The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-10-07
A Silver Fallaey Exposed.

The Bryanites have met with a serious
disaster in the advance in the price Of
wheat and the decline in the value OF
silver. No assertion, argument or device
has done so much To help the silver mine
owners as the charts they have distribut-
ed to farmers, making it appear that the
price of wheat is governed by the price
of silver. The assertion is false, but
truth is slow in overtakiDg falsehood in
this matter.
In little over thirty days wheat ad-
vanced approximately IS cents bushel.
| At the same time silver declined. The
commercial price of bar silver in New
York was o. cents an ounce on Septem-
| Der 4, and at the end of the month
il was COS. a considerable decline. And
all that time wheat was advancing. This
thing has often happened, but many
farmers do not seem TO be aware of the
fact. The object lesson, right in the heat
of the campaign. can not fail TO be effect
i've.
The advance in the price of wheat and
decline i'm the value of silver have been
entirely due to the law of supply and de-
mand. The bad condition of the wheat
crops in India and Argentina has led to
an increased demand for wheat from the
United States. That sent the price up
lust as the enormous increase in the pro-
duction of wheat and decreased consump-
ton in recent years sent the price down
The price of wheat at the farms in the
West has not declined since 1873 in any
thing like the proportion represented &c
the farmers. In the years 1918 the crops
of wheat were short and the speculation
was unprecedented. Prices were illegit-
| imately high. The collapse came with
the panic of 1873. The average price o.
wheat on the farm in Iowa, Minnesota
Missouri. Kansas and Nebraska in lsJ
was 60 cents a bushel. In 1869 the price
was "a cents in the deprecated paper cur
rency in 1870, 50 cents; lS7S, 81 cents il
1881. IO6 cents; in 1884, 80 cents, and il
T ISs2. IS cents.
The decline in the cost of transpOrta
ton has made greater difference in th'
price in New York city. The average
difference between the price of wheat OF
the farm in the West and in New Horl
was about 20 cents in 1863, and ,
cents in 1895. That saving in transporta
ton by improved railroad methods ac
counts for a large reduction in the price
Since 1864 the cost of transportation ha
declined $40 per cent, while the deciin
, in silver has been about 20 per cent
Wheat fell 40 per cent, between 1872 an'
} ISIS. while silver declined only Il pc
cent; wheat then rose % per cent. hr
lsSl, while silver rose a fraction over
per cent; then wheat fell about - pc
f cent. to 1884. while silver fell only 4.3 pc
cent. wheat rose u per cent. by lSSS, an
, silver at the same time fell over ii pc
cent. and so on, showing that there is n
relation whatever between the price c
> silver and the price of wheat.
Corn, oats and other crops are more i'm
portant to the farmer than his wheat
e The average price per bushel of all graf
o in the West in 1862 was 81 cents a bushe
V and in 1881 il was 40 cents. The value {
1 wheat on farms west of the Mississippi
: in 1850 was i'm all commodities at Ne'
i, York about $50. In 1895 it was 62.3 pc
cent. In both the East and the West
bushel of wheat would buy more Of Othe
commodities in 1885 than in 1872 or
" 1860. This demonstrates the folly an
Il falsehood in the Popocratic argumen
about wheat.
}, The statistics show that nearly y pc
n cent of the farmers own their own farm
n without encumbrance, and the liens o
q the remaining farms are only 800 pc
cent. of their value. The grain farmer
are therefore creditors and not debtor
L. and reducing the value OF the dolial
one half. or from 200 cents to 100 cents,
as Mr.. Bryan has stated the proposition
i will only injure the farmer. as well as III
e people in general.-Philadeiphi Press.