The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1893-01-14
S'iEA FOR STANDARD
Does the Price Of silver Affect the
Price OF Wheatg
From the Brooklyn Eagle.

Governor Colcord of Nevada as au-
thority that no mines on the famous
Comstock system are now paying.
And you speak approyingly of the sug-
gestion that the miners should aban-
don their business and turn their at
tention to farming The advice is not
likely to prove acceptable at time
when the farmers calling has become
more unremunerative than atany time
in our history. In this year of our
Lord, 1892, the price of wheat touches
the low water mark. Only once, and
that in 1884, has wheat fallen SO low.
There would seem to be something
more than a coincidence between the
cheapness of wheat and the cheapness
of silver. In 1873, when the mint
was shut to silver, the latter was worth
premium of per cent. on gold and
less than bushel of wheat would buy
an ounce of gold. Silver was then
worth 81. 80 an ounce and wheat 81 80
a bushel. Silver is now SO cents an
ounce and wheat say 80 cents bushel
in the New York market. Are these
two commodities tied to each other in
the ups and downs of the market and
howl If the Sherman bill is to be re-
pealed that means that the United
States is to enter into a monetary war
with England, Germany, Austria
Hungary, and the monometallic world.
In that struggle gold is increasingly
appreciated or, what is the same, there
must be constant shrinking in the
prices of all the products of labor. At
the Paris conference in 1878 Chancel-
lor Goschen said: cit is better for the
world at large that the two metals
should continue i'll circulation than
that one should be universally substi-
tuted for the other" M. Say, the
president+of that conference, said:
In closing her mint against silver
France had no intention of moving to-
ward the single gold standard Apart
from the folly of allowing growing
and already top heavy superstructure
of credit to stand on an ever narrow
ing basis of gold, there is another fea-
ture quite astounding. 1t has been
the settled policy of this country to
encourage the mining of the precious
metals. This policy has been based
on the experience of the world for
thousands of years. Silver and gold
have been deemed desirable additions
to nations wealth. To this end and
under the encouragement of national
legislation the whole Rock mountain
region has been settled. Great States
have been created and varied indus
tries founded, where Eastern capital
has sought profitable fields for invest
ment. The stream of immigration was
turned into all that vast region beyond
the Missouri by the discovery of the
riches buried in those mountain vaults.
In Colorado alone there are 1900
men employed in the mining of gold
and silver. Add the teamsters, wood
cutters; blacksmiths, carpenters, the
employees in mills, smelters, charcoal
kilns and in the labor directly employ
ed in supplying mines, or hauling ores
by team and railroad, and those en-
ployed in manufacturing machinery
goods and merchandise and several
thousand farmers, whose market is
made by the mines, and out of total
voting population of $4,000 you have
about one-half that number directly
dependent upon the mines. There
are 800 producing mines in Colorado.
Of that number probably 700 are pro-
ducers of silver. Gold is found in
conjunction with silver in a majority
of these mines. A total rejection of
silver will not only reduce its supply,