Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-09-12
THE FALL OF PRICES

NUS for the Geld standard Advocates 70
Crack.
The people who deny the apprecia.
ton of gold, and insist that the fall of
prices is due to improvements in pro-
duction, transportation, new territory,
etc, are given a very tough nut to
crack by the movement of prices last
year and this year. Last year there
was heavy drop in average prices,
not only in this country, but through
out the world. Many persons explain
all such movements by local causes.
but the similarity of the record abroad
makes such explanations absurdities
in this case. English prices were not
affected by tariff legislation, or fear of
an exhausted gold reserve. or any other
known cause except the worlds money
system The English price record now
universally accepted as authoritative
is that of Mr.. Sauerbeck, which is
based on the movement in prices OF
forty-fve leading articles of commerce,
the average prices of the several arti-
cles from 1867 to 1877 being assumed as
the standard. The average price level
of these articles fell from IS in 1898 to
63 in 1894. In other words, the aver
age prices of these articles were ~
per cent. lower in 1894 than in 1898, 9
per cent. lower than the average of
the preceding ten years, 20 per cent.
lower than the ten years 1ss7-s7, and
81 per cent. lower than the eleven
years 1s67-77.
This is remarkab BILE record, and one
of it's peculiarities of the last year of
the movement was that it affected all
the commodities considered. Says Mr..
Sauerbeck: k'The decline during the
past year q ended to all commodities,
and in no case was it less than per
cent" Sixteen of the articles fell to
the lowest point recorded in the pres
ent century, and among these We're
such sta pies as wheat. flour, rice, SUI
gar, lead, cotton, jute, merino wool,
silk and soda. Will some of the advo-
Gates of the theory of fall of prices
from natural causes point out the nat
ural causes that had so marked an
effect in 1894? What did it? Was it
improved machinery, new processes.
better transportation, or some other
cause? Where was the new territory
brought into the worlds use in 1894?
What was the new machinery, pro-
cesses, or other alleged cheaper
ing agency that reduced the price
of every one of Mr.. Sauerbeck's
forty-five commodities at least 6 per
cent? What was the cause that at.
fected alike the sheep and the silk.
worm, that made the production OF
both lead and soda less costly, that
cheapened rice and jute? The bi.
metallist points to the cause without
hesitancy. 1t was period of general
depression. There were unusual de-
mands on standard money. Gold, in
which all these articles are measured,
appreciated in value on account of the
increased demand. That is an eXpla-
nation that covers the ground. but
where is any other explanation that
covers it? They did not fall as meas
ured in silver. On the contrary, silver
fell more than the average of these
forty-fi five articles, going from an aver
age of SIS per ounce in 1898 to s. ga
per ounce in 1894 What were the nat
ural causes that explain the move
ment?
This years movement thus far fur.
nishes the argument from the other
side. Most of these prices have ad-
vanced. Silver is now up to SGT.
What natural causes account for it:
Has machinery suddenly deteriorated?
Have the new processes been lost? Has
the cost of transportation increased?
Has any territory been closed to the
world? Have any silver mines disap-
peared? Has the expense of mining
silver increased? How do you explain
it? The bimetallist has no difficulty
in assigning a cause. The depression
is passing off. The abnormal demand
for standard money is decreasing.
Gold is depreciating on account OF
lessened demand. We should like to
see some of our gold monometallist
contemporaries wrestle with this prob.
lem. AS scientific question, from a
monometallist standpoint, it presents
more difficult points for explanation
than the ball-nozzle hose
lis Sentinel.
Gold OBLIGATIONS.