The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-09-04
IMPORTANT.
CHAIRMAN III. E. TAUBENECK
REPLIES TO COL. NORTON.

| gether agreed with it. but that we
believed in agitation, in stirring up
the puddle Of public thought. And
with equal pleasure we give place to
the following article from the pen of
| Chairman Taubeneck, than whom
there is no better man in our ranks.
Now is the time to discuss these great
questions, and SO move unitedly in
1896. 1t is probable the different ele-
ments are not so far apart as appears
on the surface. Neither-~COl. Norton
nor Chairman Taubeneck will desert
the Omaha platform when the drums
roll and the fight begins. We are like
"the boys in 1863 waiting for the bat
tie to open and having an occasional
fist fight to pass away the time. The
blood is from the nose not from the
heart.
But it is just as we'll to clear away
the underbrush and understand each
other now, if we would be united here
after.-ED REP.
A copy of your article "Greenbacks and
Prosperity written for the August num-
ber of the Monthly Sentinel" at hand.
You ask me to tell you what l think of
it. l will frankly do so, and l thank You
for making that request.
| Your article contains the following:
1--WE are sick unto nausea with all this
| clap trap about the relative merits of
gold and silver, we need not either.
| with this fake contest that
is being waged between gold-bugs AMI sill
| E,,crc tod fAr fLc So1a ncA
Of diverting the minds of the people frOns
the one vital issue Of greenbacks instead
of either gold or silver.
"It is a conspiracy one
that is ensnaring some of our brightest
and best co-workers, to side-track the SUI
preme issue of the century. The ques-
tion of scientific money of civilization
agaist the twin relics of barbaric age.
"Demonetize them. If the world wants
them let the world use them for what they
are worth commercially"
LET the yellow metallist and the
white metallist, and the monometallst
and the bimetallists and all other" met
allists." big and little, native and foreign,
| fight their own battles.
eve for one, are not going to
be sidetracked. We are not going to bow
down to either golden calves or silver
goats "Greenbacks and pros
perity, nail the banner to the masthead
and stand by it to the end"
Your article, to say the least is very
| unwise, both from an economical and pO-
litical standpoint You do not appreciate
the Importance of the silver question, as it
affects the interests of our agricultural
| ist. Permit me to mention a few facts
why. RECOMMENDATION of the white metal
| ho1r oh of mr.
The great benefit to be derived from
the free coinage of silver is that it will
increase the price of agricultural pro-
ducts, which we export and come in COM
petition with those of free coinage nations
to the extent of the difference between
the coin and bullion value of silver.
The price of bushel Of wheat in the
Liverpool market for more than genera
ton has been an ounce of silver. The
value of the two have remained in touch
for more than quarter of a century. AS
the price of silver went up or down
4 wheat followed. If we single out any one
year, say 1892, we can estimate what the
, demonetization of silver has cost the
wheat growers since 1873. The average
London price for silver in 1892 was S7.1
cents per ounce In that year an Indian
farmer could ship a bushel of wheat to
| Liverpool, receive an ounce of silver for
it, have it coined into rupees at a ratio
of Is to 1, worth $1.37 in legal tender
money in India. An American farmer
could also take bushel of wheat to Liv-
erpool, receive an ounce of silver for it,
bring this silver home to the United States
and sell it for whatever he could get
which was about SO cents per ounce
Thus the India farmer realized $1.37 per
bushel for his wheat delivered in Liver
pool, while the American farmer re-
ceived but sc cents for his; difference to
the disadvantage of the American farmer
of 81 cents per bushel.
But suppose we had had free coinage
of silver in this country, in 1892 at the
ratio of 16 to L.. what then would have
been the price of wheat in that year
Then an American wheat grower could
have shipped bushel af wheat to Liver
pool, received his ounce of silver for it.
brought his silver home, taken it to the
mint and had it coined into full legal
tender standard dollars worth $1.29 in
place of Sc cents; difference of 43 cents
per bushel for his wheat delivered in Liv-
erpool. This is also true of cotton and
other products which we export and
which come in competition with those OF
free coinage nations.
Morton FreWon, an eminent English
economist, in his remarks before the sill
yer convention held in Washington, d. c..
1892 said:
"The price of wheat in this country, is
its price in London or Liverpool, less the
cost of carriage there, and the London
price Of wheat is, under ordinary circum-
stances one ounce of silver per bushel o1
wheat. Your farmer will always have tC
sell a bushel of wheat, say at Chicago
for an ounce of silver, less freight charges
to London. IT, then, silver is worth S1.2e
per ounce, the London price of American
wheat is s1.29, while, if silver is worth sc
cents, then your wheat will realize only
80 cents. This is a statement that vii
bear close examination, and it is the sim
of the Importance Of the silver ques-
tion to your nation"
Let us think for one moment what ths
crime of 1873 has cost the American
farmer The loss sustained by the cot
ton planter and wheat grower only fOl
seventeen years from 1873 to 1899, a.
given by Senator JONES' of Nevada, il
his speech, delivered in the United States
Senate May II and 13, 1890, is for cottol
as follows: cat the price of cotton il
1873 the result of each year would b'
2,500,00O pounds, at 1874 cents $410,O00,
600. According to the figures gwen b,
the bureau of statistics, the average pric,
received each year of the seventeen wa
49, cents per pound; 2,500000,OO pounds
| at l3.1 cents Der D0und enralS S327 OOO