Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-28
HARD LOT OF THE FARMER.
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE p1spAroH. !,

| is as follows:
Saturdays shipment of $500, 900 gold seems
to have been taken by operators for fall in
stocks to be only the precursor of other and
larger shipments of the same kind soon to
follow, and therefore to indicate an ap.
preaching stringency in the money market.
Ihat more gold may be exported from this
| country before the end OF the year is not
only possible, but probable, but the export
when 1t occurs, should no more cause a
str1ngency in money than should the export
| surplus. -
Il, by some ingenious artifice, we could
| make printed pieces of paper answer the
practical purposes or lead or OF copper to
the extent, say of 100000 tons, we should
need Just 100000 tons less OF those metals
ana could export it, Y we 1 had M it: without in
which we have created since the act of July,
| ls9o, went into operation, have taken the
place of that amount of gold as basis for
i9ans and medium Of exchanae, and have
thus set free the gold to be disposed as we
may hnd 1T most profitable. How much of
u we SILL require Tor our own use can be de-
term1ned only by the event, but nothing
| tends to show that any great quantity will
go to Europe without so reducing the rates
OF interest there as to put an end to the de-
mand for IL. England, France and Germany
haVe'all of 1t that they want at present, and
the needs of Russia and OF Austria are pretty
nearly satisfied.
Forecast That Can't Be Made.
What will happen few months hence,
When the further issue of paper shall have
sent gold to small premium, it is impossi-
Bile to forecast exactly, but unless people
lose their heads and become panic stricken,
the most to be feared is an advance in the
price of everything except currency obliga-
which will accompany it. That the falling
OH in the exports of our breadstuffs and our
cotton this year, as compared with those of
year ago, accompanied by anfncrease of
our imports, tends to hasten a crisis in our
currency system, is too plain to be disputed.
During the four months ending October
81 last we exported only A,579.s6o bushels OF
wheat, against 64,5Q3, 1877 bushels during
the corresponding period of 1891, and the
total value OF flour and of all kinds of grain
exported was only S70344, ia against sl0i.-
l5s last year. OF cotton the exports for
the two months ending October 81 this year
have amounted in all to SIS 375 bales. of the
value OF $50, 5l1,3s7, against l.O99O63 bales
worth s5o, ls4 676, during the corresponding
Two months OF 1891. The consequence has
been that while for the four months ending
October 81 our total imports of merchandise
have amounted to $500, 739.Ss5, our total ex-
ports have been only $273, ,652. 299. leaving an
excess or imports over exports OF $27, ,0S7,-
$685.
The remarkable thing connected with the
diminished exports of our breadstuffs Is
that they occur in the lace of very bad
harvest in Great Britain, and nf not un-
usually good harvests on the continent. 1t
Is also remarkable that while the short crop
OF cotton has stimulated speculation in dc,
and thus sent up its price, the demand for
1t for consumption has not increased W ith
the cheapness of food.
Unusual Condition of Affairs.
1t used always to be said that when bread
went down cotton went up, for the reason
that the less people had to spend for food
the more they spend for clothing. We see
now food cheap and plenty, and yet FOR
purposes OF consumption slack demand
for cotton. The cotton planter it is true, is
getting more for his cotton than he did last
year, but then he has very much less to sell.
while the wheat grower here as well as
abroad both has less to sell and gets less for
it. Naturally the wheat growers, both here
and in Great Britain, who are suffering from
this conf unction of diminished crops and
low prices, clamor for relief
In Great Britain there is a cry for pro-
tected duty on imported wheat which is not
likely to be needed, and more plausible
lower rents of farm lands with less onerous
lease. In this country, as l have frequently
pointed out, the most popular measure with
the agricultural community is free silver
coinage, or in other words, q smaller dollar.
Evidently If the price of wheat, corn and
cotton could be computed in dollars worth
only two-thirds as much as the present gold
dollar, they would bring half as much more
in money than they do now, and the burder
of interest and taxes on those who raise
them would be proportionately nghtened.
The truth is, that while the past few years
may have been exceptionally bad for agri-
culturists, the business is one which from
its nature can never long be very remuner-
ative, and those who carry it on with the
expectation of getting great profits out of it
will always, except on rare occasions, be
disa ppointed.
The Causes of Agriculture's Decadence.
Tn ic opI a.
tie while after the war, when the products
of the soil brought high prices and new land
could be had cheap, farmers and planters
made enough money to encourage them to
buy more land and run in debt for it. So in
Great Britain, where the land is made to
yield better returns than it does here, the
farmers few years ago could afford to
pay liberal rents and yet lave something
left over tor themselves. But as all profita-
Bile business invites competition, and the
more easily it can be undertaken the sooner
competition comes, so has it been with agri
culture. Not only has this country enor-
mously increased its acreage of titled land
and with it the quantity OF wheat. corn and
cotton the land produces, but India has come |
into the market with large additions to the
wheat supply, and the building of railroads
in Russia has added to the exports from that |
country. 1t would seem as though the more |
food there was to be eaten the more people |
there would be to eat it, But this remedy |
for low prices works slowly, and its iull re- |
ease
and by the higher standard OF living which |
prevails. From time immemorial agricult- |
ural countries have been poor in comparison |
with those which devoted themselves to |
commerce and manufactures. However |
populous they have been, and however fru-
gal and industrious their Inhabitants, they |
have never done much more than support |
themselves, and by their labor, whereas na-
tions of merchants and craftsmen have usu-
ally increased in riches. India to-day, with
her vast area ard her hundreds of millions
of cultivators of the soil, has not tithe of
the wealth OF the island of Great Britain,
which produces only one-third of the food |
her inhabitants consume. The citizens OF
the little State of Rhode Island are richer
the money capital of New England, New
York and Pennsylvania equals that OF all
the other Stntes together.
Skilled Labor Always the Best Paid.
p Ii is not labor alone that creates wealth,
but labor directed by skill, and the greater
The skill embodied in the product the more
valuable the product. 1t is true that the
progress of Improvements has benefited
agriculture as well as it has every other
branch of human industry. Steam and ma
,hinerv have come to the help of brute
strength and manual labor. Although
oloughing by steam has not been extended
b small farms, the processes of sowing,
'eapinS and threshing have been facilitated
oy Ingenious labor-saving devices. The re-
ult has been to increase the quantity OF the
pTOUuCt ylelucu ny u given |
lmount of effort, but not to improve the
luality OF the product itself.
Iron converted into steel, and the steel |
Igain worked up into hairsprings for
watches, is worth u thousand times as much
Is it was in its original form, but a bushel of
wheat or of corn and pound of cotton get
10 added value from the skill devoted to
aislng them. 1t is only the artisan who
lses them for food and for raw material who
these results, and he alone. of
ourse, gets paid for it. Unfortunately. too,
or the agriculturist while the productive