The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-08-23
PRICES Since 1878.
WAGE, Fh2I, LANDS AND MANY
FARM PRODUCTS HIGHER NOW
THAN IN 1873.
surd and False Statements Of
the Silver Men.

/
| Dr.. W. P. Hill, Of st. Louis. has
| inst written pamphlet entitled car.
| eument Against Free Silver Coinage
| at 16 to l." which has dumhfouudel
the free silver people. DR.. Hill is the
Youngest son of the late Britton A.
Hill, one Of the ablest champions Of
fiat money of the old Green
back party. DR.. Hill was educated
in the best universities in Europe. 1t
has been heen generally suppose |
that he would follow in the footsteps
of his father and advocate fla money.
There is but little doubt but that he
made special study OF finance for
the purpose of securing arguments
against the gold STANDARD. Study
changed his opinions, a. is apparent
from the following quotation from
his excellent pamphlet:
But, saw the silver men. prices have
gone down since 1873. This is their
great hobby. and they dwell on it.
They saw that country must nave
high prices to be prosperous, and they
propose to re-establish high prices by
making so cents dollar, so that when
we sell something for S1.00 on the
new basis. though in reality we will
only get so cents the same as now.
our feelings will not be so badly hurt
because the name will have been
changed
1 am six feet tall; suppose a new
law should make six inches foot.
then under the new measurement l
would be twelve feet tall. Would that
actually increase nv height. or is it
simply the foot that has been short
ened? This reminds me of Mark
Twain's joke about the Portuguese
money, where the unit Of value, the
refs. is so small that it takes about
10000 refs to paw for a dinner. But
let US see about the decline of prices.
The silver men assert that prices
have gone down. and that therefore
they in the most simple way prove
that gold has gone mp. They con-
veniently forget the thousand and one
factors that enter into decline in
prices. They forget the laws of sup
ply and demand. That We cannot ex-
pect to get as high price for our cot
ton when we raise crop of almost
O,OOO, 900 bales in 1894 as when we
raised ouly 2,974,351 bales in 1872. or
for our wheat when we raise $780,
267, bushels in 1894 as when we
raised only 219,997,1O bushels in
1872.
They conveniently forget the enor-
nous decrease in the cost of produc-
ton of our manufactured products,
due to the invention and use of Ia
bor-saving machinery, the utilization
of by-products, aud the decrease in
the cost Of transportation. l have
lately read some statistics compiled
by Edward Atkinson, the statistician,
covering some 200 articles in common
use, and he has shown that in every
instance where a decline in price has
occurred it has been more than Offset
by decrease in the cost O. produc-
ton.
But the silver men c1nnot even sus-
tain their favorite contention. because
the facts are against them. The prices
Of all things have not gone down.
Many things are higher now than
they were before silver was demone-
TIED. Their favorite cry is about the
wages of labor the contraction OF the
gold standard has caused the wages Of
the laborer to decline, and they are
going to raise his wages by paying
him three fifty-cent dollars day in
stead of the three 'one-hunlrel-cent
dollars day he gets row. Let us see
about these wages. Take the U. S.
census figures of 1850, thirteen years
before silver was demonetized, and
those of 1890, seventeen years after.
This is fair test. If gold has en-
HANGED in value, it ought to show it
self in that time.
Annual wages paid in the factories
Of the United States:
No. of En- Total Wages Ave. per
1850. .1 P;IL ,sis > a7ss7s, ess. ,..sass
1899 -. I'LL. 1872 49,. 2.2S2. s23, 265..... 4s4
Increase in the average wages per
capita y5 per cent almost double.
Decrease in the purchasing power
of gold, as far as wages are concerned,
95 per cent. The gold dollar only
brought about one-half the labor in
1890 that it would in 1861. Not only
that, but the la5orer got more than
twice as many gold dollars for the
same amount of work, because the hours
OF labor in many places have been
| 10 70 yrrh 4
hours day.
Now what does the census say about
| farm lands?
Ave Value
Gross Value. per Acre
! c,. 0An o1l