Birmingham age-herald., 1895-05-24

enceS, gold must pear the same relation to the price of one article that 1t bears to the price of another. But we do not find that the prices of all things have been reduced in the same proportion, non do we find that the prices of all things have in fact been reduced. It would re- qure far more time than could be de- voted to the subject upon such an occa- sion as this to discuss the subject of prices in all it's details, nor is 1t neces- sary to do so for the purpose of this ar gument because a very few illustrations will serve to show the weakness of the contention that the decline is due alone to the appreciation of gold.
 In 1891, 1892 and part of 1893 I had the honor to serve on a subcommittee charged by the senate of the United States with the duty of ascertaining the course of prices and wages of labor for as long a period as authentic records would enable us to embrace in our in- Vestigation, and, after a most thorough and impartial examination of the sub ject, a report was made which fills four large volumes and embodes mass of information upon these subjects which cannot be found in any other official form. AS to the course of prices and wages the committee was unanimous, though there were differences of opinion among the members as to the causes that had from time to time produced the changes. The prices of many articles and the wages of labor In many oecu- pations were ascertained during each year as far back as 1S40, and for the pur-. poses of comparison the prices of com modities and the wages of labor in the year 1860 were adopted as the standard. The suf1fciency of the reasons for select ing that year rather than any other will not, 1 think be questioned. There were no great financial or other disturbances during that year, business was in a nor mal condition in all parts of the coun- try, no changes had been made in the monetary systems of the world for many years, the United States was using gold as the measure of value, just as it is now, except that there was no legal ten der silver in circulation as there is now the people were prosperous and the prices of commodities and the wages of labor were fairly adjusted with relation to each other At the time when this in veStigation was made all the legislation in regard to silver now specifically com plained of had been accomplished, and if prices or wages had fallen there was as much reason to attribute the reduc- tion to that legislation then as there is now. Ample time had been afforded for its effects, if it had any, upon prices and wages to be felt, and the fact that the investigation was not made for the pur- pose of influencing legislation upon the silver question adds to the value of it's results
 Three Important Facts Established.
 
 imously selected 232 articles in common use which it was agreed constituted the great bulk of the consumption and eX penditures of the people, and these arti- cles were separated into eight classes or groups; that is, clothes and clothing, fuel and lighting, metals and implements, lumber and house building materials, drugs and chemicals, house furnishing goods and miscellaneous commodities. It was found that the prices of articles used for food taking them altogether, had fallen less than 10 per cent since 1873, while the prices of clothes and clothing had fallen g per cent; fuel and light nearly 24 per cent metals and imple- ments, 35 per cent; lumber and building materials, nearly 20 per cent; drugs and chemicals, 31 per cent; house furnishing goods, 27 per cent; and miscellaneous ar ticles, 10 per cent The prices for the year 1860 being taken as the standard were represented by 100, and increases and decreases were shown by deviations from that number up or down, as the case might be- The investigation showed that at the time it was made articles of food stood at 1889, or nearly per cent higher than in 1860; clothes and clothing at Sl.1; fuel and lighting at 91; metals and inn plements at 74.9; lumber and house build ing materials at 1928; drugs and ehemi- calls at S63; house furnishing goods at 70.1, and miscellaneous articles at 951. These results of the investigation estab- fish three facts which have an important bearing upon the present controversy. The first fact established is that the prices of articles of food which are the products of the farms, gardens, orchards and the dairies of the country, were about per cent higher than they were in the year 1860, long before the silver leg islation now complained of; the second is that the fall in the prices of these farm products since the year 1873 has been much less than the fall in the prices of the commodities the farmers have to kl... hot fl. tions in prices have not been uniform, either as to particular articles or groups of articles and therefore cannot be at tributed to one and the same cause-to the appreciation of gold, for instance, The conclusion is inevitable that various in- huences have operated to produce these changes in prices, some affecting one group of articles and some another, and doubtless some affecting all, but to no one influence can the whole result be at~ tributed.
 Cotton and wheat are the commodities most frequent1y referred to by those who contend that the fall in prices is due to the appreciation of gold, but there is nothing whatever in the methods of pro- ducing those articles, or in transporting or selling them, or in the character of the money received for them, which would make the appreciation of gold affect their prices more than it would affect the prices of other commodities produced by our people. In addition to the various causes which have more or less affected the prices of all articles, the prices of these two products have been seriously affected by the enormous increase in their production since the year 1872, which was the last crop year preceding the legislation in regard to silver. The production of cotton in this country in 1S72-3 was 2,974,351 bales, containing an average of 4S9 pounds net weight. while the production in 1893-4 was 7,549,S17 bales. containing an average of 44 pounds net weight or an increase of nearly 200 per cent in this country alone. taI