The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-09-03
FARMER AND HIS MORTGAGE.
How the Reasoning of a Nebraskan
May BE Answered

Hlnnu OI IudHy men. MI. j. W. DlnSeT,
of near Lincoln. Neb.. owes $1,000 on
bond and mortgage. His farm will
grow 1000 bushels of wheat. AT 56A
cents a Dushel in gold. the wheat 1T
Lincoln will pay half the mortgage.
when the value of a silver dollar is
reduced to 80 cents by free coinage"
argues Mr.. Binger, "a bushel Of wheat
without any change i'm its value will be
worth a 50-cent dollar. With free coin
age of silver I shall. therefore be able
to pay the entire debt with the 1000
bushels of wheat"
\ good many are reasoning this way.
Many of them less frank. There are
two answers. Both good. inc is made
by the Chicago Times-Herald. The
debt was made in gold. To pay it in
silver is wrong. 1t is dishonest. None
the less dishonest if legal forms are
observed. There are other judgments
thar those entered up in the County
Clerks docket. An unjust balancing
of debts is an abomination to the Lord.
No land can see prosperity in its streets
and peace in its dwellings if a multi
tude go about to deny just debts and
withhold the promised pledge.
This is not the only answer and it is
not the only answer because this is Il
world in which dishonesty is it's w
sure punishment. Mr.. Binger has for
gotten some things. He expects to raise
1000 bushels Of wheat which he can
sell clear of his W living expenses.
He expects to be as free to sell it as
now. The product Of the rest of his
farm meets his living expenses now.
He expects it will then. Will it? Not
much. The sugar he uses will double in
price. 1t has to be paid for in gold. 1t
costs s cents Il pound in Mexico where
it costs + cents here. Coffee will cost
twice as much per pound. Clothes will
be twice as high. Boots. which he pays
SO Il pair for now. will cos SO. Farm
tools will be doubled. Mr.. Binger's
weekly paper will raise its price. The
railroad on which be lives will have to
advance its freight rates. Like the In
dian farmer. under "A silver basis. Mr..
Ringer will iiud the cost of getting his
wheat to market increased by high sill
yer frcightS. He annot sell as close to
the Chicago and Liverpool markets as
he does now. His profits on wheat I'M
der silver Will drop to the ryot's profits
in India and the mouiik's in Russia.
If Mr.. Binger wants 20 drop his scale
of living to the ryot and moujikts level
he will be all right. He will give up
coffee and sugar. He will have no fur
niture in his house. He will go bare
foot Il good deal of his time and put on
his shoes just outside Of Lincoln when
he is going into town, so as not to wear
them out. But if Mr.. and Mrs. Binger
and all the little BingerS. including par
ticularly Miss Binger. want to live as
they do now. Il large part OF the 1000
bushels of wheat will be used up ON
the increa Sed cost of commodities. In
selling his wheat on Il silver basis Mr..
Binger must compete with the worlds
wheat. but he will lose the cheap gold
prices to which he objects and he must
pay the high silver prices OF Mexico
and Argentina. The farmer there gets
along by doing without. No sugar. no
coffee. no furniture. cheap clothes, no
shoes. If Mr.. Binger does not like this.
and if he does. we warn him that Mrs.
Binger will have n word or two TO say
it will cost more wheat than it does now
to buy his daily comforts.
How do we know this? Simply be-
cause in the silver countries at their
range of prices a bushel of wheat will
not buy rs much of manufactured arti-
cles, sugar and corn, as a bushel Of
wheat will here. Why: These things
are made by men paid on Il gold basis
and are sold on that basis. and when
wheat goes to Il silver basis and com
petes with wheat grown ON that basis.
bushel for bushel, it will exchange for
less in commodities than it does now.
Mr.. Binger's mortgage therefore will
not be paid off as easily rs he expects:
but when he has settled ii in silver dol
lars neither that lender nor any other
will lend him again. The rate for money
will double. On the average it is twice
as high in the silver as in the gold cOun-
tries. Railroad building will stop and
Mr.. Binger'S wheat freight rates will
cease To have the steady competition
Of increasing railroad mileage of the
past twenty years which has reduced
rates in that time one-half. Instead. as
railroad bonds come due. they will have
to be refunded moi rs in the past on II
lower, but on Il higher rate. and the
roads will have 10 charge more
to make up. The d%cvclopmet of
the whole country will lie stopped. \
host OF labor will be out OF work. The
rest, ut work, caught between higher
prices for what they use and wages but
little higher. will eat less wheat. They
will turn to cOarSer food. more corn and
less wheat. more pork and less beef.