New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-25

while silver fell only ~ per cen', i'se 49, I'll
cent by 1858 while silver fell l4.3 per cent ieli
about - per cent to 1892, while silver fell only
% per cent and then fell about ~ per cent uo n,
1890 while silver declined 80 per cen. 10 ,s,5 80
1880 was 5Oi per cent, and the total IAN III
wheat Western farms was only Ia per cent
Second That the changes In cost oil trans
pcrtation. such individual quarrels pc
tween railroad managers and heavy spec
uators caused in 1876. 1881 and 1888,
hrve been distinctly reflected In Western l,,
farm prices just az If the great capitalists
had personally made the farmers a present OF -
cents. Of q cents or cents per bushel on their
wheat while the variations I'm price or silver nave
produced N perceptible effect whatever. Inc
vast Improvement Of the railway system has en-
abled the great companies TO earn more money
in moving wheat 900 miles for II cents per bushel
than they ever earned when they were charging
40 30 cents in gold, and the fall in cost OF trans
portaton since lSG4 has been $40 per cent
against JO.' per cent decline in the price OF silver
fhird--That the price of wheat on farms has
huctuatcd i'm close correspondence with the
excess of supply of demand. l. IS parucu-
larry noteworthy that two " more SUCCESSIVE
years of excess either way always ihtehslnes
The effect. Moreover. when actual exports flse
unusually and appear tn take practically an
IN, wheat available they may by no heahS
me assure the extent force of the foreign de-
mand Both conditions occurred in lNiZ-1, III
four successive years the yield fell below the
visible demand and the foreign exports were
large in 1913 larger than in the two previous
years together Naturally, farm prices aver
AGED g4ia cents on Western farms. ana New
York prices 81 40 bat after the panic OF 1910
all Western prices dropped under pressure 10
oalize, while the foreign demand kept New,
York prices relatively high Again. IN 1901
the crop was 116OOOO00 bushels short. ana
demand for two previous years, with the
famine in India and yet only l-Z"o"'o
bushels went abroad and Western farm prices
rose to 81 0G6 but with large supplies IN
next wear dropped 81 cents. although exports
we're larger Again in 1888 the crop decreased
4O,0O0.OO0 bushels and the foreign demand
probably much exceeded the actual exports;
Blu. the next year Western farm prices dropPeu
- cents with a surplus. although the exports
increased 10000 600 bushels.
THE SILVER EXPLANATION sUPERFLuOCS.
1t is utterly unreasonable every farmer
must see in the face of such wide fluctuations
extending through more than thirty years
every one of them obviously explained by
changes in yield. in the foreign demand ana
export or in the cost of transportation 10
imagine another superfluous cause for the same
phenomena. and one which does not IN tnr
least degree fit the facts. In 1S9l ana lo?-, III
spite Of wholly Unprecedented crops, the prices
realized on Western farms were actually higher
than in years Of liberal yield thirty or twenty
years earlier. But silver had declined -" per
cent and has declined only about half as mnch
since. Turning now to the fall In farm prices
since 1881. when the yield was about l3oVoo"V
bushels greater than in any previous year, IL
Is publicly admitted by the Agricultural De
partment that its figures for that and following
years were seriously in error All trace jour
nails Of any repute have pronounced tnein en-
tirely unworthy of credit. Whether the nsureS
here given are accepted or not. 1t IS by every
competent authority admitted fhat the heaNH
exports and the low prices demonstrate pc
vond dispute. either a production substahtiahS
as great is here estimated or an almost
incredible decrease in the average consunpllo"
by the people. =,
Either would account for the recent loss IN
farm prices as the fall in silver does not II
the prOstratiOn of industry ana reduction vi
wages cut off large part OF the consumption
of bread that sufficiently explains ran aver ts
ing fifth on farms west Of the Mississippi ana
about an eighth on centrai farms G or IL ,e ery
year and in the five years was about ziooVo'-
600 bushels-the quantity which must nave nev pee.
produced unless consumption was waterway
dimirished-that production far exceeding the
average for any previous period, must haNe
driven down all markets, accompanied as !.
was 10y great increase in production III mann
OTHER countries In either case 1T Is eVldeh'
that the worst industrial and financial prostra-
ton for half a century could not nave peen eN-
pected to pass without low prices Tor lam am
products as for all others. and because that
prostration came while precisely the same inone-
tary laws were in force which had brought IN
highest prosperity ever known. ana cohtihueu
after the repeal of the silver clause. IL Is but
common sense to attribute the fall TO the
threatened change of tariff. upon when the
condition and prosperity Of the great INDUSTRIES
depend. $500 -, 80,
Fourth-The farm prices Of wheat. both east
and west of the Mississippi, have declined Tess
than the wholesale prices OIL ulti.o
orally at New-York Thus the value OF wheat on on
central farms in 1860 mot ofhciap was In an
commodities at New-York about 'i.o ana IN
1S95 IL was 81 The value OF wheat on farhS
west of the Mississippi in 1860 mot officiaD was
In all commodities at New-York about $40, ana
il was lower, according to official records uhlil
1864 but in 1880 IT was 623 In botn secI, or,,
the wheat would actually buy more or all coih
modties last December. If the money recei i,
on the farms had been spent IN NeW- I,gt
markets than in 1860 1862. 1869 1SI 1873
in spite Of the extreme depression caused last
wear by the five successive Dig crops anu VI"
worst panic in half a century. But the FARMER
does not buy in New-York. Rail freights west west
ward have been reduced from OCTOBER, Ioi-,
to July 1892 taking an average OF tWeh'! lou.
classes of goods on which the rates are e i.e'
hr Inc report of the Senate Finance Committee
no less than 5G3 per cent. 1t Is extremely uil-
fcult to estimate what proportion TINS decrease s
hears 10 the cost Of the goods in 1917, put al'cr
reckc ming as carefully as time permits IL seeHis
safe TO estimate that this reduction has III Ell
feet increased the purchasing value OF wheat az
the Western farms at least - per cent NOT IL
g. 70 no forgotten that prices of manufactured
commodities which the farmer buys nave peeil
reduced on the whole. considerably more IMAM
the prices Of farm products which he se"S'
MR. ATKINsONs ARTICLE
A recent article by Mr. Edward Atkinson
calls attention also to the fact that the farmers
of the West do not depend upon wheat alone;
thai their acreage in wheat corn and oats IN
ten States. those above named excepting the
Dakntas rose from a 600. 900 in 1862 to SO,OOO,-
00O In 1891. the tonnage produced from lS'"'m',,
600 To 5SOOO0O0. and the farm value In gold
from 500 100000 to S9ls"Ooon me averase
n,,re ner husbel for all the grain having been
IN 2 cents in hS62 and 400 cents In lS'l lie
shows moreover that Ills per cent OF the
ra,rners own their farms without incumbrance,
and the liens on the remaining farms are but
~ =, DER cent of their value, so that as Mr..
Atkinson puts it, the grain farmers are the
creditors Of the world With his reasonihss
oio1,t the changes since 1891, he will not ex-
nect The Tribune to agree. but he shows very
forribIv that the farmers. as rule, ere neither
impoverished nor in debt nut aDie TO Prouuoe d.
"a, Las cost than twenty years ago.
Tho truth which this survey OF fhcts prlhss
ont most clearly is that silver coinage has had
no more to do with the price OF wheat man .ile
49,.