The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-08-14
GOLD VERSUS SILVER.
PRICE OF WHEAT.


| the price Of silver controls the price
OF wheat and cotton, the New York
| Times says we fail to remark that
both wheat and silver have been pro-
duced in greatly increased quantities,
| which would cause them to fall to-
| gether, without one, influencing the
other"
The yearly production of silver has
increased since 1870 nearly four times,
but the total supply OF silver in the
world has not been augmented at a
rate exceeding the increase OF popula-
tion. A greatly increased yearly pro-
duction OF silver or gold can have no
immediate appreciate effect on the
| price of either metal. This is be-
cause the supply Of either metal does
not thereby become much increased.
If the increased production should
cover long period of years, then we
would have gradual fall in price, but
the factor Of supply can occasion no
sudden rise or fall in the price OF eth
er silver or gold.
But pOstponing to the succeeding
| editorial the discussion Of the rela-
tions Of supply to the price Of the
precious metals, we desire first to dis
pose Of the point raised by the New
York Times that the production Of
wheat in greatly increased quantities
has Occasiuned it's fall. The United
Sta ties Census reports that the pro-
ducuiOn of wheat in the United States
in 1869 was 207 ,845, 626 bushels, a pro-
ducJion OF rs bushels per capita, and
in 1879, 459, 49, 95 bushels, or 90
bushels per capita. In 1869 the aver
age price was $1.2S9 (this, however,
measured in paper and not in gold
| and silver. which we're at premium)
and in 1879. $1.06S per bushel. For
ten years 1880 TO 1889 the average pro-
duction was 449, 695, $50 bushels, the
largest crop, 5l2,UUO,OU bushels, be-
ing raised In 1884. and the smallest,
357 100000 bushels, in the following
year. The average production for the
four years 1890 to 1893 was $50, $50, 6S1
bushels, or about IL bushels per
capita. In 1891 the crop was the
largest in the history OF the country,
Gil ,OUO, 900 bushels, and sold at an
average of 500 cents per bushel. the
price being held up by the failure of
the European harvests. In 1893 the
production Of wheat was much below
the average, 6,000,O 900 bushels, yet
the average value was the lowest ever
recorded, 53.8 cents per bushel. In
1879 the per capita production Of
wheat was 90 bushels, and the aver.
age price $l.0e8 In 1893 the per
capita production was less than 6
bushels (for the four years 1890 to
1893, 7.2 bushels) and the price 53.S
cents per bushel.
1t surely does not appear from these
| figures that the increased production
of wheat has caused fall of 50 per
cent. The per capita prod uction of
wheat was over One-third less in 1893
than in 1879, yet wheat sold for 50 per
cent less in 1898 than in 1879.
1t will doubtless be objected that
this is only partial statement; that
we have to deal with the production
of the world, not that of the United
States. This is very true. and it is al
SO true that the production OF wheat
in India and Argentine has been in
we pointed out last week, this has
been due directly to the fall in silver,
measured in gold, but not in other
commodities. The fall in silver, or
rather the rise in gold, has enabled
the farmer of Argentine and India to
successfully compete for the markets
of Europe with our farmers. The
premium on gold acts as bounty up
on exports and tariff on imports in
all silver-using countries. The higher
the premium, the farther silver and
silver prices fall, measured in gold;
the higher the bounty on all exports
to goldusing countries. The reason
for the advantage which the premium
on gold confers upon the farmers in
silver-uSing countries over those in
the United States is this: The cost of
producing bushel of wheat in the
United States has not fallen in proper
tan to the fall in price. while in
Argentine or India the price bears
the same proportion to the cost of
production as heretofore: For an
ounce of silver the Argentinian can
for this wheat he can receive Just as
much silver today as twenty years
ago. To meet this competition our
farmers must sell as much wheat for
an ounce of silver as the Argentinian
or Indian, but the gold equivalent of
an ounce of silver which he receives
in payment will not produce as much
wheat in the United States as it will
in Argentine. The price our farmer
obtains for his wheat in gold does not
go as far as the price the Argentinian
receives for his in silver.
Is it any wonder that our farmers
cannot successfully compete with
their rivals? The fall in silver has
raised new competitors, who strive to
supply the gold-using countries OF Eu-
rope with the deficit in their own
crops. The area of supply has been
enlarged, with the result that the in
creased product of wheat which the
increase of population demands has
fallen not the Uuited States, but to
silver-using countries. If the United
States produced the same amount OF
wheat per capita as it did in 1879, our
average crop would be over 600, 900, 900
bushels.
FrIIIN CDTT1TT on nuE ANTN