The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-04-15

that the price TOR nearly every ptouucs -
nanusaosurs he's fallen bscauss ~ greatly
lssssned cost: willis nearly every form Of
Tabor has, the world over. sold for higher
prices aimee leo than - any time prior TO
is7s, except when affected By the OWL war
IN the United States; and - mech - labor
has fallen IN the last eight months, the gem
srsl Level Of wages h higher now than In
isTa Csrtainiy. labor is = thing that men
have for sale, and vast numbers Of men
have nothing slss to sell. It is true that
the products Of labor. or rather very many
OF them, cell much cheaper than prior TO
isTa, but THE IL because Of thefncressed pro-
duetive power OF each labor unit, and be-
enuse production has outFun the power to
consume. There are notable examples, how
ever. where the product Of labor. instead Of
declining In price. has shown material adj
vance since 1873.
Coffee is 30 important an article OF
commerce that we annually import some
$4,000 600 worth. yet coffee thas sold In
New York at from Q cents TO II cents
q pound from 1858 TO 1871 Is now selling at
II cents pound. although It cold ss low az
sL cents In 1885. Has the fall In the price
for silver so affected this product as to
cause II 10 advance from 10 cents In 1870 TO
rs cents In 1874; to fall again to 1s cents In
1875. and then advance TO 20 cents In 1877;
and then TO fuctuate between 81 and 20
cents in the years between 1877 and 1924
Lard IL one Of the things that men cell. yet
IL brought but slI cents In this city In 1873
and sold for 1917 cents in November. 1898.
and 10 now worth as much as In 1878.
The corn particularized by our cor
respondent Ii another notable product.
the price for which has varied from high to
low and low to high. regardless OF the price
trend OF silver. In July, 1878. corn sold In
this city, In terms OF gold, for % cents .
bushel. yet In 1875 It sold for 81 cents: fell
to ~ cents In 1878. and advanced to "a
cents four years later: again declined to as
low q price as 4s cents In 1885. after which.
in 1888, It advanced to GO cents. After the
harvesting Of the great crops Of 1888 and
1889, CROPS that aggregated more bushels
than any other two ever grown. the price
dropped 10 81 cents. which was the lowest
point ever reached. lust as the per capita
supply was then the greatest ever known.
Although corn sold In this city in April.
1880, for 81 cents, yet 80 little was Il Affected
by the fall In the value Of silver that just .
year later 1t sold for 6ok cents. or an ad-
vance Of l1s per cant. What had slight
change In the vslus Of silver TO do with this
extraordinary advancep Does our cor
respondent desire us to believs that this
enormous rise In price was caused by tho
decline In the price Of silver which has 90
CURED since 1873? Was not this elevation
of the price level for corn wholly due TO the
fact that the crop OF 1880 was but two
thirds the volume Of that Of 1889. and that
in consequence the par capita supply was
reduced BY quite 90 per cent?
A careful examination OF the facts sur
rounding the course OF prices for cotton de-
velops the fact that from 1864. when cotton
was selling In New York for 90 cents in gold
O pound, 1t fell steadily from this high
war level until 1873, when the quantity pro-
dueed first exceeded the ante-bellum max
imum, and tho price again reached the level
of 1850; Just 90 We learn from this examina-
ton that In 1873 the price Of cotton had.
from the highest point. already fallen "a
cents o pound. or 100 per cent. moro than 1t
has fallen since. Was this fall Of q cents
prior TO 1878 due to other causes. while the
fall since 1878 10 due alone to the fall In the
value OF silver
From 1879 to 1890 the price duetuated be-
tween ~ and Is cents. as the crop happened
to be abundant or meagre. and the average
Of the twelve years was very close 30 the
average OF the twelve years ending with
1860. although after two very short crops in
1855 and 1857 the price rose. In the later
months Of 1857. despite the acute money
crisis then prevailing. to 15h cents pound.
or the highest price known between 1889
.,,l do tha nft hax
period, say from 1861 to 1875. This
fact. and the other related fact that
from 1885 to 1888. during all the acute
monetary crisis Of 1887. the prices for
wheat. corn. cotton. and oats were extremely
high. show how little monetary con-
ditions Of the most pronounced character
affect the price for any article Of prime ne
cessity when the supply is actually defec-
tive. In considering conditions affecting
the price for cotton. the period ending with
1873. when prices resulted from the peculiar
conditions existing at the Seath after the
war, must be exeludsd. Dolns this. IL 10
found that the price has varied only as af-
fected by supply and demand. and oftsn
moved In tho direction opposite TO that
taken By silver.
The crop Of 1859 was the greatest ever
grown till that time. and aggregated
nearly 100000 bales. but tho crop Of 1890
exceeded 1t by i.aoO.O 900 bales. or 10 per cent:
and this great crop was immediately fol-
lowed by one OF 100000 bales. or Is per
cent. In excess Of the crop OF 1859. The crops
Of 1880 and 1891 aggregated 100000 bales.
as against iA.sOo. 900 bales from the harvests
Of 1883 and 1889; and after the harvesting
of the two greater crops. the price fell more
than Is Der cent Is this price fan Of one
fourth due to fall OF 10 per cent. In the
price for an ounce Of silver. or Is 1t due TO
an increase OF 24.5 per cent. 10 the supply.
while the requirements increased no more
than or per cent. ct most II fall of
10 per cent. in the price OF silver caused the
price Of cotton TO decline more than IS par
cent. then the subsequent fall OF 30 per
cent. in the price for silver should have OBJ
liberated the last vestige OF cotton values.
Our correspondent instances horses as