The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-09-21

nv IN n letter sent to n
correspondent In Indiana, who wrote
to Henry Clews \ Co. for information
on the money question:
NEW YORK. Sept. "A, 1896.
John W. Ray, esq, Southport, Indiana.
DEAR stRs-wc are In receipt OF
your favor OF the eth Inst, In which
you" say THE sIlveritcs, headed by
Bryan, AltScld, TIIlman, Teller ct al,
are harpIng on the appreciation OF
gold. Is 1t true? II No, has this mp
probation affected prizes In England,
France. Germany. or any OF the coun-
tries OF the old world? | believe the
statement Is false, VIII You please
write me Your Thoughts on the subject
OF the appreciation dr gold?
The statement that gold has apprc-
ciatcd, like a great many others ena-
mating from the sIlvercrn,s. Is without
reason: and outside Of the bare asscr.
ton that Il Is SO, they produce no facts
worthy Of serious attention TO support
such u theory. The silver people, In
= 'hh ~ WIN Nlt luEllltTS NDlt uuu
show that gold has appreciated, mere
~ call attention 10 the low prices pre-
vailing for products OF the soil. such
ms wheat. corn, outs and cotton; but In
doing this they ignore entirely the fact
that improved agricultural Implc-
ments, wearing apparel. ETC., are also
much cheaper, and that where trans
pNrtation rates from Chicago to New
York are now less than &c per buShel,
they were PIC per bushGl In 1879. They
also Ignore the fact that products OF
the soil have declined IN prkce, owing
10 the la5ur-savlng machinery, where
u mans work OF to-day IL equal TO
ten or fifteen mems work twenty-five
yearS 20. \ further reason FOR the
decline In the prices Of grains Is to be
found In the competitive fields. which
haze greatly Increased the production.
Where this country used to make up
the deficiency supplies ot wheat In
Europe. we are now in trade COMPETE
ton with such countries as Russia.
India and the Argentine, which now
produce more wheat than formerly, and
at cheaper prices. owing IN n large
measure to the building OF railroads.
Owing to this competition. therefore.
In d!sposing Of Our surplus. We have
W. iINNk tle llllI hti price. bNUtTNlSF
Keep our grain supplies on hand. From
it. talk daily heard from the. advo-
Gates OF free silver to the effect that the
decline In The white metal has also
caused the decline in cereals. and that
theafr and unlimited coinage OF sill
YER would cause enhanced prices for
them, one would imagine that tn.
prSfs OF all products were made in
this country. II should not be forgot
tcn'thai the United States alone can
not establish the price Of any article
which Is universally used and raised
In nearly all countries. America Is
only n country among many In doing
so. the law Of supply and demand be-
ing the real regulator.
The great trouble with the silver
people Is that they measure the price
nf gold by the prices OF products. and
because the latter have gone down ar
que that the price OF gold has gone up.
What they should do Is TO measure the
prices Of products by The. price Of gold
(Which has a fixed value and iS the
standard all over the world and they
will find that the commodities OF llte
In every country using gold have fall
en- in price. owing TO the supply having
exceeded the demand.
-dsA 9thA law NONNOl OAN a. ~
per pound. Adopting the theory Of
the PopOcrats, therefore, that the val
Ne or gold must be measured by the
ruling price OF products to ascertain
whether 1t has appreciated or dGprect-
ated. II would appear that with an adj
vance since then OF &c q pound In cot
tOn tnDw selling at size per pOund),
gold has actually deprecated In value
So per cent. Again, II gold has appre-
c!attd to the extent that the silver men
claim. then the farmer apparently gets
as much for his product as ever. be-
cause he gets paA In gold or Its equiv
alent. This. Of course. ID n wrong hyp-
othesfs. tOr the reason that gold has
remained ut a fixed value the world
over. while the prices Uf commodities
have g1ne down owing to the supply
exceeding the demand.
Take the crop of wheat, for instance.
IN 1875. The total number OF bushels
raised In this country was 49,, 1876, 0OO,
while in 1896. "a short crop Year,, we
garncred 49,. l03, 900: and In some OF the
intervening years the crop was even
much larger. as. FOR Instance, In 1891,
when the aggregate amount raised
was Gil, 10000 bushels. The same show
Ing was made In corn In 1875. the yield
being l.32l. O69. 900 bushels. while In 1925
the enormous total of 2.l5l, l39. 600 BUSH
els was reached. Any one familiar
with grain statistics understands, OF
course, that the Increase IN quantity
Is not alone confined to this country.
Taking IN. worlds figures for 1889, we
find that @.l5O,jJj,000 were raised. while
six years later tlS95) the total yield
had increased 10 2,4Sj.3 1876, 900. 1t will
therefore be seen that n good and sutll-
Client reasuntcxIsts why the prices OF
grains have declined. It simply being a
case. MS before stated, or supply and
demand. which has always regulated
values since the beginning Of the world
and always will.
That gold has not appreciated In val
lie Is proven by the fact that the hOl-
der who puts II out at interest gets
less Income from 1t nowadays than Ii"
did In former years. Whether IL Is de-
posted IN a bank. trust company, or
other financial Institution, invested in
gilt-edEGd bonds. or put out on bond
and mortgage, the income returned Is
considerably less. II was only a few
years ugO that nearly all Issues OF
railroad bonds bore G and I per cent,
whereas to-day the maximum rate on
1n