People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1893-06-23
Gold and Wheat.
St. Louis Republic.

st. Louis Republic.
The combination which has been
operating to bull the price OF gold IS
meeting with success that is indi-
Gated by the decline in wheat, in Sc
curities, in all values measured by
gold and by the contraction of credit
on the basis Of final settlement in
gold.
An increase in the price of gold
means decrease IN the price OF grain
as well as OF all speculative securities,
if these commodities are measured as
they are now, in gold.
It is easy to see the connection be-
tween the increase in the price Of
gold and the decrease in the price of
other commodities incident to it. 1t
may not always be apparent in the
averages for a single year, but IN
decade it forces itself on attention.
With a famine in Europe the de-
mand for wheat may be so great
as to overcome the effect of the con-
traction of the money supply, but as
soon as this cause for high prices is
removed, wheat falls at once to the
price fixed by contraction. Of course
there are many other causes which
enter into grain prices, but in a period
of ten years it can be seen that as
gold is forced up wheat is forced
down. We can get at this by COM
pairing both gold and wheat with sill
yer during the period since 1880,
taking the figures from the Statistical
Abstract issued by the Treasury.
Ia 1880, when an ounce Of gold
could be bought for 1906 ounces Of
silver average annual price,, wheat
was worth $1.26 a bushel as the aver
age for the year. In 1881 the price
OF gold had been bulled to 1916
in silver, but wheat nevertheless in
creased in price five cents a bushel
on the average for the year, and 1t
was not until the next year that wheat
showed as distinctly as it had been
showing 1t ever since 1878 that "bull-
ing" gold is ''bearing" the prices Of
our agricultural staples.
In 1884 the price of an ounce Of
gold had increased from 1906 ounces
of silver to 1857, while wheat had
fallen to SLY a bushel. The next
year the gold manipulators gave a
sudden twist to the markets and sent
that metal up to 49, Al in silver-a
gain of over an ounce in the price Of
gold in five years as measured by
silver. In the same time wheat had
fallen from 51.26 to SO cents. With
various fluctuations this increase In
the price Of gold has continued until
the present, and with related fuctua-
tions wheat has gone down as gold
has been forced up. In 1892 the
bushel Of wheat had lost over Sc
cents as compared with the price for
1880, while the ounce of gold had
been bulled to a price amounting to
over five ounces in silver more than
could be got for it in 1880.
1t Will be said that though wheat
goes down as gold goes up, the ad-
vance in gold of recent years has been
more rapid than the decline in wheat.
This is because extreme pressure is
being brought to bear through Gov
eminent policies here and in Europe
to increase the price of gold, and that
this pressure affects silver more than
it does any other article, though all
are affected by it. Silver is first to
show the success of the attempt to
bull gold, but everything else neces.
sarily shows 1t in a greater or less
degree as the supply of the commodi-
ty in question is greater or less than
the demand.
In a general way, the causes which
have governed prices in this country
since 1878 may be stated as supply
and demand, the effect of the protec-
tive tariff and the movement to bull
gold by demonetizing silver. The
effect of the protective tariff is to in
crease the demand for gold, and thus
to increase its price as measured by
our wheat and other agricultural ex-
ports, and this effect is supplemented
by the financial policy of demonetiz-
ing silver and making gold the sole
money Of final account in settlements
which call for coin. This policy com
pletes what has been begun by the
protective tariff in its effects on our
agricultural exports, while on such
commodities as speculative securities
it is most marked at times when those
who control the supply make a sud
den bull movement, as they have
been doing this year. This contracts
credit with great violence, and the
result is the demonstration of the en-
tire inadequacy of the gold supply to
resist the manipulation which sud-
denly forces vast amounts Of the pa
per Of private credit out of use as a
medium OF exchange as the holders
of gold withdraw coin of that metal
or refuse to allow it to be used with
out inordinate restrictions.
The Treasury policy Of the Harri-
son administration precipitated the
present stringency, and there Is no
remedy for it except IN a change of
Tho policy. If the policy of using