Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-05-05
TIE IOWA FARMER.
Ex.Gov. Boies Tells Row he is At
fected by the Appreciation
.of Gold.
The atered With Loss of Property by the
Fall of Prices.

Ih1e ateDed with LOSS OF property by the
Fall of Prices
The sollowing letter written by ex-
Gov. Boies was published in the Des
Moines Leader of the 22nd ult:
To the editors of the Des Moines
Leader:-I read with interest your re-
cent editorial entitled Looking For
ward" and have watched with like
Interest the comments of others upon
the same. I cannot, as you will read
ly surmise, agree with the view there
taken-that the reconciliation of
silver would be detrimental to the in
terests of that class of laboring men
who have nothing to sell but their
labor; nor to any other class. 1t
seems to me the experience of the la
boring classes in England, which has
been on gold basis since 1916 utter
~ disproves this claim. But it is not
to combat your view on this question
that am induced to write this let
ter.
The Leader, 1 believe, is too broad
and too patriotic to single out an in
dividual class, and advise legislation
in its interest at the expense of the
other equally deserving classes. In
every case of the employment of la
Dor there are two separate and dis
tinct parties directly interested. The
employer upon one side, the employ
ed upon the other.
OF these two the employer holds the
scepter of power. He can employ or
refuse to employ, as his own interests
dictate. That he will refuse unless he
can do SO at profit to himself is a
foregone conclusion. The products
OF labor must be measured by the
same standard of value that meas
ures the wages of the laborer. That
in time they must be fairly adjusted
to each other is absolutely certain.
AS The Leader has selected a parti-
cular class and endeavored to show
that it would be injured by the legis-
lation which would depreciate the
purchasing power of the dollar, per
NIT to call attention to other classes,
and see if the argument will hold
good as Il general rule, or even as a
majority rule. How does The
Leaders argument hit the debtor
class, and especially that portion of
the debtor class who must with their
own labor produce commodities for
sale with which to meet their obliga-
lions? 1t the man who works for
wages can buy larger quantities of
The necessaries of life with his wages
paid in an appreciated and more val
liable currency, does it not neces-
sarily follow that man who sells
these commodities must sell a larger
portion to obtain the dollar than he
would if the purchasing power of the
dollar was less?
Here then are two classes-the buy.
er and the seller, the producer and
the consumer-affected in precisely
opposite directions by the question OF
cheap money or dear money. Let us
go farther and apply this reasoning
to class of citizens in Iowa upon
whose reasonable prosperity every
other business in the state depends
for success. | mean the farmers OF
lowa--in round numbers one half oil
its entire population. That it takes
more of their products to obtain a
dollar with greater purchasing power
than it would to obtain one with less
purchasing power. The Leader will
readily concede for its own argument
conclusively proves this. What is the
condition of this class at the present
time? Does the Leader claim that it
is satisfactory.
For brevity let us take single ex-
ample. In the summer of 1890 the
labor commissioner of this state ad-
dressed circular letter to more than
800 farmers in different parts of the
state asking them to carefully estl-
mate the cost of producing and mar
keting an acre of corn at an average
distance of five miles from the farm
to the market, and to aid them in this
he pointed out with great care all Of
the items of expense that enter into
the cost of producing, harvesting
storing and marketing such a crop.
The average of 800 answers to this
letter made the cost at then market
rates of labor, which were not create,
than now, $500 per acre.
The best statistics obtainable show
ed that the average crop in the state
for period of five years preceding
the date of this letter had been thirty
three and third bushels, and the
average price in the local markets Of
the state soon after harvest for the
same period had been % cents bush
ell, making the price received for the
crop per acre by those who sold it ST..
80, or 81 cents less than cost OF pro
ducing it at market prices of labor
saying nothing of interest on capita
invested in the farm. The average
price of this same crop in the sam,
markets soon after harvest last fal
and winter was less than 16 cents ,
bushel. The yield, it is true, wa
larger chan the average of any con
siderable number of years in the past
but it followed year of the loves
average yield ever known in thi