Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1896-07-01

Dividing the above table into two equal
four ri which are chiefly y food products1 were
marvelously sustained and even advanced,
while the prices of the second four lin the pro-
duction of which labor saving machinery are
largely used) show marked fall.
The Soetbeer tables evidently do not war
rant the statement so often made, with them
as alleged authority that b there has been a
meant that all articles or groups of articles
have fallen largely and in measure equally.
Prices Not Governed by Volume of Money.
It is accepted as automatic by many that the
volume of money in country governs prices
there, and, at first glance, this seems reason
able But even a little study of the subject
shows that such view is untenable.
In 1900 when we had period of high prices,
our volume Of money in circulation was $26,
we had only s. g per capita In l84 When
prices were much lower, we had money in cir
culation amounting to $10.59, or more than
twice as much proportionally as in 1900.
In 1866, when we had inflated war prices,
the volume of money in circulation amounted
to $2O.57 per capita, while in 1894, when aver
age prices were much lower, the money in cir
culation was $24 % per capita
France today amounts to ss57 While that Of
her neighbor, Switzerland. is only $9H per
capita. Does any one believe that the prices
zerland? taking gold odd money 1s as the basis
of comparison, France has S22. 10 per capita
while Greece has only % cents per capita,
hundred times as high as in GreeceP AS
matter of fact, they almost identical
ToOke, in his monumental work on the ellis
tory of Prices, :" truthfully sums the matter up
as follows
''There is not. as far as l have been able to
discover, any single commodity in the whole
range Of articles embraced in the most extern
sive list of prices the variations of which do
not admit of being distinctly accounted for by
circumstances peculiar to it. y Circum-
stances do frequently operate with such force
g rpdnna n hQ nf al Gym and.
ing currency and to advance prices when the
currency is diminishing. In point of fact, the
expansion is frequently rather an effect than
cause of enhanced prices"
Prices That DO Not Need RESTORING"
The United States Statistical Abstract de-
servedly ranks high as authority. Opening
the latest edition 1884 at page Alt, find the
export price of mess beef quoted at cents in
1872, at 8.9 cents in 1882, and 81 cents in 1892
Butter in 1872 is given at 1914 cents, in 1882 at
1876 cents, and in 1892 at 10 cents Prices of eggs
cents In 1882 and 1872 cents in 1892. Other great
staples, like corn, pork and lard, show equal
f1rmness The prices of these articles don't
seem to need any restoring. -
But perhaps the free silver men would like
to apply their Hrestorer'' to the price of re-
fined sugar, which cost 1875 cents pound in
1872 and only 4.6 cents in 1892 Or perhaps they
would like to relieve the poor, suffering oil
magnates, whose product was quoted at 23.5
cents gallon in 1872 and had fallen to SO
cents in 1892. 1t may be that their tender sym
pathles go out to the manufacturers of bar
iron, whose product commanded $97. SO ton
in 1872 and only 996 in 1894.
Perhaps they don't want poor men to be
squandering their substance in building homes
and to that end would "restore the price" of
nails whose Philadelphia price fell from S.
a keg in 1872 to $108 in 1894, and of window
glass, which fell from $3.40 box in 1873 to
Sl.7O in 1891. And possibly their philosophic
souls rebel at the idea of a poor man having a
carpet on his floor, so they would remove
temptation by restoring the price, from 48
cents a yard in 1890 to 81. Ia, as it was in 1873
are working is not completely happy, they
might restore the price of his wifefs calico
dress from cents a yard in 1892 to IL cents, as
1t was in 1873.
And while they are IN the restoring business