The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-10-16
IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING
MIR. TAUBENECK REPLIES TO
COL. S. F. NORTON.
How Demonetized Silver Hurts the
Farmer.

pOluUS upon WHICH Tile cQUlrc discus
sion Of the silver question revolves,
and which SO many Of our Populist
editors and speakers do not under
stand. 1t is waste of words to dis
cusS this question from the stand
point Of 1892, 1910 to 1850. or 1860 to
1870. Since the gold price Of silver
bullion has fallen below its coin value,
and a portion of the minis Of the
world have remained open to silver,
new phase has entered into the dis
cussion of the money question which
has never .existed before. phase
which if not correctly understood and
properly remedied will soon put
American and European commerce
and industries at the mercy Of the
Monaghan.
In your reply to my illustration with
the bushel of wheat. you say:
"As to the case of the India farmer
who in 1892 got 81 cents more for his
| wheat than the American farmer, we
think there is a screw loose in the
logic somewhere.
Now, what we want to know is
this: Why the deuce did not the
| American farmer exchange his bus he'll
Of wheat for an ounce of the Ameri
can miners silver. take it direct to
India and get ''$l.37 worth of that
legal tender money in India?" In
that way he would have received as
much as the India farmer. 1t would
have beaten the Liverpool game all
hollow; and it is useless for us to say
| that had such real opportunity ex-
listed there are plenty of enterprising
Americans Of the Vanderbilt stripe
who would have caught onto it in
stanter"
During the campaign Of 1894 we had
more requests for infOrma tion, on this
identical point, than for all others
com bined and SO far as | know, not
single Populist Paper has ever given
a correct answer to this query.
Suppose that in 1892. you had had
one buShel of wheat and sold it for an
ounce of silver worth ST cents then
shipped the silver to India, had it
tender money in India then reship-
ped the silver rupees back to the
United States and sold them for Sc
cents the gold price Of silver bullion?
Where would your profit come in,
Colonel? You would have received as
much less for your bushel Of wheat as
it would have cost you to ship your
! silver to and from India. | will adj
init that if rupees were legal tender
money in the United States as they
are in India, then you would have
made a profit, but you know this is
not the case.
Again suppose that in 1892 you had
engaged in silver mining and had had
10000 ounces of silver worth Csc cents
per ounce: $500. suppose you would
have shipped this silver to India, had
it coined into rupees worth $1,000 in
India then reshipped the silver rupees
| back to the United States and sold
| bullion. In this transaction you
would have been out, the cost of
transporting your silver to and from
India. This is why the mine owners,
or the Vanderbilts, do not ship silver
to Mexico, South America. Japan or
| China where the minis are open: SIM
| ply because there is no profit in the
| business.
There is only one way by which the
bullion owner can make a profit, in
sending his silver to China, Japan,
Mexico or South America for coinage
and that IS this: Suppose you buy
! 10000 ounces of silver, take it to any
Of those nations, have it coined, re-
main there and invest it IN their
property?
Yes, Colonel, there is a 'screw loose
somewhere" and you need not go any
| further than your head to find it.
| You further say:
t1Rrn fFuuh pprly knows Sap9tOr
Jones knows, and everybody else who
has studied the money Ques tion knows
that the only possible influence the
| silver question has is so far as it in
creases or decreases the volume of
! money"
Everybody who has studied the
money question, within the last ten
years. knows that the decline in the
gold price of silver bullion, has the
effect of giving the wheat and cotton
growers, in free coinage nations, an
export bounty to the extent of the
| difference between the coin and bull
lion price of silver.
The contest between what you
term the "goldbugs and silver bugs"
involves the question Of putting our
| people on equal footing with those in
silver standard countries.
| buppOSC q WiCdC- oVCi VI UlO
Northwest and one from Argentine,
meet in Liverpool, each with one
thousand bushels Of wheat. They
sell their wheat for the same price
and receive their pay in gold. The
wheat-grower from Argentine takes
his gold and buys silver bullion. worth
| s. cents per ounce: on his arrival
home, his government says: Let me
have your silver, | will coin it and add
a cents to every ounce and return it.
which will double the price OF your
wheat But our wheat-grCwer in the
| Northwest returns with his gold. be-
cause our government tells him, you
need not bring any silver home | will
not coin it.
Suppose cotton planter Of the
South and one from Mexico, should
meet in Liverpool each with one hun
dred bales of cotton? The transaction
would result to the disadvantage Of
our planter as it would with our
whea t-grOwcr.
Again suppose that wool grower of
the West and one from South America
| should meet in Boston or New York,
each with 5000 pounds of wool? Our
wool-grower would have to return
home with only one-half as much
money to pay debts and taxes as his
competitor from South America.
Many other articles might be men
| toned but think it is unnecessary,as