People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-08-26

lcd' inventions, better traus-
P0rtaiion facilities, and the like
Inns argument vii not bear close
analysis. hat there has been anv
greater mere asa since 1873 than for
the preceding twenty years has not
yet been proved. 1t rests upon mere
assumption and the dexterous man.
apulatlon ct figures. Taking the
United States alone and estimating
me increase in proportion to popuIa-
ton 1t is shown that we have a larger
excess Of cereals and breadstuffs than
formerly.
This IS an unfair, or at least faulty.
method, because the fall in prices has
not been confined to this country
and taking the commercial world as
a whole the production is no greater
per capita than it was twenty or
twenty-five years ago. Wheat has
always been regarded as a safer test
of value than any other commodity
and steadier quantity in economies
1than even gold or silver. In my
speech Of June I, 1890, l gave the
figures showing the wheat crops of
Europe and America by decades and
periods Of five years from 1870 down
to 1888. Those figures were care
fully taken from various standard
authorities, and l have no reason to
doubt their accuracy. The state
oment being as pertinent now as then,
l will reproduce it:
From 1870 to 1880 the annual average
was !, 1887, 600, 900 bushes; from 1875 to
1884 the average was 1 ,249, 100000 bush
els in 1888, 1,267,000, 600; in 1884 1 377,-
900, geo; in 1885, 1904, 100000; in 1886,
1.173,000, geo; in 1887, 1859, 100000 in
1888, /, 1874, 600, 900.
For the decade first named the average
annual production of the United States
was about 1928, 900, 600 bushels, making a
total average for the two continents of
about 1926, 600, 900 bushels. For the five
years ending with 1888 the average crop
of EurOpe was PAT 900; of the
United States, 440, 600, O0O making a to
tai average of / ,687, 900, 900, an increase
of about 62,000000 But it is entirely
safe to say that the population of Europe
and America increased within that time
26,000,000:
To have kept pace with the population
abe increase of wheat should have been
900, 100000 bushels, whereas it was only
100000, SO that there has actually been
falling off in the production OF this
great cereal, the price of which is con-
sidered by all economists the surest ba-
rOmeter of the general scale of prices.
I NAV add that in 1889 the product
of Europe was 1903, 100000 bushels,
and that of America 490,000,000,
1,693,000,000 in all, about 100000
more than the average of the preced-
ing FIVE years. It no more than kept
pace with the increase of population.
Even including the importations
from India and Australia, [ do not
think it is possible to figure out any
material increase in the wheat sup
ply of Europe and America. And
yet there are very few commodities
that have fallen in greater ratio
than wheat, and nothing has caused
more distress throughout the agricul-
tural regions of the country except
the fall in the price of cotton.
There has been considerable in
crease in the product of cotton in
America, which is the chief source
of European supply; but it must be
remembered that cotton being a raw
material used in manufacture the
product may increase almost indefn-
itely, and consumption move right
along with equal pace. And so it
would had not the purchasing power
of the people been crippled by a
diminution Of the money with which
to make payment. In the case of
such a commodity as cotton goods,
when the money supply falls short,
people will naturally reduce their
purchases to the lowest possible point.
But the people must eat, and the
wheat has all been consumed. This
great cereal has not increased in
proportion TO population and use,
but it evidently has increased
relatively to something, and that
something is money-the instru-
ment which measures the wheat.
The argument that prices have fallen
because of increased production car
ries with it the admission that money
has not increased in the same ratio.
IF we ask what controls the price of
wheat, we are instantly told ''supply
and demand" But when two things
are pitted against each other in
trade, the law of supply and demand
applies to both. What is it that
makes wheat worth a dollar bushel?
Why simply this: the supply of
wheat and the demand for it, and
the supply of money and the demand
for it, are such that in the popular
estimate they just balanced by dol
lar of the one and a bushel of the
other. This suggests the query {:
Why should not money increase with
4Io 3,orooco Of vorOJr7o+o -. u,oA