Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-11-02

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We would like 10 ask any
intelligent farmer where he ex-
poets to come In II the Peoples
party should be successful. he
Is bound. to answer the Ques-
tion.: He is bound to have some
reason for his acts. He IL bound
to consider consequences. And
the puzzle is to understand what
any farmer can DO thinking Of
who votes for a Peoples party
candidate /, on their own show
ing. Take only the statements
made BY the Populists them
selves, set them side by side.
and where does the farmer
come In? T.
The Populist Is . free trader.
He goes farther than tho Dem
ocrat In that direction. He says
that free trade will not hurt
the farmer because the price
Of his wheat Is fixed In Liver
pool. and q tariff Can neither
raise nor lower it. He says that
free trade will cheaper the price
Of the things that the farmer
buys, and therefore he will be
bet ter Oft in the long run. We
are not now concerned to ask
whether these statements are
true or false. We are accept
ing them Just as they come
from tho. Populist's mouth, for
the purpose Of seeing where he
and the farmer stand. So we
have It settled, for one thing,
that the farmer who votes the
Populist ticket, and thereby al
lies himself with free trade,
agrees that the price Of his
wheat is fixed in Liverpool. 10
that we shall hold him.
The Free Coinage Fraud.
Now the: Populist says next
to the farmer that he Is for free
coinage Of silver and 3 large
issue Of paper money. He says
that this will be good for the
farmer because there is not
enough money to 60 around,
and that is what makes prices
so low, The scarcity Of gold is,
according to him, the main
trouble: 1t has made the price
of wheat 60 down and down,
and other things accordingly;
and we can only raise them
again BY issuing q lot more
money. That point, again, we
shall not argue ut the present
time. Assume that it would
turn out as the Populist says it
would, aud then put the two as-
sertions which We have quoted,
aud which together constitute
practically his whole argument,
side by side.
This free coinage Of silver Is
to be undertaken on our own
account. No other nation is
ready to join with US. The
Populist boots at the idea of
waiting on any Of them. We
are big enough and strong
enough, he says, to settle our
own monetary system for our
selves. Very we'll. Free coin
age, then, will not affect the
volume Of money In Great Brit
ain ut all. Therefore 1t cannot
AFFECT prices in Great Britain.
Therefore prices will remain
there what they are now. 1t
is only prices In the United
States that will be Increased.
Therefore the price Of wheat at
Liverpool will remain what it
was uefOre. But we have just
heard the Populist declare, in
explaining his position as q free
trader, that the price OF wheat
III Liverpool likes the price in
the United Suites. Consequent
~, the price or wheat remaining
unaltereu in Liverpool, 1t viii
remain unaltered IN the United
States. 1t must be 50, for the
price ut which we sell our sur
plus determines the price Of the
whole crop; and Liverpool Ia the
place where that surplus must
ne marketed. We have it DEM
Onstruteu, then,' with no as
sumption whatever on our part,
but solely out OF the Populist's
own mouth, that one OF his
notions would counterfeit the cf-
feet of the other, and that,
vi uer free silver, the price OF
wheat In the United States
could not rise above what 1t ia
to-day.
What tho Farmer Needs.
The logic Of this conclusion
IL absolute; and, whatever we
may think Of the promises, the
conclusion Is a true one. OF all
people IN the world the farmer
Is the one who should most
earnestly insist that we have in
ternational bimetallism, aud that
no move be made toward free
coinage until the other nations
Join with us. What he wants
Is better prices for what he has
to sell, not bigger prices for
what he has to buy, But even
on the Populist theory of prices,
1t Is the market In which he
must buy where free coinage
would increase prices, while In
the market where he must sell,
prices would remain stationary.
Would Great Britain pay more
for wheat because the United
States admitted silver to its
minis without Mmit7 The price
Of that cereal would be governed
by competition between the
great wheat-raising nations Of
the world; and it would be fixed
in q market where the single
gold standard and the prices
based on it rule immutably.
But the price Of calico and
sheeting, and groceries and other
home products would be meas
ured by a dollar with 'one-half
the virtue gone out of it; that
is, they would be doubled. We
have not, in this statement Of
the case, endeavored to impress
our view Of the financial ques-
ton upon the farmer. We have
1 not argued for or against either