Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-09-03

Year. Crop-bushels. Population in


1889. 500. ISL $4,000 .......... Is
| 1890. .523, 621 900 62,622, $50 80
1891. 1873 1894, 600 ......... "a
1892. .661 ,O35, 600 20
1893. 63S, S54, $50 .......... -
1894. $50, 929 .2S
1895. 824, 433, 537 .......... .13
We ask our farmers to examine these
| figures carefully. and candidly answer if
| anything more than the natural law OF
supply and demand is needed to account
| for the fluctuations. The average price
during the fall months was up to 80
cents but three times. The first time, in
1874, was on the smallest crop of the
period. The second time, in 1881, was
when there was the poorest corn crop
since 1874, and corn was high, creating
an extra demand for oats. The third
time, in 1890, was on reduced crop of
both oats and corn. The low prices of
the last few weeks have been on the
prospect of crop larger than last years.
1t will be seen that the lowest price
of the period was 1878. That was the
year the Greenback party made such
sweep. 1t was then said, just as now,
that we could never have good prices
again unless we abandoned the idea of
keeping our money as good as gold. But
we did not abandon it, and a glance down
the column shows which was right.
We ask if there is any indication of a
continuous fall in the price of oats since
| 1872? On the contrary the average price
for the first ten years of the period was
2O.4 cents per bushel, while the average
price for the last ten years was PIT
cents.
| Another thing: Gold is the particular
money which the free silver people claim
has been growing scarcer since 1873.
The hardship they complain of is in being
forced to sell for prices measured in cur
rency as good as gold. But the above
prices from 1872 to 1878 inclusive are in
greenbacks, and would have been lower
if measured in gold. In 1872 it took
from $1.O9 to $1.15 in paper to equal a
dollar in gold. Calling the average
price Of oats in 1872 to show their value
| then in gold. and a similar deduction
should be made for each year up to 1879.
| This shows that the price of oats in gold
has averaged considerably higher to the
| farmer since this country has been doing
| business with all it's money at par with
| gold.
| Notice the increased production of oats
| from 1872 to 1895, as compared with the
| increase in population. In 1872 the pro-
| duction was under seven bushels per
capita, in 1880 about eight, has been
around nine and ten since, and last year
was about twelve. You are asked to
jump into the dark, to expose the ccun-
| try to great perils, and you are urged to
| do it on the theory that the silver legis-
| lation of 1873 has made oats low. 1t is
uOC Il party II IS d business
| question. Here are the facts. Make up
| your mind on them calmly as a citizen in
| whose hands is great responsibility.
| Be sure you are right then go ahead.
Settle the oats question in your mind,
once for all.
Again while oats have been doing bet
| ter than hold their own, what has hap
| pened to the things which the farmer
| buys? From 1872 to 1880 bushel of
oats would average to purchase two
pounds of wire; since 1890 it will aver
| age seven pounds. From 1872 to 1880.
a. bqshel Of oats would buy an average
of about ~ pounds Of suger;- since 1890
| it would buy about 31a pounds. In the
| first period it required nearly two bushels
| of oats to buy a gallon Of kerosene; since
! 1890 a bushel of oats has averaged to buy
more than gallon of Oil. In the first
period it took more than ten bushels of
oats to buy a barrel of salt, while since
| 1890 it has required an average of about
| FIVE bushels.
| On all agricultural implements it has
required not over half as many oats since
1890 to pay the price as it did from 1872
| to 1879. The interest rate on farm
loans has fallen from 10 per cent to Z
per cent. The value of the farm has
doubled. Clothing. dry goods, furniture,
newspapers, etc, all IN recent years re-
| quired fewer oats to purchase them in re-
cent years than from 1872 to 1879.
duce an oat crop in 1872 than in recent
| years. He had to bind it by hand and
six or seven men had to be hired at
day wages to do what one man with a
| self-binder does now The reaper cost
| more then than a self-binder does now.
| The Messenger advocates a dollar of
steady value, not in the interest of any
| class. but in the interest of justice and
| because all business interests are pro-
NOTED thereby. We do not advocate gold
| only as money, but we do believe that
every dollar put out by the United States
should have the pledge of this govern
| ment behind it guaranteeing it to be as
| good as gold. Then we have a basis on
| which business can be conducted.
Senator Stewart, who now represents
| the silver mines of Nevada in the United
| States Senate, in 1874, before he saw any
necessity for the government to boost sill
| yer, in speech in the Senate advocating
the resumption act, said:
| By this process we shall come to specie
| basis, and when the laboring man receives a
dollar it will have the purchasing power of a
| dollar, and he will not be called on to do
| classes to do figure upon the exchanges.
| figure upon the fluctuations. figure upon the
gambling in New York; but he will know
what his money is worth. Gold is the uni
| versal standard of the world. Everybody
knows what dollar in gold is worth.
There the country has been since 1879.
| When the farmer sells his crop for our
| present money he knows what he has.
and what he can buy with it. When
one man wants to borrow of another
| he can find somebody willing to lend him.
| and when a man earns and saves a little
money for old age he knows that it will
support him.
| Already under this agitation every loan
| company of any Importance has ceased