The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-10-08
Panic Of 1879.

ments
Balance Of Trade and Increase OF Money
When we began 10 rally from the panic
| OF 1878, Europe was feeling the effect oi
| the demonstration of silver. but in our
| country we found that the balance OF trade
| between us and Europe toward 1850 was
| greatly in our favor, so that according "a
| the treasury tables there were added 10 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 q large
addition TO our circulating medium from
that source Then the Bland Allison act,
which partially restored silver, was enact
cd In 1873 and required the secretary Of
the treasury TO coin not less than 81 900,
600 nor more than $4,000, 900 per month.
The effect of this was To add anywhere
from t25, 0OO, 900 20 cas-, 600, 900 per year to
our currency, and thus helped TO keep up
prices. The increase In the volume of mon
ey 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
10 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
demonstration of silver, began to spread
over our country, and from that time on
has become more and moro intense.
Eject Of Falling Prices.
Both Mr.. Schurz and Mr.. Cochran treat
the whole subject of falling prices as If 1t
were simply a scramble between different
citizens-between seller and buyer. II this
were all, then the matter would not be of
such transcendent and farreaching impor-
lance and would not SO directly affect the
welfare of the whole people. Neither grasps
the great principle that falling prices first
disturb business i'm 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 70 shut down, because there are not
sufficient buyers 20 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 he the cause of fall
ing prices, their effect upon the commu
nifty Is more than DIere scramble be.
tween buyer and seller and here Is where
all advocates Of the gold standard fail to
rise TO the occasion, fail 20 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
price OF property, Mr.. Schurz selects wheat
az IN illustration, and he attempts to show
that there has been great increase In the
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 q
fall In price, provided there Is an equal in
crease In consumption. This Is self evil
dent, and Mr.. Giffen, the statistician of
the British board of trade, has, on differ.
ent occasions, pointed out that for more
than 10 years prior to 1873 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 1873, and yet, as
he says, during all of those years prior To
1873 prices kept constantly rising, not
withstandlng the enormously increased
production, while since 1873 prices have
been steadily falling, Notwithstanding the
fact that the increase was not as great as
it formerly was.
The second observation Is that wheat
hos 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 ibto competition in the pro-
duction OF all other products which our
people put upon the market
These two points show that Mr.. SchurZ
IL entirely wrong In his theories The
third observation IL that he is entirely
wrong in his facts.
The truth il 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 i'm the produc-
tion OF wheat In the United States i'm that
time. More IL raised in the northwest IL
Ia 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 yari-
Gus boards OF trade and the government
reports. which arr recognized as the high
est authority obtainable on this subject
The government reports show that the
wheat crop for 1873 was more than
<20, 900, 600 bushels, and that for the year
1895 tho crop does not exceed 400, 900, 900
bushels. In fact, II the increase In popula-
ton Is considered, the wheat crop has con.
stantly grown less In proportion to the
consuming population ever since 1873.
The wheat crop of this year Is about
66, 900, 900 bushels short OF what the aver
age has been since 1878 and is 90, 900, 600
bushels less than IL was that year. So that
In spite Of the opening Of the now fields In
the northwest there has been no greatly
increased production OF wheat I'm this coun.
try, and when compared with tho consum-
Ing population there has been an actual
falling of; yet 90 years ago the price of
wheat was more than twice what II Is
now.
Again, In referring 10 the foreign wheat
he cndeavors to make the impression that
there has been great increase in produc.
tion, and artfully selects recent year of
the highest production and compares that
with an earlier year having the lowest pro
duction. The fact Is that the worlds
what erop has remained substa ntjalIy tho
(CnaSfpn~I n NV