The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1895-05-31
LIVE ISSUES.
Wheat and Silver.

Take Tor example your area IN
Victoria under wheat, which is less
than 1000, 900 acres, and bear in
mind that in single province in
Upper India-the Punjaub-and
with the best irrigation system in
the world, 100000 of small farm
9rs are cultivating over 100000
acres of wheat. These men, with
very low standard of living, make
a good profit if they can sell their
quarter of wheat in London for the
gold which will buy them 20 silver
rupees. Now with silver at the old
value conferred upon it by the hi
metallic system it required two
sovereigns to procure 20 rupees,
whereas to-day one sovereign buys
20 rupees. When we recall that
two royal commissions and all our
consular reports are unanimous that
the Indian rupee and the silver
currency of China and Japan have
suffered no reduction in value; that,
on the contrary, while falling so
per cent in gold value, these cur
rencies have rather risen in wage
paying and all purchasing power at
home in Asia, it is little wonder
that each fresh fall in the gold
price of silver, brought about by
anti-silver legislation, should have
been followed by fall in the price
of such agricultural staples as
wheat and cotton. Take the latest
figures of wheat supplies from the
Corn Trade News and what do we
find? The production by the ten
chief wheat growing nations of the
world from 1880 to 1887, was
1 1926, 100000 bushels; from 1888 to
1894 the average production was
1904, 100000 bushels. The popu-
lation, however, of the wheat eating
nations averaged for the former
period 397, 100000 and for the lat
ter period 434 200, 900, so that the
per capita supply for the earlier
period was Al bushels annually,
while for the later it was fraction
more than AZ bushels; here you
have a reduction in supplies, and
yet fall of quite so per cent in the
price of wheat.
And again if the fall in silver,
that is to say the fall in the rates of
exchange with all the myriads in
the East, enables the yellow man to
undersell the white man, is it not
also clear that the white exporter
selling his cottons for the same
number of rupees, gets only one
half as much gold for these rupees
You will bear in mind that as the
wages and silver prices of the
Indian and the Chinaman have not
risen, they are not in position to
give any more silver for what we
export to them. In short, we are
now, because of our statue laws
which have degrade silver, supply
ing the Orientals with silver money
at half price. which money thus far
has maintained, and even more than
maintained, it's purchasing power;
while at the same time if we want
to continue our exports to two
thirds of the human race, we must
either sell our goods at half price or
see those industries in which we
were formerly supreme spring up
like mushrooms all over the far
East. Since we closed the minis of
India Is months ago, and thereby
induced that immense fresh fall in
the exchanges with Japan, we have
seen Japan increase her cotton
manufactures from $50, 900 spindles
to nearly 100000. Silly people
there are who declare that inter-
national trade is merely inter
national barter, and yet only
eighteen months ago, when we
closed the minis of India, and
raised the Indian exchange against
London on the west and against
China and Japan on the east, we
saw the export trade of Bombay to
China fall off in four months by 80
per cent and balance of trade, for
the first time in twenty years turn
against India. There seems to be
no length to which this liberal gov
is not willing to go rather
than restore silver, and thus forgo
this pound of hesh-this two
pounds of flesh-from our "debtOr