The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-10-18


By 100 bushels wheat at 45c. .$45
To balance cash. IS
$45 90
It is very strange. In the one case
he had $1O7 left and in the other only
IS cents, and it would have been gone,
but it was not enough to pay for a baby
chair. In each case he had bought
the identical amount and kind of
goods, except the shoes and baby
chair, and sold the same amount and
kind of wheat. In 1867 he had over
800 left, and in 1898 only IS cents
Could the lawyer be mistaken? The
lawyer was Shrewd and intelligent:
how could he be mistaken? But then,
the figures won't lie. He goes to the
lawyer and shows him the two bills.
"Oh, WE'LL" says the lawyer "there's
an overproduction of wheat that
causes the price to be so low. That
is the reason the receipts show up
that way"
But the farmer is not satisfied, and
when he goes home he substitutes
cotton for wheat, and finds the dis
crepancy even worse. He tries beef,
and corn, and oats, but all with the
same result.
While fumbling over his papers he
runs across bundle of tax receipts.
He picks out two, one for 1867 and one
for 1899, to correspond with the two
bills he had been studying. How
strange! The two receipts were for
exactly the same amount, $45. Out of
the $1O7 he had left in 1867 from the
sale of 100 bushels of wheat, and aft
er paying for bill of goods, he could
pay the $45 taxes and still have $62
left, but in 1893 he is compelled to
sell another hundred bushels of
wheat. Most certainly something is
wrong. He wonders if it affects
everybody that way.
Here are two reports. They are
both from the lawyer who told him
everything was all right. They are
both for the same amount and for
the same thing. They both read this
way:
OFFICE OF [. FOOLEM,
May, Is, 1867
Received of Thomas Farmer the
sum of $25 for abstract title.
I.FOoLEM.
The other was the same but dated
March Is, 1893. Let us see what $25
will buy, at each period, for the man
who says everything is all right.
Twenty-Five dollars in 1893 will buy
four times as much of the farmers
wheat as it would in 1867.
Five times as much cotton.
Four times as much wool.
Three times as much corn.
Four times as much beef.
Three times as much butter and
eggs.
Three times as much garden truck.
Oh, yes, everything is all right-for
the lawyer.
But how about the farmer?
Why, he's figuring.
He has already figured out that
while he is worse off, the lawyer is
much better off-can buy three times
as much with the money obtained
for the same amount of work.
He knows there is something
wrong.
All: now he remembers a political
speech he heard in the last cam
paign. It was by Mr.. Stuffem, the
successful candidate for county clerk.
He was brilliant young man, an
able and forcible speaker. cit is the
tariff" said Mr. stuffem, "that is
running the farmer. 1t is the great
and overshadowing issue. AS rep
reSentative of the great democratic
party, the party of Jefferson, of jack
son and Benton, 1 want to say if you
farmers will only stand by it's ban
ner, elect it's representatives, and
give them chance, we pledge you
the immediate repeal of the infa-
nous Mckinley bill, and the aboli-
tion of trusts and monopoly" Mr..
Stuffem sat down. All, how that
speech was cheered. Hats went into
the air and the ladies waved their
handkerchiefs. The speaker was
elected. The democratic party was
put in power. What is the result?
The farmer takes his pencil and does