Evening star., 1896-10-20
FREE ECOINAGE AND FARMERS
Why the Agriculturists Would Suffer Under
Such Conditions.
They Would Share i'm the General
Depression and Would Pro-
ht Nothing.

From the "a, B. C of Finance, by John Covert.
farmer writes me that some of his
neighbors are afflicted with silverphobia:
that they believe the free coinage of sill
yer would SO initiate the money of the ha-
tion that they could get more of 1t for
their produce and could pay OF their mort
cages more easily. When told that they
would have to pay more for what they
bought they answer that they raise their
own vegetables and meat, poultry, eggs,
&C., and only have to buy very little. He
asks me to explain how free coinage would
affect the farmer.
His question is not difficult to answer
In the first place, a law which would per-
init silver mine owner to take 81 cents
worth of silver to the mint and have it
coined into a piece that he could palm
off for 100 cents would be a robbery of
the American people, and no permanent
good can come to the farmers. or any other
class, from open, bare-faced robbery The
farmers could no more escape its conse-
queno es than they could escape their share
OF a tribute imposed upon the nation by a
foreign conQGerOr.
The First Effect.
The first effect of the triumph of free
coinage at the polls would be to make
money scarcer and not pientier The tri-
umph of free coinage would at once bring
gold up to premium. and the $500 W.UOOUUO
Of that metal now circulating in the coun-
try would be Immediately boarded by men
who would expect to get large premium
on II. The farmers will remember that
during the war, when excessive amounts
or greenbacks were issued. men who had
gold held 1t and sold it at heavy pre-
MUM. Now. If the people should on No
Venber next vote in favor of free coinage.
the result would be the same, for 1t would
IN the end mean another form of fiat in
fation. Without the cooperation Of other
nations silver cannot be held at par under
free coinage.
If the people should render a verdict for
free silver next November the New York
bankers would at oEce send their circulars
out to the bankers and brokers in smaller
towns Offering a pI IemiEm for gold coins
The tendercy of the premium would be to
increase, for men would have to obtain gold
to pay their debts abroad. 1t would cause
such contraction of the currency that a
panic would ensue, thousands of persons
would be ruined. usurers and gold brokers
alone profitins by the general loss.
ForccIosinE Mortgages.
Do you ask how this would affect the
farmer? In the first money stringency,
prices would fall as is always the case
when a sudden financial contraction occurs
and he would be forced to take what he
could get for whatever he had to sell. Pos
sibiy he has mortgage on his farm which
may fall due III one, two, three, or six
months after election. But few loans have
been made upon farm lands during the
past four years. The mass of mortgages
now outstanding are due: they are per-
mttted to continue by sufferance because
the debtor has promptly paid his interest.
Thfs Is the condition of two-thirds, most
probably three-fourths of the entire mort
gage Indebtedness of the country. If the
farmers vote for free coinage they will
do it with the intention of making the
lender take inflated silver money for his
pay, and If the transaction runs on a year
or two he may do 1t. But the lender hap
pens to be master of the situation. He has
debts to pay himself, and he must have
money; also he knows what kind of a
game his debtor Is trying to play upon
him. No one could expect him to sit stiil
and take no advantake of the golden OPP
portunity within his grasp to escape the
trap which is soon to be sprung upon him.
His natural course would be to call upon
the farmer for payment, and if it is not
made, to forecloSe.
If the farmer has mortgage on his place
he would suffer great loss during the first
six months that would follow the triumph
of free coinage. for it would most probably
be foreclosed. If his farm is not mort
gagged, he would gain nothing, but would
country from the preparation of a mon
Ster crime.
Farmers' Need of Money.
The second point that the farmer raises
most Of his own food and would buy little
and would receive more for what he sold.
is not correct statement of fact. The
farmer does and must buy something, and
if he expects to sell at inflated prices he
must buy at inflated prices. He will reap
ahnlIf what ha IF ipHafed
ume of silver comes. as he expects, and
raises prices, he will have TO pay more
for everything that he buys; and he can
rot expect to live without buying some
thing. Clothing for himself and family,
tea. coffee, sugar and other articles; hard
ware, furniture, harness, wagons and vari-
Gus kinds of implements are objects for
which the farmer must spend money. He
must help support his church, pay taxes,
perhaps send his children away to school.
and If he receives inflated prices for his
products, he must pay inflated prices for
all he buys. The farmers cannot isolate
themselves from society and form a class
apart. like some of the distinct castles in
India and China. They are large. active
part of the American public. Whatever af-
fects the American people must exert ex-
acty the same influence upon them. In
fation could rot benefit them. They could
not pay their mortgages in the inflated
money because they would be foreclosed or
they would be compelled to make a new
mortgage, 1Or SOtQ payments,
long before the initiation would come around.
If they invested their money, they would
do it at inflated prices. If they boarded
the money it would yield them no interest.
The longer they kept it, provided their
dreams of imitation could be realized, the
greater would be their loss. for it would
go on increasing in volume anu decreas-
iEg in value. They could not clothe them
selves and families in silver. and they
could get nothing to wear, except by buy
ing at the same high prices for which
they sold.
Why are men going about the country
trying to persuade the farmer to vote for
his own ruin? Some of these silverphobia
orators are deceived; many Of them are in
the pay of wealthy mine owners, knaves
who care nothing for the farmer and still
less for the prosperity of the country. and
who are willing to iraugurate period Of
depression and want such as our people
never saw, provided that they can win
their cause.
There is only one kind of nigh prices
that can be Of permanent advantage to the
farmer or any one else, and that is the
kind that grows out of confidence.
Fasting Eight Months.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer
Letters from Michigan, where Mrs.
Henry Ingram of Anderson, Ind, was
taken during the summer, Indicate that the
l,@ p1r l.l1