The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-12-11
RALEIGH. N G., DECEMBER H. 1894

market We know what a hellobelIoo
John Bull raised in this country in 1898 ;
that al extra session of Congress was
called; that all the power of the Amer
lean executive and John Bulls agents
in this country was exerted to secure a
repeal of the Sherman act; that the
House of representatives passed the
repeating bill promptly without debate
by majority of some 14O votes; and
that after hanging fire for some months
in .he Senate it finally passed that
body. Then silver took another tum
ble in price,
Then John Bull's moral sense became
again offended He saw another mote
in Brother Jonathan's eye. He scorn-
fully asked his American brother if he
thought that that sixty cent dollar of
his which continued to pass all over
the world at its legal tender value of
one hundred cents, was an ''honest"
dollar. His great writer's had taught
that there was no money except what
the law of the country made so by it's
fat, and that none but ounces Except
rascala) would contend for intrinsic
value IN money, whether made of pa
per or metal; yet, nevertheless, John
Bull, employing the language of the
rascal, continued sneeringly to berate
Brother Jonathan for circulating his 80
cent, 70 cent, 60 cent, so cent dollar.
There was beam, however, in John
Bulls own eye. He had closed his In
dian mints to the coinage of the rupee
from silver brought to it by the ryots,
but W As running the mints up to their
highest capacity in the coinage of legal
tender rupees from silver he was buy
ing in the United States at the con
stantly falling prices which he had
managed to bring them down to there.
The gar of rupee is about forty eight
cents. Abouttwo and two thirds rupees
are coined from an ounce of silver.
From time immemoriaI an ounce of
silver has bought a bushsl of wheat and
silver rupee three pounds of cotton in
India. The ryots of the Indus and the
Ganges are a race CT yesterday, today
and forever. What they were thou
sand years ago. they are now; and
what they are now, they are likely to
Oe throughout the impenetrable future.
The ryots will take the same weights
of silver for their wheat and cotton
which they have done from the begin
ming of their race, regardless of its in
triosic value" But whether they are
willing to do so or not, there is John
Bull coming the silver he has bought
in America for half it's money value or
less into legal tender rupees, held up to
their par value by the fiat of British
Indian law. and exchanging these coins
for Indian wheat and cotton.
So it is, 80 it is, so it is. John Bull
is now buying American silver at less
than 80 per cent. of its money value
and coming it into rupees of full money
value. He is buying Indian wheat with
silver which cost him only at the rate
of 80 cents for what he pays per bushel,
and Indian cotton with silver which
costs him only cents for what he pays
per pound. The rates which he thus
pays fix the prices of wheat and cotton
in Liverpool. They determine the
prices of American wheat and cotton
in our own MAJ kets.
The result is, that the quotations for
cotton are less than six cents, and Mr..
Corbin told me last week in Richmond
that the farmers of the Rappahannock
had sold their wheat of 1894 for a net
of only forty eight cents Oushel. The
end is not yet. The prices of all ma
terial property are graded by the prices
of wheat, cotton and silver.
1t has been announced in the English
parliament that the British government
expected to bring down the market
value of silver in the American dollar
to thirty two cents, which will put cot
ton down to five cents and wheat less
than thirty-seven and half cents a
bushel. Such result is inevitable un-
less check be applied by ourselves to
a policy which is pauperizing our agri-
culturists, covering all our second
grade lands with brambles and briars,
and slowly and surely converting our
great wheat and cotton growing
regions into a wilderness of lost indus
tries.
The remedy is as simple as the cause
of the universal depression in the bust
ness of the country is obvious. 1t con-
sists in restoring the financi al laws and