People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1896-06-18
Silver and Wheat.

A Reseland, Neb., reader asks the
Omaha World. Herald how the free
and unlimited coinage Of silver will
raise the price Of wheat, when the
the price of wheat is fixed in Liver
pool England.
The World Herald answers as
follows:
THE free coinage Of silver will
affect the price Of wheat in two ways.
First the free coinage of silver will
relieve the strain upon gold. Those
who owe debts and taxes can buy sill
yer and have il coined into money
and the decreased demand for gold
will lessen the purchasing power OF
an ounce Of gold. In other words,
prices throughout the world will rise
and wheat will share in the general
rise. Every one knows that a large
increase ia the annual wheat crop
would result in cheaper wheat; a
large increase in the supply Of pri-
mary money will result in cheaper
money, that is, a dollar will buy less
because there will be more dollars
In the second place, wheat is especial
ly affected by legislation hostile to
silver. India Is our great competitor
in the Liverpool market. In 1873 tie
Englishman would buy an ounce of
silver for about 81 30 and exchange il
for Indian wheat; now he bu S On
ounce Of silver for about 6S Genus and
exchanges it for as much wheat as he
did before. II Indian wkeat cost him
81 30 in 1873 it costs him only about
6S cents per buShel now. II the
Englishman can now buy 6S cent
wheat in India he will not pay us
more than IS cents. Until 1873 there
had been no material change in the
level Of prices in India, so that our
farmers suffered while the farmers OF
India proSpered. Free coinage will
raise the price of silver bullion and
thus raise the gold value of Indian
wheat. Can any one doubt that our
wheat will rise under such circum-
stances?
When the Sherman law was passed
in 1890 silver rose to Sl2l per ounce,
and wheat rose with it. Secretary
Rusk pointed out this fact in the 1890
agricultural report. The farmers of
Germany and the farmers Of England
are demanding the restoration of sill
yer but in both of those nations the
bond holding class is too strong. The
battle must be fought in the United
States.
Here lies the strong argument
against the spurious demand for the
coinage Of the American product.
We say spurious because no one
seriously expects such legislation.
1t will do for Chester |. Long to
hoodwink the people with but when
it came to vote in the house a few
weeks ago it only received seven
teen votes.
"a Silver legislation to be of any
benefit must be such as TO raise the
market valve Of silver the world
over, for the reason given above.
The Monitor-Press Of this city is
a gold bug paper-now. Notwith.
standing, soon after the passage Of
the Sherman law, in 1891, it &C
knowledged the principle enumer-
ated above in the following para
graph clipped from its original files:
"ln the foreign market, the princi-
pal competitors of the United States
on meats and bread stufis have been
silver.using nations like Russia and
India. II it takes more gold than
before to get silver with which to Dur.
chase Indian and Russian wheat, the
conclusion is plain that American
cereals have appreciated in value just
that much in English ports. The re.
cent rise In corn and wheat is partly
due to the increased foreign demand,
brought about by the legislation of the
present congress, which has run up
the price OF silver nearly to a part y
with gold"
As silver advanced American Ger.
calls, advanced, and for the reason
stated. This ought to be plain
enough for any farmer to see, no
matter what his politics.