Graham guardian., 1896-07-31
= AsAsxs IVAN nuE.
The Nevada Tribune asks the

assured? And answers it as fol-
lows:
Let US see. First, silver would
go up to above S1.20 an ounce as
it did Immediately after the passage
of the Sherman act. That would
lower the rate of exchange with
silver standard countries one-half.
In other words, the Mexican dol
lar would be worth 80 cents as
against 81 cents now, and the In
dian rupees would be worth 40
cents as against 20 cents now.
That would mean that the Eu-
ropean wheat buyer who changes
his gold sovereign into rupees to
buy the wheat of India would only
be'returned twelve rupees for his
sovereign instead of twenty-five,
what he now receives. For fifty
years the price of wheat in rupees
has been about two and one-half
rupees per bushel. The fluctuation
in the price of silver has not af-
fected the rupee price of wheat.
When a gold sovereign can be ex-
changed for twenty-five rupees, 1T
will buy in India ten bushels of
wheat. So the wheat costs really
in our money about fifty cents a
bushel and this is the price which
we must meet when we sell our
wheat. But under free coinage,
with the price of silver $1.2929, a
gold sovereign will only exchange
for twelve and one-half rupees,
which would only buy in India
five bushels of wheat. Hence the
India price of wheat would be,
rockoned in our money, one dollar
a bushel.
Then the situation would be
this: The European wheat buyer
could only get five bushels of
wheat for a sovereign, and we,
knowing the fact, would not have
to sell more than five bushels of
wheat for a sovereign. This would
mean dollar wheat for us. With cot.
ton, the same conditions would be
obtained. Cotton Is In the same boat
with wheat. The number of rupees
a sovereign will buy determines
the price of cotton. Cotton would
60 to fifteen cents q pound, or
seven cents higher than it is now.
This would make a difference of
S34 a bale. Last year we produced
9,S92,76 bales. Thus the prosper
ity of the cotton planters would be
increased to the extent of 1884,.
95S,944 in one year,
Another thing before we turn to
wheat. Last year we exported
6,63O,272 bales of cotton to Europe.
If we had sold them at fifteen cents
per pound the balance of trade in
1896 would have been 1901 ,997, ,54S
in our favor instead of S75,56S,200.
We produce yearly about 5OO,-
100000 bushel of wheat. If it sold
for a dollar bushel instead of
sixty cents, it would add to the
prosperity of the wheat farmers
2OO.OOO,OOO yearly. We export
about S0,000,O00 bushels per an
mum, which would swell the bal
ance of trade S32,O00,000 in our
favor. Here are two items for
study. You talk about waiting for
an international agreement for sill
yer coinage. Should wheat and cot
ton 90 to the prices mentioned, we
would compel Europe to pay us
each year for the cotton she buys
of us 1926, ,429,44S more than now,
and for our wheat $32, 900, 900 more
than now for the same quantity, a
grand total of 1857, 100000 per an
mum. Under these circumstances
the problem in twenty years would
be for Europe to keep her gold
from coming to US, no longer fol-
us to hold our own. We would in
time become the creditor Nation Of
the world, since we were the
agricultural storehouse of the
world.
The stimulus of enterprise and
industry given by dollar wheat
fifteen-cent cotton and S1.2929 sill
yer exceeds the imagination to
/ TN II