Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-08-01

- $40 AAaA Y -
book that 1t had cost 81 per ounce to pro-
duce the silver iii the United States. Mr..
Horn characterized 1t as nonsense. He pre-.
sented statistics Of different mines, coIlated
by Nj. L. Scudder. showing that one mine
had produced at L. cents per ounce; anoth-
er at "A cents. The silver miners would not
have continued to mine silver at q east of
81 per ounce when the product was only
60 cents.
Mr.. Harvey, In turn. said that what Mr..
Horr had said about the cost of producing
silver ne could have said with much more
force with regard to gold. Silver was only
produced from quartz; most of the gold was
produced from placer mines. 1t costs less.
dollar for dollar. to produce gold than sill
yer. He read from a book by Alex. Del
Mar an opio.on that, pound for pound. II
cost more to produce silver than gold, or,
dollar for dollar. 10 to 1. Why did men
continue to mine silver at a loss? Why did
men gamble on the boards Of trade, where
a large mai fity lost? 1t was the gambling
instinct implanted in the human breast.
Another thing: Much of the silver pro-
duced WI produced In conjunction with gold
mining, and a large proportion OF the silver
production was the result of attempts to
develop mines which proved failures In the
end, and the losers were disposing of their
output TO save something out OF the wreck.
There were, he declared. only three or four
silver mines In operation in the country,
and they were having a precarious exist
ence. liable to close any week. Mr.. Harvey
then denounced Mr.. Scudder as a tool OF the
banking interests, sent out to the silver
country to defame his nation.
MIR. Horr Denies 1t.
Mr.. Horn declared that the statement that
II cost more to produce a pound OF silver
than a pound Of gold was not true, and
had not been true for a great many thou
sand years. 1t was true, he said, that, as
measured In human toll, both gold and
silver had deprecated In value; but silver
had deprecated much faster than gold.
Mr.. Horr then presented statistics for a Sc
ries of years I'm substantiation of the de-
probation Of gold, showing the prices of
agricultural products and the wages Of
labor.
Mr.. Harvey took up the subject and pro-
ceeded to argue that advances In the price
Of grain under a gold basis In the years
quoted had resulted either from short crops
or In the increased demand brought about
by finding new use for 1t. Mr.. Harvey said
the banks should go out Of the government
business instead Of the government going
out of the banking business. Let the banks
be banks of deposit and discount and not
makers Of money. They are making 1t now
with bank credit, and you are paying them
interest for 1t. This argument that conf
dence and not money is all that is wanted,
II made by the greenbacker, would be ridi-
cuied by these same men. Confidence won't
buy anything; 1T will get q man In debt to
a banker, that is all. You might as we'll
talk about doing without air and water as
TO talk about doing without money. There
is no condition OF civilization that you can
imagine by which you can be a part of that
civilization and yet do without money,
(Applause.) And yet by the legislation in
1873 1t has been enhanced In exchangeable
value with your proDerty. That Is the
ypyrnta .nNnr an fnNa rnany an
lApplause1 A man loaning money In 1872
that 1000 bushels of wheat would have
paid, you must now give 1900 bushels Of
wheat to pay that debt. (Appiause.) The
men who own bonds payable in money and
securities payable in money aggregating
more than all the assessed values OF the
property in the United States, have legis-
lated so as to enhance the value of their
property until you have got to give up
twice as much to them when they come to
buy your property as they give up TO you
when you go with your hard earnings, with
the product of your loom and your field, to
buy their property.
Cross-Fire of Words.
Mr.. Horn: Now l want to call the at.
tention of my friend to the fact that he
can't get at how farmers are doing sim
ply by selecting one article which hap
pens to he cheap"
Mr.. Harvey: 81 want to ask you right
here, before these people, TO answer my
argument made just before 1 sat down"
Mr.. Horr: II am going to do 1t If you
will wait and keep still. That is what /
am up here for now Q%aughter). The very
last thing he said was In reference to the
fact that a farmer had TO give twice as
much wheat to pay his debt as he did be-
fore the decentralization OF silver. What
ails you? That is the very thing / am
speaking about Now, / was stating that
you can't possibly find out the facts in ref
erence to the farmer simply by taking one
article, and that the lowest one you can
find. NV, / will call your attention to a
confirmation of the figures which / have
heretofore given. Those figures show that
prices for farm products, all taken together.
you know, have not declined. Here in the
United States, comparing the present
values to those Of twenty years ago, l
find my confirmation in an analysis of ma
tionai wealth by the great statistical au-
thority. Mr.. Mulhall, so often quoted by
Mr.. Harvey. In the June North American
Review, Mr.. Mulhall says that the aver
age yearly accumulation of the agricultural
workers, per capita, of the United States.
was for the decade, 1861 to 1870. $3.50
each.
Mr.. Harvey-"WiIl you pardon me-
Mr.. Horr-"Don't bother me. For the de-
cade 1870 to 1880, SAT. 10 per capita; and for
the decade 1881 to 1890, $3.50 per capita.
Here is an ability on the part of the farm
ers Of this country to save In the last CEN
sus decade nearly three times as great as
In the decade before the silver legislation
of 1873"
Mr.. ~Harvey-"Did not you have that writ
ten before you left New York? He says
we have increased In wealth. Nobody dis
putes that. The United States has not only
been a workshop in producing wealth, but
1t has been a sweat shop (applause.) 1t has
been producing wealth. but have the men
who produced that wealth got the wealth?
The rich men are controlling the legislation
OF America and the old world. and there
Is no plan by which European civilization
can rise from under Ii, anu when we have
passed four or eight years further along
there will be no way for US to rise from I'M
der 1t. We are making In the United States
to-day the last stand Of free men in the
civilization Of the world"
The answering of questions occupied
much OF the remainder of the day, the
debate finally being adjourned at Mr..
Horr's request till Saturday at 1 p. m.
Not Talking for Money.
Because of some reports which have gone
out regarding the Harvey-Horr silver de-
bate, Judge Henry G. Miller. who Is one OF
the judges of the debate, has given out the
following:
''Chicago, July 1911 am about to enter
Into a debate with Mr.. Horn of New York
10 o. In