The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-10-02
TALK TO FARMERS.
HOW THEY ARE BEING FOOLED BY
THE BRYANITES.

While Free silver May Raise the Price of
Their Products, the Farmers Must Pay
Twice As Many Dollars for Everything
They buy.
Perhaps there Is no class in the COM
munity concerning whose attitude to-
ward the free coinage of silver so much
doubt is felt as In the case of the farm
ers. It would be idle to deny that
many of them are honest In their be-
lief that something ought to be done to
check the fall in the prices of agricul-
turai products. So many writer's of re-
pute argued in favor of bimetallism
upon this ground that 1t Is hard to
blame intelligent farmers for follow
ing them. Many of the farmers have
fixed charges to meet and with corn
and oats and horses and butter and
potatoes selling at their present prices,
they do not see how they can do 1t.
Such men are really desperate they
do not believe that their condition can
be worse than it Is now, and they are
ready to try any expedient that prom
ises to improve it. The Bryanites as
sure them that free coinage will do
this by raising prices; Governor Boies
Of Iowa, a man whom we should be
sorry to believe dishonest, and whom
we are sorry to class as a Bryanite,
tells the farmers that cheaper mon
ey, money which they call, If you
please, deprecated currency Is the
best for the people, because it tends to
raise the prices of products" On the
other hand, the sound money men are
in the difficult position of having to
admit that free coinage will raise prices
and at the same time Of having to
maintain that this will not help the
farmers.
AS we have heretofore pointed out,
the most effective way of putting the
matter in the true light is by showing
that 1t is not the amount of money
that Is received from the sale of goods,
but its purchasing power, that is i'm
portant. Were the great mass of
farmers brought to realize that they
would have to pay twice as many dol
lars for everything they buy, they
would not be tempted by the POSSIBLE
ity Of getting twice as many dollars for
what they SELL Governor Boies main
tains that 1t costs % cents bushel to
raise corn in Iowa, while corn Is sell
ing there for IA cents. He therefore
recommends that congress raise the
selling price of corn to 2S cents, but he
does not explain how this can be done
without raising the cost of production
to Sc cents, and unless he can explain
this it is fatal to his argument.
But there are some considerations in
favor of stable currency that should
appeal with especial force to the farm
ing class. These considerations are not
90 IL.
volve some acquaintance with econom-
ic science; but they are by no means
so reconcile as to be beyond their COM
prehension.
AS was long ago observed by Adam
Smith, agriculture does not admit of
the application of large capitals to the
same extent as other branches Of in
dustry. No doubt larger capitals are
now employed in farming than when
Adam Smith wrote, but his proposition
is on the whole quite as true now as
then. We cannot give the reasons
why this Is so, but we may refer to
single fact that is quite conclusive on
the point Every one knows that the
great industries of transportation and
mining and manufacturing are to a
very large extent carried on by corpor-
ceptional. But how many people have
ever heard of a farmer corporation?
Some such corporations, we believe, do
exist, but they are altogether excep-
tional. Moreover, the individuals of
firms that carry on manufacturing or
mining or transportation are general
ly of great wealth; but there are few
farmers of great wealth. The immense
majority of them work with their own
hands; sometimes not so hard as their
hired help, but often a good deal
harder.
Another consideration of Importance
is that the farmer has most of his cap
ital in the shape of land, and employs
a very small proportion in the pur-
chase of materials, and a comparative
ly small proportion in the purchase of
labor. The industry of mining resem-
bles agriculture in the former of these
particulars, but 1t differs very much
in the latter, and the difference is vi
tai. And it is to be added that in this
country farming is to- great extent
carried on in competition with
the farming of other countries. We ex-
port very large quantities of the prod
ucts of our farms, less of the products
Of our mills, while transportation of
course Is not an exportable commodity.
Thus the price of tho great staples of
agriculture is more or less regulated
by the price that can be obtained for
such part of these products as is ex-
ported, while the price of manufac-
tured goods is much less affected in
this way.
Bearing these conditions in mind, Il
Is evident that farmers as a class are
quite unable to adapt the supply of
their commodities to the demand for
them. They cannot tell how large a
wheat crop will be produced next year
in France or Russia or even in this
country. They have to go ahead and
sow their wheat at a venture. Even IL
they were able to foretell the weather,
they are quite unable as individuals to
foretell one another's actions. There
were great crops of corn and potatoes
last year, which brought unremunera-
tive prices. Some farmers reasoned
from this that others would not plant
so much corn and potatoes this year
that the supply would therefore be
short and prices high. But the trouble