Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-01-03
SILVERj AND COTTON.
NOT ALWAYS ON PARALLEL
LINES WITH PRICES.
They Are Very Intimate, Howeve-
How England Uses India Mt the FIX
pause of the American Producer-
We Must Recall SJve-.


There has recently been a very pro-
nounced rise in the price Of cotton.
while silver has not made correspond
ing advance Taking this fact as text.
the gold press (of the south particular
ly) Is now literally tearing the yitals out
OF those crazy free silver liars" who
have been claiming that there is close
connection between the prices Of silver
and cotton. The rise in cotton while
silver has remained nearly stationary,
is declared TO be conclusive evidence
that the rise or fall OF silver has moth
ing TO do with the price OF cotton.
OF course man may be sincere who
uses such an argument, but he certainly
is not justified in assuming the position
of a public educator. Anyone who has
followed the course OF this discussion
ought to know that the silver men"
as they are called, have never claimed
that silver and cotton or silver and
wheat moved on exactly parallel lines
always rising and falling together in
perfect harmony. Such a contention
would be absurd.
What they say is this Cotton is sold
in competition with India. which pro-
duces that staple on a silver basis.
Therefore the rise or fall OF silver must
be an element affecting the price OF
cotton. If silver goes up the tendency
is to carry cotton up with it; if silver
goes down the tendency is the other
way. With other conditions normal,
they will rise and fail very closely to-
gether. IT. however, something Of an
extraordinary nature occurs, peculiarly
affecting the one and not touching the
other at all, it will, of course, break the
uniformity OF their movement.
Suppose, for example, that the entire
cotton crop of the United States should
be destroyed while nothing unusual oc-
ours with respect to silver. The price
of cotton would rise enormously In
cidentally silver would rise TOO because
of the demand for that metal with
which TO purchase cotton in India. But
with the aggregate supply of silver re-
naming the same, while cotton be-
comes exceedingly scarce, it is clear
that the value of the cotton must be
affected in a greater degree than the
value of the silver SO if our cotton
crop should fall off one-half or one
third, the same thing would occur, only
NOT TO so great an extent This is about
the present situation. The cotton crop
has dropped from more than 100000
bales to some 100000 or 1000 900,
while nothing in particular has hap
pened to silver. The result is that cot
ton has a veritable boom, while silver
is scarcely affected at all.
But it must be remembered that at
present the advanced price of cotton is
a speculative one. The bulls of the
market are gambling on a short crop.
II the reports OF disaster are fully con-
frHled and a demand arises for East
India cotton TO supply an actual def
cheney, there will come a sharp rise in
silver. The same considerations apply
to wheat.
The decentralization OF silver lowered
the prices of all products, except where
something else may have supervened to
prevent it. But cotton and wheat were
affected in two ways: First generally,
the same as other things, by the dimin-
ished supply of money. and second, spe-
ciaHy, by the competition OF siiver-us-
ing countries, which was rendered
much keener by the appreciation of
gold. Hence we find that these two
great export staples have been more
seriously affected than almost any 9TH
ers. This is a matter of especial con-
Germ Of the United States because so
large a proportion of them must be
sold in the European market, which has
adjusted itself to the silver basis
There is not a trade journal In
Europe or America which does not
recognize the fact that under average
conditions the general course of silver.
cotton and wheat are very nearly the
same To arrive at average conditions
we must take a series of years. When
We do this the manner in which the
gold prices of silver, cotton and wheat
have descended the incline together, is
so remarkable as to leave no room for
doubt that there is some general cause
at work, which applies to them all.
Even in the face of the recent extra
ordinary rise of cotton an ounce of sill
yer Will buy very nearly the same guam
tity that it would in 1873.
A short crop of cotton has been a per-
feet God-send to the gold champions OF
the South. For twenty years the advo-
cate of the gold standard has persis-
tently claimed that the great fall Of
prices is owing to over-production. Abb
solutely the only remedy he has offered
has been TO advise the people to produce
less. The advantages of a monetary
system which can only be defended
upon the basis Of crop failures idle fac
tories and unemployed men. are pre-
cisely the advantages that have been
shewered upon the people by the gold
stsndard.-National Bimetallist.