The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-10-23
THOUGH FOR THE PEOPLE.
BY JAMES MURDOCH.

S~@HnS OoVVn the Price OF Wheat.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
The average price of wheat from 1867
to 1877, on the Liverpool market, per
quarter. was 81 shillings pence. The
average price of wheat on the same
market per quarter for 1893 was "a
shlllings 2 pence. The shrinkage in
value was 80 shillings 2 pence, or about
80 per cent. The shrinkage in value of
wheat since 1866, in gold, is about 81. 10
per bushel. The shrinkage in value of
cotton Is greater than that of wheat.
and this is why interest on money con
gests 1T to centers. The shrinkage in
value OF the minor farm products is
equal to that of cotton and wheat. I'm
part to the farmers the ability to price
their produce and they will force the
money from the centers to the chan.
nels of trade and bring prosperity to
every industry. A dollar and half a
bushel for wheat and 16 to 18 cents a
pound for cotton will bring prosperity
to every class
WHY GOLD FLOWS OUT
There is a steady flow of gold to
England from all countries and this is
caused by low prices. We give 81 per
cent. more of the products of the farm
to pay interest on debts than in 1865
Since 1873 the indebtedness of the civil
lied world has more than doubled and
with low prices for farm products they
will no longer pay interest on our
debts and gold is flowing out to pay the
balance. Shrinking prices will in time
denude the country of gold. In the
United States we see the money con-
gested to cities by the accumulative
power of interest on money and this is
the direct result of farming out our
medium of exchange. Intere st accu-
mulates faster than labor. Selling 8
cent cotton for and z cents and dollar
wheat for so cents is taking. the money
out of the channels of trade. The vol
ume of money in each country no
longer determines prices as the volume
ranges from less than $3 per capita to
$50, and all sell at the same prices. Un
limited coinage of silver will not ad-
vance prices as it's advocates assume.
The Indebtedness in every country is
made payable in gold and silver is not
and cannot be made legal tender for
one dollar OF this debt.
Silver will not perform a single func-
ton more than United States or ma
tional bank notes-pay taxes and make
exchanges. The prices of farm products
are SO low that they will not pay in
terest on our foreign debts and force
money back into the channels of trade.
National, municipal and individual
bankruptcy stares us in the face and
this in the face of the fact that we have
increased our ability to produce wealth
$50 folds during this century. We
have every facility to produce the nee
essaries and luxuries of life for all and
we need an economical system that
will assist the farmers to price their
products and stop the creditor class of
England from pricing them. The pur-
chasing power of gold is 66 per cent.
greater than it should be and the price
of the products of labor must be ad-
vanced 66 per cent to secure an equit-
able distribution and run the farm,
mine and factory on full time.
MONEY AND BLOOD.
Money bears the same relation to
our industries that blood does to the
human system. When the capillary
vessels are full of blood the system is
in a healthy condition, and when. con-
gested to any part of the body the indi
vidual is sick. The pockets of the peo-
pc are the capillary vessels of COM
merce and when money is IN TIE
pockets of the people commerce is
healthy; when congested to cente1s
commerce is prostrated. In 1866 the
money was in the pockets of the peo-
pie. the farm, mine and factory run on
full time, labor was steadily employed
and amply remunerated, the failures in
b blsiness numbered $50, the lowest in the
history of the country, and now it
averages twenty times this number.
WHEN PROSPERITY WILL COME,
Prosperity will come when the
money is in the pockets of the people,
and it will never get there until the
people co operate politically and estab-
lish system that will permit them to
price their labor and products. The
volume of money may be 50 or 800 per
capita, it will do you no good unless
YOU can price your products or you can