The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1895-08-13
BUT UNE MORE DAY.
Great Chicago Silver Debate
Nearly at an End.
EIGHTH MEETING OF THE TAKERS


Two Champions Prices of Prod ucts
aud Labor. Bank. indebtedness. OF the
People, Failures and Pauics. some OF
the Matters 9,sputed over--aUnitp Dol.
Lar Presented to Horr by Harvey.
Copyright, 1885,. BY Azel f. Hatch
The two disputants In the silver debate
In beginning the yhth days discussion
showed an inclination to ''get together"
in proposition and reply, and instead Of
Harvey discussing one thing while Horr
was discussing another their argument
was confined more closely to the same
phase of the question. AT the commence
ment of the session Horr had the floor
He stated that when you take all the
human productions together with the
great product known as human labor
gold has not appreciated in value since
1873, and when measured in human toll
IL has depreciated; that after twenty
years under a gold standard in This
country the farmer can purchase with the
products Of his farm more Of the
things which he needs TO buy to-day,
than he could in 1873 More than that.
state that when the entire products of
the farm are taken into account they viii
bring as much money OF final redemp-
a
1873"
He then introduced as part of his case
the table complied for the finance COM
mittee of the United States senate under
the direction of Carroll ID Wright, ma
tional commissioner of labor The table
shows the cost OF several classes of pro-
ducts, the average wages OF men who
worked at all kinds Of labor, from 1850 up
i nm ie fnd ~, ~
starting in 1870 with 100 as the basis. This
table gives the average of all prices as
! follows: 1869, 100; 1865, 2l6 s; 1870, 142 $;
! 1875 1877 8; 1880, 106 8; 1885, 93; 1890, 90 3.
Average of wages: 1857, 100; 1865. 14S l;
1870 1929; 1875. 1854; 1880, l4I5; 1885.
! 1907; 1870, 1850 Purchasing power of
wages; 1860, 100; 1865, SO; 1879. ia Ii
! 1875 RAJ 1880, 49, 8; 1885, l62; 1890, I'LL
Proceeding co argue from these figures
| Horr said: You Will notice that In 1865
! the prices were nomin6lly high on ac-
count OF Cheir being given in the cheap
/ money used in this country at that time
. In 1865 the greenback, in which we were
measuring values, was worth only 49%
cents on the dollar All prices had ad-
vanced when named in paper money to
2l68 Wages had advanced to 143 per
cent, but owing to the unusual advance
in the price OF prod Gcts and of wages the
purchasing power of wages was only 66
| We resumed specie payments in 1879; by
that time the high prices had fallen off;
that Is the nominal prices, because the
measure in which they had been valued
had been advancing all the while on ac-
| count OF the paper money which we were
| using as the measure constantly appre-
| ciating in value until il finally reached
par with gold.
AT that time prices as compared with
1869 were as log 8 to 100 and wages were
as l4l to 100. showing that the wage
earners received much better pay than
they received in 1860. But the purchas-
ing power of wages was 1913 instead of
100, Labor was better paid and men eli.
joyed the necessaries aud comforts of life
TO on enormously greater degree, not
withstandinG silver had at that time de-
clined from 100 to 81 T. In 1879 the aver.
age of all prices was I42 3; wages 1922,
and the purchasing power of green backs
was Hal, In 1890 prices were 92 g. wages
1883 and their purchasing power in gold
l72. showing that the wage Garner for
his day work got one and nearly three
fourth times as much OF the things he
needed in 1899 as he could have got in
1902
Horn then referred TO table presented
by Harvey, compiled by Sauerbeck for a
London society OF statisticians This
table showed the prices of forty-five
articles in London, including silver and
made out an average decrease from 1S73.S7
TO 1864 of about II per cent Horn said
the senate finance committee based the
table he had quoted on 226 articles used in
the United States. He said he would
print as part of his remarks list of sixty.
five Of the articles used in the senate com.
mittee's table Among them are the fol-
lowing; Beans, bread buttersr coffee
fish, lard, pork, beef, mutton, sugar, po-
tatoes, cotton, wooden and cotton cloths
carpets, hides leather, coal, iron, copper
lead, nails, knives saws scythes, shovels
brick, silver, lumber, chairs, tables, soap
and flour.
Horr said iG was better to select data
from the United States than England
What they we're after was to find out
how this law decentralization affected
the people here, and what would be the
effect of free silver here.
Harvey took up the debate by quoting
from Horr that the average price of
wheat from 1876 TO 1879 was 30 8 cents a
bushel, and that corn, oats and wheat
pEOuBnO US nuCn BOlu IN Une i've years
past as they brought in the five years
previous to 1879 Harvey read from
the same table quoted by Horr
showing the prices for the years
lS9094 inclusive, which averaged SO cents
per bushel for wheat He then de-
Tended the Sauerbeck table, say
ing: sit shows the decline in prices of
all those articles that seek the worlds
markets, such as our wheat and our cot
ton. The London price of wheat affects
the price of our wheat Oh the Chicago
market"
OF the senate committee table Harvey
said it's compilers were mot free from a
desire to make as good a showing as they
possibly could for prices in the United
States When IL is known that Edward
Atkinson was one of the men who as.
sisted in making it one can Judge of the
bias that enters into it. The senate re-
port was made in 1891, when it was sup.
posed prices had touched their lowest
point and yet 1t showed decline in
prices below those of 1872 of 80 per cent,
and below 1860 of per cent. He then