Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-10-31
WHEAT GOES UP,
SILVER DOWN.
Nature Furnishes a Con-
yincing Object Les
son For American
Farmers.
BRYAN'S CLAIMS UPSET.
Wheat Has Been Going Up and
Silver Down Since Bryan's
Nomination Reasons For
This Significant Devel-
opment Facts For
Wage Farmers.

mo most SlgnlHcaUb ueVclDpnenb CT the
campaign has been the inyincible argu-
ment advanced in favor of the principles
advocated by the Republican party by the
recent rise in the price Of wheat and the
accompanying decline in the fall of silver.
II is "a Touchdown blow for the Bryanites.
Their only attempt Mt anything In the M
ture Of reply IL TO assert that the gold
bugs have bought the wheat supply of the
world and are manipulating it for their
own purposes But the farmer, who Is
most directly Interested, knows that this
boom is q healthy one; that it Is duo to
natural, not speculative causes, and that
as the decline in silver shows, it has no
more to do with the rise or fall OF silver
than it has to do with the recent war be-
tween China and Japan.
Mr. Bryan has Travelled $4,000 miles try
Ing To persuade the people--the farmer, the
laboring man. the mechanic and the wage
earner--that the price Of wheat throughout
the world is determined by the price of sill
yer; that the price OF wheat has fallen te-
cause silver has dcTreciated; that the re-
cent rise in wheat is due not TO the de-
mands Of Europe and the failure Of crops
in India, Russia and Argentina, bat to the
alleged belief of the people in Bryan's elec-
ton.
All these arguments arc completely dis
proved by the recent rise OF wheat to Sc
cents bushel and tho accompanying de-
cline in tho value of silver dollar TO 80
cents.
Mr. Bryan contends that wheat has risen
because people believe he will be elected.
He also says that ii he is elected the price
of silver will 50 up to 81 29an ounce. Lat
why is it that tho same faith and conf
dence in his election which rs he Says,
have sent up the price OF wheat have not
raised the price Of silver the commodity
in which Mr.. Bryan is more deeply
interested than anything elseg Why is
it that wheat has gone UP to Sc cents q
bushel, and remains on an average of
from rs to so cents higher than it was
when Mr.. Bryan was nominated, while sil-
yer has gone down steadily since the day
Mr. Bryan captured the Chicago conven-
ton, until now the silver in ii dollar Is
worth only 40 cents2 How can MIR Bryan
explain this except by taking refuge in the
hackneyed excuse that tho goldbugs of
Wall street are booming wheat and tlepress-
ing silverg
The day before Mr.. Bryan was nomi-
mated at Chicago silver sold at 6S7s cents
an OUNCE. foIHC6 tHe1, III Spltt VI UHc VI =
forts of the Bryanites and tho silver mine
owners, whose combined wealth makes the
Wall street goldbugs seem pygmies BY COM
parison, to keep up the price of silver 1t is
steadily declining, until it is now worth
only CT cents an ounce. During this same
period wheat has advanced from 54B cents
a bushel to So cents, an increase Of 31M
cents!
Another claim Of Mr.. Bryan and his fol-
lowers is that the fall in the price of wheat
in the last 90 years has boon due to the APP
probation of gold and the depreciation az
silver, and they have attempted to show in
proof of this that the decline of wheat has
kept pace with the decline of silver. The
facts and statistics abundantly disprove
this assertion. 1t is IA fact that both wheat
and silver have declined, but they have
not declined equally, nor in the same
years, for wheat has advanced in years
when silver has declined, and silver has
gained few points without any similar
advance in wheat The following table,
furnished by John Hyde of the United
States department of agriculture, proves
this conclusiyely: