ
has obtained possession of this it would no
be easy to say. The lost difference
ranging from 10 to Is cents per bushel
means an enormous amount of money wheI
applied TO the wheat crop Of the country
And these proportions will be found prac
tically the same when prices at the point
nearest the source of supply, the farmer him
self. are compared. The more thes
statistics are studied. and especially the NOR
attention is given to the above tables of com
parative prices, the more irresistible will ap
pear the conclusion that some malign in
fuenee keeps the American market 70
wheat at figure very considerably lowe
lldu IL W Dc
1t Is admitted everywhere tha
the foreign demand fixes the world
price, and that this process take
place in Liverpool = This appears I
indicate that the evil is progressive; that tn
force, whatever it is, which governs them j
something out of the ordinary course O
trade; but that, at any rate, it has been equs
70 the task of preventing a rise in Amer
can prices TO correspond with Euro
pean prices, to an amount of something lik
10 cents bushel. But whether it is the
(grain speculation) or something else, th
1ndubitable fact seems 10 be that the Amer
can market is unduly depressed as CON
pared with The other markets of the world
that prices do not rise here as freely as the
do where our products are sold; and that tn
farmer of the United States has somethin
more than dumb and unreaSoning sense O
injustice, has a fsct on his side, when h
complains that be does not receive the ful
benefit which the worlds demand shout
bring to him. in better prices for his PROD
uets."
Here, then, we have what may b
termed an authoritative declaration tina
"the American market is unduly de
pressed, as compared with the othe
markets of the world, an
that the farmer of the United States ha