The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-06-26

| 1871 -,ea and again in 1S92-'s3. that an I'M
/ mense store Was accumulated. whieh ls
now slowly disappearing; ana siI IT,, ND I'D
a aay as has the price of silver. was II
! wheat that carried silver doWh, or 49,
/ mat carried down the price o, 49, -,
b,shei than silver per ounce; but tnen'
v,heat has brought less In the farm mat
! kets than the current value OF an an ounSs
| ~ rrice nrornises 20 be low until existing
| Extraordinary accumulations shan o. aD-
! sorbed which may be the case WITHIN
year or eighteen m9nths. 49,. .,,o 90 a.
certain in relation TO the course Of prices
FOR wheat. silver. ana other prolucts. as
well as labor II appears tha' d IL p,t5
IN, nearly always determined % our cur
rent exporting power; that the ounce OF
silver has not been the value or a Dusnei
Of wheat In any single year since DO
that wheat has moved up ana dO"n IN
price as much as 81 cents IN a sihsle
year. though the price 81 silver mas zen
nearly or quite constant, OF moving IN
an opposite direction. that the price OF
no one thing which men have u, sci. nas
moved IN the same direction anu az w
same time. varied as has the price Tor ST.
yer; nor have the prices FOR al that men
W. must confess 20 an entire inability
20 discover the most remote relation De-
tween the price for an ounce or silFtt
and the value Of bushel OF Wncdti y
Tor that matter. Of any other pio1act;
though we have earnestly SOUGHT 10 mo
s,,cS ralafion: and " 1t exists il must be
- such an occult character that only
Mahatma can trace IL
Nov, n our correspondent Will think. he
viii see that these simple facts absolutely
explode the idea that there IS any sort Of
relation between the price OF oushel
~ wheat and an ounce OF silver. The
price Of each depends upon the supply Of
each and the demand for IL. The same
thing IS illustrated by the prices OF other
articles. cone sold in New ork from
1ssS 10 ISL al from nine 10 eleven cents
a pound Il IS now selling at seventeen
cents. although IL sold as low as eight
and n quarter cents in 1856. Il sold IN
1870 for ten cents a pound. and in 1874 for
twentv-fve cents a pound and fell IN
1915 10 sixteen cents. advancing to twenty
in 1877. and fuctuatol between eight ana
a quarter and twenty cents IN the years
between 1871 and lS94. Had the price OF
silver anything 10 do with these violent
fluctuations in coffee? Lard sold fl New
York IN 1873 for eight and
half cents Il brought there IN
November, 1893. ten and half cents
and has now fallen 10 seven and half
cents. Did silver do this? In ls'3 corn
sold in New York for Is cents a bushel
in 1915 for 81 cents. in 1s7s for - cents, in
lss2 for s. cents. in 1856 for - cents. IN
ISIS for 6G cents. and after the prolleious
crops Of ISIS and 1sS9. for g. cents. Al
though corn sold in New York in April
1870. for 81 cents yet so little was II affect
"a by the fall in the value Of silver
that just a year later 1t sold there FOR
S)l-2 cents. or an advance OF ll6 per cent
Was this enormous rise In the price
Of corn in 1871 due TO the slow and grad
ual fall in the price Of silver that had
been going on since ls53?
We think that II our correspondent VIII
think over these facts h. Will be compelled
70 come 70 the conclusion that wheat
and silver and corn and all other com
modlties depend for their value on the
supply q each and the demand for u.