Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-06-25

Gl0n OF business throughout lne Couh
try is conceded on all hands. the rea-
son why being the only question de-
batable.
In the discussion a great variety OF
causes are assigned for the calamlties
that have overtaken the financial,
commercial and industrial affairs OF the
country, and the remedies proposed
are scarcely less numerous. On the
one hand is found a class of states
men-heaven save the mark-who con-
tend that a high protective tariff ana
a gold standard secures prosperity,
while on the other hand are those VINO
believe that a moderate tariff, with
free trade in articles essential to sue
cessful manufacturing, together with
the absolute restoration of silver to its
money parity prior to 1873, are the
real essentials of business prosperity
In this connection we observe that
The American in its issue Of April q
contains an article captiOned Tine
Wage-Earner Not Benefited by Failing
Prices" and introduces official figures,
conclusively demonstrating that the
business depression in the United
States is owing chiefly to the demon
etizatiOn of silver The logic OF the
figures and the facts is conclusive, and
are answerable only by the jugglery
Of figures and facts, which deceiVes
those only who are not expert il the
detection of the argumentative tricks
of gold bugs, who represent the money
power, and who, by crying Sound
money" and denouncing silver, are
able to use their money in shaping
policies and corrupting the public
mind.
The Americans article is so replete
with facts, based upon figures demon
strating the business calamities result
ing from the decentralization Of silver,
that we refrain from any condensation
of it's salient facts that those of our
readers who want facts by which they
may be governed in the supreme mo-
ment of casting their votes, may have
them as presented by The American
simply remarking that while the tilg-
ures presented by The American re-
late specially to the farmers, they in
vOlve no less certainly the interests OF
all wage-earners. The American says:
In 1872 the acreage of our cereal
crops-corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye
and buckwheat-wa 6S,2SO,197 acres
and the farm value of our cereal crops
S874 1914, 459, the average value Of the
yield per acre being $12.81. In 1895
the acreage Of our cereal crops was
149, 955,163 acres, the farm value
$1,017916,996, and the average value of
the yield per acre $6.7S, the value to
our farmers of every acre Of cereals
harvested in 1896 being 5000 less than
in 1872 If the money yield per acre
had been as great in 1895 as in 1872,
if the farmers had been as fully recon-
.pensed in 1895 for their labor expended
in raising cereals as they were in 1872,
they would have received 100000, 900
more for their cereal crops in 1895
than they did
In 1872 the yield of cotton in the
United States was 1884, OS4, 494 pounds
and the farm value was $2S8,3OO,OOO
This, however, was a short crop. In
1928 the Yield was 1885, 1881
pounds and the value 1901 ,OS7,500. For
the year ending June 80, 1895, the
yield was 5,OS6, 1864, 400 pounds and the
farm value 1882, 426, 900; for the year
before, an average year, the yield was
$3.50, 3S1, 478 pounds and the farm
value $3.50, 1857 ,OOO The cotton crop of
1894-5 was nearly three times as large
and the cotton crop of 1894 more
than twice as large as the cotton crop
of 1928, yet the money value was
less. The cotton acreage for 1894-5
was more than twice the acreage for
1928, but the value of the crop was
$4O, OOO, 900 less. Making all due allow
ance for the effect on the price of cot
ton Of the extraordinary crop of
1S94-5, the largest on record, and TAX
ing the 1884 crop as a basis for COM
parison, we are forced to the conclu-
sion that the loss of income to our
cotton planters caused by the fall in
the price of cotton, and directly due to
the competition with the cotton of sill
ver-using countries engendered by the
fall in the gold price of silver, has not
been less than $35O,OOO,OOO annually
for the two years ending June Both
last.
AS shown in another column, the
number of horses in the United States
January /, 1896, was Ga per cent greater
than on January l, 1878; Of mules, "a
per cent greater; of milch COWS, SO per
cent greater; of oxen and other cattle,
SO per cent greater; of sheep, 16 per
, cent greater; and Of swine, 81 per cent
greater, yet the total value of farm
animals was 8 per cent less on January
/, 1896, than on January /, 1873. AS
we have shown elsewhere, if the value
OF farm animals per head was as great
January 1, 1896, as it was January l,
1873, the value Of farm animals to-day
would be between $500, 0OO,OO and
2,700,00O,OOO instead Of 81, 800, 900 ,O0O
and assuming the value of farm ami
mails is realized by those raising live
stock once in four years, this repre-
sents a loss to the farmers on account
of the fall in live stock as compared to
prices in 1872 Of not less than $3.50, OOO,-
600 for the one year 1895.