Evening star., 1896-10-31
SIXTEEN TO ONE, FREE and UNLIMITED


history. biography. poetry and romance
nave been added. Carpets are on the floors
that used to be bare Works Of art adorn
the once naked walls. A dollar will 20
farther today in buying literature than FIVE
ooliars went fifty years ago. As to art tho
cnange Is even more wonderful. Millions of
farmers are living in q style that would
only have been possible to the wealthiest
cltizens n their grandfathers' time"
This is equally true of our mechanics and
laoorers, to whom the advocates of free
silver also appeal. While, OF course, they
suffer In common with all others and to
even greater degree, by the stagnation of
business, yet there is not one Of them
whose condition is not infinitely better than
.nat OF those who preceded them. There is
not farmer or a laborer who does not
| have in his home today things which are
considered necessities, and which his fa-
ther could not have, even as luxuries. The
great mass of these things did not formerly
exist-they were not made, and many of
those which were made he could not AFFORD
| to buy.
While every article they use or consume
has been greatly reduced in cost, as shown
by the census reports, their wages have
been increased nearly 80 per cent since
| 1850, or. If measured by the purchasing
power OF the dollar, nearly 40 per cent. AS
Mulhall says, no nation in the world has
| prospered as has the United States in the
| last decade, and in none is labor SO well
paid and housed.
he further says in no other nation Is
eieiS 81 large u OF the people
| educated as in the United States In no
other country are the farmers and laborers
| as intelligent as in the United States; and
though they may at first be misled by the
1alse statements of demagogues. especially
when suffering from hard times In the end
| their sober second thought will set them
right on the questions of the day, as
nave no doubt the result will show.
w. c. DODGE.
A Reply to Mr.. Dodge.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
Permit me to say few words in regard
to the very interesting letter of w. C.
Dodge on "The Farmers and Free Silver
as 1t appeared in yesterdays Star. Mr..
Dodge is right. and his statements that the
cost Of production of grain has cheapened
Is not disputed at ALL But this is of sec
oEdary Importance. The important point
for consideration is the relation of cost of
production and market price of the product
II farmer receives 81 per bushel which
cost him $1.25 to raise he runs behind and
II he receives SO cents per bushel which
cost him 40 cents he is prosperous. The
question simply is: Does our farmer receive
PACK the cost of production when he sells
his wheat. corn, &C.? Permit me to call
attention to the report of the statistician Of
the Department of Agriculture published
March, 1884. On page log of that report
the Expense Of raising wheat and corn
Cost per acre of raising wheat. .s11.69.
Cost per acre of raising corn S117l.
The report continues:
I'm the statistican's report for December,
1888, the average farm value of wheat and
corn produced per acre was stated as fol-
lows: Wheat. 6.16; corn, 1921. This would
show on the face Of 1t a virtual loss TO the
farmer Of 1888 per acre of wheat and 81. 30
per acre of corn for the year 1898.
The results have been derived from indi-
vldua! estimates made by over 25,OOU prac-
teal farmers in the case of wheat and over
2s,No In the case of corn. A second set of
replies wa; received from over 1000 ex-
perts. te., the graduates Of various agr-
cultural colleges, now engaged in farming
and this result tallies very closely with
that obtained from the general inquiry"
Our farmers are generally Intelligent;
these correspondents were mer picked in
every community for their intelligence and
candor, and there Is no reason for question
Ing the correctness of these estimates; in
fact, abundance of other proof can be fur
n1Shed to corroborate them
Ihe average yield of wheat in the United
States Is about twelve bushels per acre;
that of corn about twenty-five bushels II
1olioWs that our farmers must receive on
an average nearly 81 per bushel for wheat
or nearly 80 cents for corn, or else suffer
loss. glance at the market reports shows
that for many years the prices of grain
nave been below-at many times "a nor
cent below-the cost of production, and still
people wonder why our farmers are poverty
stricken, discontented ard restive These
statistics certainly tell the story pIainIv
enough. No doubt the cost of production
OF wheat, corn, &C., has been lowered by
improved machinery, &c; no doubt the
rdplo lncreas In the area for cultivation of
cereals throughout the world has forced
prices down somewhat; but we must he
very blind If we cannot see that the CON.
traction OF the worlds currency by which
the Worlds products are measured Is the
chief cause which has forced wheat corn
and almost all other commodities far he
low the cost of production. Let us have
the "hoie truth; half truths are dangerous
II. F. SUKSDORF
Only One Standard.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
1 have followed with much interest tbe
symposium you have been conducting IN
the money question. and, after all, l find
nothing, in my judgment, in the whole de-
bate more Instructive than the following
brief quotation from "The Political Econ
omy OF Natural Law from the pen of
Henry Wood, published in 1894 In a nut-
SHE'LL his chapter on the money question is
as follows:
Assuming that gold and silver comnose
the normal and universally accepted coin
currency, what is the teaching of natural
law concerning them? That there cannot
be two standards any more than two yard
sticks. Bimetallism means two metals and
not two standards. One or the other must
be the standard. The standard should be of
the metal which changes least Gn value) as
result of the increase of the amount Of
it That is gold. The ratio Of value be-
tween gold and silver bullion has vibrated
somewhat during the whole historic period,
but never before has the divergence been
so wide as at the present time QS9D ANY
change which would make silver the stand
ard would cause a loss proportionate to the
width of this divergence, and ultimately
the loss would have to be borne by labor"
Doesn't that cover the ground? HLW.
Relative Value of Gold and Silver.
To the Editor Of The Evening STIR:
1t pleased the Great Creator to make
the pure metals, the non-oxidizable metals
Of gold and silver, very scarce on this our
swiftly-moving planet, and hence their use
for the money of the world. For centuries
the relative value of these two precious
metals has been determined by the guam
tity of each metal in the world at any
given time. When for every ounce of gold
in the world there were ten ounces of sill
yer, that ratio of quantity established the
ratio of value of the two metals. A little
over sixty years ago an American Con-
gress ascertained that at that time for
of f,,