New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-07-29

Ic{s. Such asserfi
ffeeundafion III

due, MA 81. nv other eanses.
\ past three years,
|llaye own as i III on the con
v bsy ass fallen %. The marked
El1eclias ne year 1894 was, no doubt,
due III palr'tt, to the prospect Of tariff
Chan es and the holding back Of duti-
able goods BY those expecting 10 enter
them at lower rates Of duty Thus also
aided to pile up large favorable ball
3anoe Of trade for that year. But the fol-
lowing year was marked by small inn
ports, not large, and SO the imports for
the present year will fall far short Of the
volume Of imports during any Of the
years under Mr.. Harrison's Administra-
ton. So, too, the trade balance in our
favor for either the fiscal year 1895, or
the fiscal year just closed, was greater
than for either of the first two years Of
Mr.. Harr1son's Administration. On the
other hand exports, though showing on
the whole a slight falling off in value,
have increased greatly in quantity.
The smaller value Of our exports is
due entirely to the lower level Of prices
received, and this fall in prices ruling in
the British markets can not be attribu-
ted to changes of tariff policy. Higher
tariff duties cannot appreciably better
the prices we get for our agricultural
products sold in the European markets.
The only effect they can have on the pri-
ces of those agricultural products for the
surplus of which we find market a.
broad, is by building up gradually a
home market, and thus reducing the sur
plus of our crops, for which we have to
find market abroad. Thus by reduc-
ing the number of sellers seeking mar
ket in foreign markets, and thus reduce
ing the competition among those seeking
market, the pr1ces which we receive
for our agricultural products, sold in
England, might be ultimately enhanced
by higher tariff duties, leading to in
creased manufacturing activities at home,
and increased demand for domestic con-
sumption. But such effect on prices
would be at best remote.
The cause that has depressed the pri.
ces we receive for our agricultural pro-
ducts sold abroad is the great divergence
in the value of gold and silver that has
resulted in bounty on production and
exports from silver using to gold-using
countries, and that has fostered ruinous
competition. Producing for silver aud
selling for gold, and, as the silver cost
of production has not increased at all,
our competitors have been enabled to cut
gold prices, just as silver has fallen, as
measured by gold, or rather as gold has
appreciated as measured by silver and
commodities. And as gold. as measured
by. silver, has doubled in value, our sill
yer competitors have oeen enabled to
cut prices by fully one-half. -
What Is true of silver-using competi-
tors is also true of our cruising CON-
petitors, who enjoy the same bounty on
export IN the shape of a premium on
gold. The result of this competition is
that our farmers have been impoverished,
that they have been obliged to curtail
their purchases of manufactured goods,
and that imports have fallen off. This
in turn has led to smaller custom reve-
nues, and so it is that the fall of prices,
brought on by the divergence in the val
ue of gold and silver and by the appre-
citation of gold that has resulted in the
poverishment of our farmers, has led
in large measure to deficit in our ma
Gonal revenues. s. -,~. .&s-a
Yet we are told higher tariff duties
will bring prosperity to our manufac-
turers. But the indispensable requisite
of renewed prosperity to our manufac-
turers is a market for their products;
and while our farmers are impoverished
such market cannot be found. And tar
if duties cannot supply such market, for
until our farmers get higher prices for
products they will know no prosperity.
The restoration Of bimetallism can alone
bring them better prices, for in no other
way can the bounty which our COMPETE
tors now er5oy in the shape Of premii-
um on geld, and which is enabling them
to undersen our producers with a profit
to themselves, be removed. S ,2 E.
The responsibility for our industrial
ills. for the distress aud suffering of our
producing classes, lies with those who
are responsible for the enhanced value
ofsgold as compared to silver. This en-
hancement has been especially rapid dur
ing the past five wears. and consequently