The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1893-09-01
HON. JOSEPH sIBLEY,s SPEECH

hCu NcbS yOu1
era of prosperityP 1t was from 1866.
or after the close of the war. down to
1873, was it not? Your railroad stocks
were dividend payers at that time.
7 on had no strikes. mo- boy colts and
no granger legislation. All classes of
the people were at peace with each
other. Your factories were not closed
and you did not have to call out armed
forces to keep the employe from the
throat of the employer.
''Since 1873 what has been the his
tory? Disaster has followed disaster
upon the spread of the whirlwini.
The conditions have grown more
strained every moment. and are grow
ing more and more so with each re-
curing year. Statesmen and patriots
may well ponder this condition. You
have had warnings all along the past
W hich show you the national trend of
such conditions, and now the people,
the great producers of the world. come
to you and ask for justice.
''My farmer friend, when was it
that you got $3.50 for your wheat. and
when did you get so and 20 cents a
oushel for your corn?
lin 1873 you received $1.1S. on tn e
Gverage for your wheat, and in 1873
,;I1zar ,r,.,- 4 o,,o,,,, ,%;.oA W., ,,tonfars
md growers of cotton, tell me in what
year was it that you received % cents
pei pound for your product. 1t was in
1873. but in that year we demOnetized
silver, and what happened? Why, we
turned over the interests of the pro-
lucers of this nation into the hands of
British fnanciers. Let us look at it.
Silver at that time was worth 81 %
per ounce, that was its coin
age value, and at that time we had
the grain markets, and the cotton
markets of the world, and in 1873
India exported only 1880 bushels of
wheat.
Silver has always been the money
IF India and one ounce of silver is the
measure of value for one bushel of
wheat. It makes no difference what
the value of the rupee Is. The same
number of rupees buys the same num-
her of bushels of wheat all the time.
But England could not afford to buy
an ounce of silver at $1.29,
per ounce and take it to India to
measure the value of wheat, SO she
took our wheat from us and paid US u
little less, from $1.2O to $1.23 in
1873.
Sin 1874 the shipments of wheat
from India commenced. England
bought her ounce of silver here at
$1.10 and she could take that to India
and exchange it for bushel of Indian
wheat. and in five years after the de-
monetization of silver England had in
creased her shipments from the sum
of 735, 200 bushels to 100000 bush
els. and in 10 years it had increased
from IL ,OOO,O 600 to &c, OOO.O0O bushels.
in 10 years it was 100000 bushels.
and IN 1892 it was 100000 bushels.
The ounce of silver England bought
for $1.10 in 1874, she now gets for 20
cents, takes it to India and still gets a
bushel of wheat for it. We have play
ed all these years into the hands of
England against the prosperity of our
own American wheat producers.
Mr. Speaker, let us look at cotton,
and see if the analogy does not mold
true there also. They established cot
ton mills in India in 1873. and from
that year down to 1874 they were
never able to export single pound of
cotton yarn-11 years of an attempt
to introduce cotton spinning in India,
with abiect failure as the result.
''But, in 1874, one year after tie de-
monetization of silver. they shipped
100000 pounds of cotton yarn. The
next year they shipped 100000, in
1889 65.OOO,O 900 pounds. in 1891 1867
100000 pounds. So it appears that
with each decreasing quotation in the
value of an ounce of silver bullion
there was an increase of export of cot
ton yarn from India in correspond
ing proportion.
Permit me to show the position of
those in England who are SO much OPP
posed to bimetaIism, At a meeting of
the British and colonial chamber Of
commerce, held in London in 1886,
Sir Robert N. Fowler, member of
parliment. a banker and an ex-mayor
of London, said: That the effect of
the depreciation of silver must finally
be the ruin of the wheat and cotton
industries Of America. and be the de-
vslopment of India as the chief wheat
and cotton exporters of the world y
THE BENEFITS OF IRRIGATION.