The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-10-03
Vhe Nerala and gelp5.
TIE FINANCIAL QUESTION
An Argument for the Restoration of Silver
to its Former Position a Money Metal
1t VIII Revive Business and
Increase Prices.

To the Editor of The Herald and
News: Cotton and wheat, which are
the principal money crops of our cccssZ:
try, are going down in value every yvsrT
and the farmers all over the country
are becoming alarmed, fearful lest they
will eventually lose their homes. When
Task mel whom think are in aposition
to know, what is the cause Of such de-
cline in prices, their answers are: that
vast areas Of fertile and virgin soil are
cultivated now in all parts of the world
which formerly grew nothing; that
there are great Improvements in agrl-
cultural machinery; more railroads,
cheaper freight and greater facilities of
transport everywhere, and we are simp-
ly suffering from overprodaction. That
seems very plausible cause, if We dis
continue the investigation.
But to consider that the increase in
the paPuiation of the world is little
more than 200,000,000 every twenty
years; that we received much more for
cotton several years ago, when we pro-
year when the crop was only 7,549, 900
bales; that two-thirds of our population
are now suffering for the want of fcotton
goods; that the worlds supply of wheat
for 1891 was 2,432, ,000, 900 bushels and
the price was s122 per bushel, that the
supply for 1898 was ?, 304, ,000,0 ,0GO bushels
and the price was 75c. per bushel.
Now if it is meant by over production
that the ratio of the increase Of COM
modities has been out of all proportion
to the increased requirements Of the
world, it does not appear SO plausible,
for we see in spite of a decrease in pro-
duction, and in spite of an increase in
population and in demand, prices are
continually falling. So the theory Of
overproduction falls flat, and we see the
enormous and unprecedented change
which has occurred in prices is not III
production nor in commodities, but in
she value of money itself. A great
many think it very fine financiering to
enable a. dollar to purchase twice the
amount of commodities as it formerly
cid I admit it is greatly to the advant-
age OF the money lender, but where
there is one money lender, there are
five hundred or more to borrow, and it
seems that any one can understand
that the man who borrows now will
have to give twice as much of the pro-
duct of his LABOR as he formerly did to
pay interest. Some will contend that
the man who has to borrow can get
money at a much lower rate now than
formerly. I say the laboring man can
not, am sure.
Let us look further into the matter
and we can see more. believe Mr..
Cleveland is considered very fine
fnaneier by the moneyed men. About
the first act of his, after taking the
presidential chair, was to call Congress
together in extra session to give silver
the last blow, so as to more rapidly
appreciate the purchasing power Of the
dollar. Having achieved this, he asked
Congress to give to his Secretary of
the Treasury discretionary power to
issue bonds, but for reasons known to
all, our representatives, refused to do so.
Mr.. Carlisle was not to be out-done.
He went back to some old acts which
gave the authority and Issued fifty
millions of bonds. The money lender
readily took them up with gold-the
government paying them 8 or 4 per
cent on the whole amount and handed
them back 800 in paper money for
every 500 borrowed. Now the farmer
goes to the bank to borrow $780, He is
handed out the 800, but when he re-
turns it, it must be 500. That is the
rate he gets. We must remember that
the mortgaged. Indebtedness of this
country amounts to millions Of dollars,
and the appreciated dollar will not pay
one cents worth more Of debt than for
merly, but it takes twice the amount of
labor's productInow to pay debt con-
tracted threeyears ago. The appreciated
dollar will not pay any more taxes,
doctors bills, ETC., than formerly.
We are losing millions of dollars by
our lands depreciating in value, but the
greatest leak in the farmers pocket is
that be has TO pay wages hands as
much now as he did when be got twice
as much for his produce. Farmers have
been forced to curtail expenses, and in
fact stint themselves to bare living,
such as has never been known before in
this land of ours, and yet their circum-
stances are becoming more and more
distressing. Something is certainly out
of gear in the financial machinery and
this We all know. A great many think
that there is not enough money, that
State banks of issue would prove a
panacea for all monetaryill but have
my doub5s about that policy. 1t would
certainly help a few. Those who had
securities, etc.. such as could be cou-
verted inEo cash, would become bank
ers or money lenders, but that would
not add one cent more to the volume Of
our primary money and prices would
still continue downward.
There is already q plethora of money
lying idle in banks at money centers,
and the owners of it are perfectly will
ing to send it out in any direction
where there are commodities to be
and we never find any difficult
ty in obtaining the cash when we
carry our money crop to market. Sup,
pose l.,ass !! aad saoggh @e2sx :s54Ss e iesS 10
me Farmers at rate of interest low
enough to please them-would that
increase the prices of commodities
produced by them? The standard
money remaining the same, prices
would continue downward.
TS Lave U1Sdl GuSL
is, q money to measure the value of
commodities. Antecedent to 1873 gold
and silver jointly formed that money
of measure, and all business was pros
porous, no one complaining of decliuing
prices. In 1878 the mints were closed
to the free coinage of silver, and now
we know to our sorrow the results.
The dislocation Of silver greatly in
creased the demand for geld, there
being no corresponding increase in the
supply, the natural consequence was
TO increase the value of that metal; or,
in other words, to decrease the prices of
all commodities whose values were
measured by it. Silver being no longer
an equal with gold to measure values,
it went down with all other commodi-
ties.
The countries using silver for their
standard are now enabled to fix the
prices on all commodities that we pro-