Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-07-02
WEBSTER, DAY COUNTY. SOUTH DAKOTA. JULY 2. 1896.

been doing business with US this summer and
have moved the price Of cotton up 60 per cen6.
This bug and these worms haven't many
friends, but as sluggers In an argument with
q 10 TO ! crank they are entitled TO the belt.
Cotton brought 81 a pound in New York dur
ing the war, and 80 70 40 cents O pound the
first year after the war on account of the four
years cotton famine from 1861 to 1865, and IL
was several years getting down to its normal
price. The price declined when we made too
much OF it. The largest cotton crop made with
slave labor was 1859, no bales, and / remember
it was confidently predicted that no such crop
would ever DO made with free labor. The crop
of 1872 was less than 100000 bales, and we
gradually increased IL 10 "a little less than To-
100000 bales in 1894 India, Egypt ard Brazil
are also r1ising larger crops Of cotton. The
immense crop Of 1894 was thrown upon a
market lily prepared 70 receive it. For three
years there had been less cotton goods con
Eumcd than usual. owing 10 The worldwide
panic and depression Of business following the
Barring failure, and those two conditions rect
ing-ovcTproducticu and underconsumption-
brought cotton down to q very low price.
Some OF the POpulists tell Us there cannot *
overproducticu Untll every man, woman and
child III the world hRs a rotuud stomach and Il
full suit Of clothes. This Is uasad upon g.,
communicate idea that 1t Is the duty og gov
ernment 60 take care Of every loafer who is
too lazy TO work for a living, and Is TOO CON
temptible to waste an answer on.
Prices OF Corn, Hogs, Butter, Potatoes, Etc,
Have Risen Since 1873.
If the gold STANDARD depressed wheat and
cotton, IL was surely loaded at both ends, Tor
n has shot some things UP IN price. The corn
crop o. the United States is more valuable
than both the wheat and cotton crops oonl-
bined. The crop Of corn made lust preceding
the sold standard, I'm 1867, sold for % cents it
gold figures, and che crop Of isas was worth -
cents in gold, and il has generally been above
the 1872 price, The oat crop Is about equal to
the wheat crop. Oats were worth 20 cents IN
1872 and So cents in 1894. Fat beef steers were
worth $40 In gold tn 1872 and SGgiu gold IN 1905
Hogs arc worth moro now than thoy were IN
l672 and have generally been higher than thoy
were then. The farmers wives get as much IN
gold now for butter, chickens Gud eggs as they
did In grgeIGscss lu 1874 and this crop Is
more valuable than the wheat and cotton
crops combined. Tobacco, potatoes. bacon,
hay, coffee, leather, whisky and hundred
other things hage not'declirted IN price
LaboT, Land, Wool and Horses.
The laboy saap 4 e3ual in value 20 an other
crops combined, and il has steadily advanced
Ia prtcc. Land Is mitch more y&laaGlo iu gold
now than in 1877 Notwithstanding il was de-
pressed by the panic Of 1892 and 1873. The price
Of wool has declined, hut the worlds produc.
tion of it, since 1872, has doubled and the use
VI 81 mas AtfA EAf9A3 5ANt2AtlkfA ~ JiAl WV "a
cotton goods. Horses have declined, but the
railroads. electric cars and bicycles are doing
the work they did. The cost Of the produc-
ton of an article fixes It's value. This is neces-
sarily so, because if the profit is large, others
viii be attracted TO the business pntil the price
IS brought to its proper level An articles man
ufacturod by machinery have declined in price.
for the reason that with each invention the
cost of producing the article is lessened. HUI
man genius has produced more results for
cheapening production In the last 50 years
than IN all the ages of the world before that
time. These grand triulnphs of man over mat
ter, instead of showing depression from "a
standard OF value, show forth the glory and
dignity of the human intellect, and are an I'M
mixed blessing to the whole human family.
Could any one outside of q lunatic asylum at
tribute al these diverse and ipconsistont
movements Of prices 70 one cause, and that
cause acting evenly and uniformly upon all
things alikeS
What Makes HDsersst Low
Interest has declined since 1872 in my part
Of the country from 5 peT cant per month 70
. and 3 per cert Qor anaula. There Is no deny
ing the fact that the g0ldhugs did TINT. The
south and west have saved more on the decline
Of interest than they have lost IN the declire
in wheat oud cotton Interest is always low
under an hoGast standard, among an honest
people, where money - plentiful It Is lower
in London than IN any other spot on the globe
because her standAr u stable and her com
merCial integrity hus been the care OF ner
statesmen and her people FOR ages past. Eng
lands p~unctuality IN meeting he- obligations
has made London the clearing house Of the
world, Tyre was tho London OF ancient times.
Seated on the eastern end of the Mediterra-
mean, she rcisnCd queen Of for CEN
turies. The sccytbE Ct commercial greatness
passed from her when her own children reared
Carthage at the other end Of that sea. Some
800 years ago England planted colonies in
America, and today the United States is Eng
lands only formidable rival for the com.
merce Of the world. The object lesson Of an
cient history - being repeated. II the insati-
able mine owners by use of their millions, and
the place hunting demagognes by unctuous ap-
peals to prejudice, succeed in driving this
country from the standard Of civilization and
M the standard that announces in
tegrity at nome and inspires confidence
abroad, 20 a fiat standard and silver basis,
then England will have no rival to grapple
with her in the marts OF the world.
More Gold and More Credits.
The third proposition is that the supply Of
gold Is insufficient to make it "a correct stand
ard and its scarcity will tend to depress
prices. The average annual output of gold OF
the world for the first half Of this century, in
round numbers, was sl5. o 1000. From 1851 to
1865, covering the gold boom In California and
Australia. the yearly average was Sl3O, 00,U COO.
The output for 1893 was sl55. 600, 600 and for 1894
slSl, 900, COO. The birth rate among gold using
countries is not increasing, while the produc-
ton of gold is on the increase, as just stated.
This answer ought to satisfy even the extreme
10 to l people-the "per capita" Populist-es-
pecially In view OF the fact that improvements
In power and machinery are being applied to
the production of gold. while the genius of in
vention finds no inducement offered nor field
for operation In the population business.
My next answer is that the more highly en-
lightened the world becomes, and the greater
the improvements in business methods. the
less necessity there Is for the use Of actual
money of any kind. Steam and electricity
have so knitted civilized people together that
they are practically one community. Business
men speak to each other around the world as
IL they were assembled in the same building.
Their business is done ON a system Of credits,
without the use of money, except for ultimate
settlement. Nor Is this method confined to
business men. 1t is broadening with the evolu-
ton of man from a lower to "a higher plane Of
Intelligence. A farmer may now live for a
whole year on the fat of the land and mover
handle q dollar in money during that time.
He may receive checks for his crop. deposit
them to his credit with q bank and draw on
the bank for what he owes and spends. Mel
Their he nor the men who bought his crop had a
dollar In the bank. They only had credit
there.