Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-10-15

uand
Supply and Demand
By destroying silver they reduced the
supply Of money In the world BY adopt-
ing gold standard they increased the de-
mand for gold. In our country there were
a number of reasons why the demonetiza-
tiOn of silver was not Immediately felt
First, the government had between 1866
and 1869 reduced the volume of paper
money we had In this country, which was
all the money we had, from sl $40, 900, 900
odd down TO less than $500, 600, 600 and
had issued bonds instead This reduction
in the volume of money then In circula-
tion in our country was followed by COR
responding fall in prices which had been
based on the former volume of paper mon
ey.
Panic of 1873.
The fall was so great that debtors were
unable to meet the debts which had been
contracted on the basis of prices formerly
prevailing, and the panic of 1878 followed
as necessary result of that By issuing
more bonds the government got coin, and
we resumed what were called specie pay
nents
Balance of Trade and Increase of Money.
When we began to rally from the panic
OF 1878, Europe was feeling the effect of
the demonetization of silver, but in our
country we found that the balance of trade
between us and Europe toward 1880 was
greatly In our favor, so that according to
the treasury tables there We're added to the
volume of money In our country from
that source several hundred millions of
dollars Our gold mines were productive
during that time, and there was a large
addition to our circulating medium from
that source Then the Bland Allison act,
which partially restored silver, was enact
ed in 1878 and required the secretary of
the treasury TO coin not less than 90, 000,-
900 nor more than $4,000, 600 per month.
The effect of this was to add anywhere
from s25, 600, 900 to SIS, 600, 900 per year to
our currency, and thus helped to keep up
prices. The increase in the volume of mon
oy In our country, according to the treas
ury tables, during these years was so great
that prices and wages rose corresponding
ly from what they had been after the pan
ic of 1873 But these causes were local and
did not last, and in the course of few
years the general depression which had
already spread over Europe, following the
demonetization of silver, began to spread
over our country, and from that time on
has become more and more intense.
Effect of Falling Prices
Both Mr.. Schurz and Mr. Cochran treat
the whole subject of falling prices as If it
We're simply scramble between different
citizens-between seller and buyer. If this
We're all, then the matter would not be of
such transcendent and farreaching impor-
tance and would not so directly affect the
welfare of the whole people Neither grasps
the great principle that falling prices first
disturb business In its entire circle and
affect the property Of both rich and poor,
and that when prices go very low they de-
stroy the purchasing power of the great
producing and farming classes, and that
this destroys what we call the home mar
ket and forces manufacturing establish
ments to shut down, because there are not
sufficient buyers to take what they make,
and thus forces labor into idleness and
destroys the purchasing power of labor and
produces general paralysis In the land.
No matter what may be the cause of fall
ing prices, their effect upon the commu-
nifty Is more than mere scramble be-
tween buyer and seller, and here is where
all advocates of the gold standard fail to
rise to the occasion, fail to meet the re-
quirements of the case. Their treatment
of this question Is almost fippant
Production and Price of Wheat.
In attempting to account for the fall in
as an illustration, and he attempts TO show
81 I,r, to kIrD
annual production of wheat; that we have
not only opened the whole northwest,
which is producing wheat, but that our
farmers have to compete with the wheat
of India, Argentine Republic and of Rus
sia, and he assumes that therefore the
price Of wheat had to fall. There are three
things to be said in answer to this. First,
increase In production does not produce a
fall in price, provided there is an equal in
crease In consumption. This is self ev!-
dent, and Mr.. Gitfen, the statistician of
the British board of trade, has, on differ.
ent OCCASIONS pointed out that for more
than Is years prior to 1878 the increase In
the production of nearly all commodities
In the world had been greater on the aver
age, year by year, than the increase has
been In any year since 1878, and yet, as
he says, during all of those years prior to
1873 prices kept constantly rising, not
withstanding the enormously increased
production, while since 1873 prices have
been steadily falling, Notwithstanding the
fact that the increase was not Us great as
1t formerly was.
The second observation Is that wheat
has not fallen in price any more than all
other commodities 1t has fallen no more
than all property has fallen; has fallen no
more than wages. 1t is not contended that
Russia, India and the Argentine Republic
have entered into competition in the pro
duction of all other products which our
people put upon the market.
These two points show that Mr.. Schurz
Is entirely wrong in his theories The
third observation is that he is entirely
wrong In his facts
The truth is that there has been scarce.
ly any improvement in machinery for
raising and harvesting wheat in the last
20 years, and the statistics show that there
has been very little increase in the produo-
tion of wheat in the United States in that
time. More is raised in the northwest it
is true, but very much less is raised in the
central and eastern states. have en-
deavored to get the most reliable data on
this question from the reports of the vari-
Gus boards of trade and the government
reports, which are recognized as the high
est authority obtainable on this subject.
The government reports show that the
wheat crop for 1878 was more than
42O, 600, 600 bushels, and that for the year
1896 the crop does not exceed 400, 900, 00O
bushels. In fact, if the increase in popula-
tion is considered, the wheat crop has con
stantly grown less in proportion to the
consuming population ever since 1878.
The wheat crop Of this year is about
56, 00O 900 bushels short of what the aver
age has been since 1878 and is 10000, 600
bushels less than it was that year So that
in spite of the opening of the new fields In
the northwest there has been no greatly
increased production of wheat in this coun-
try, and when compared with the consum-
ing population there has been an actual