Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-10-22

feet ub0fsfbe price Of wheatT
When we talk about values ~ -
,leWsf 1upplx and depatd and tie6b
's'fabllity Of the goods or money 6Isro9
Plways eonfronts
= 0pIy SPECTATORS Would Gaia.
The wage earners and ,the salaried
men would find very soon that gold
prices remained with little or no change.
and that prices Expressed IN 'susef
rose with more or less irregularity.
that they were nearly double what
they are now, and that domestic pro-
ducts rose about as much proDoxtlbn-
ately as imported goods. II import
ed cloth. for example, were doubled I'm
price, domestic cloth would rise I'm
much the same proportion, though II
might not go so far. And these same
wage earners and salaried men would
find that their incomes were not rising
nearly SO fast as their outgoes, and
many of them would wait a good while
for any increase, -
II we stopped here we might con-
clude that whatever was lost by other
classes would at least be made up by
the farmer, but this would be a mis-
take. The farm mortgage Is not SO
universal as the silver men pretend.
Less than one farmer in five carries
one; In the South the percentage Of
mortgages Is extremely small. and tho
mortgaged farmers spend much moro
money in buying supplies and tools
than they do In interest and INSTALL
ments on their mortgages. In the pay
ment Of their mortgages tue chenp sill
yer dollars would go as FAR IA any,
but more than four farmers In five
spend all their income, exclusive Of
possible investments, and the rest spend
the greater part of 1t, not in paying
deferred obligations, but In paying
groceries and calico and harness and
implements, and In repairing the house,
and In other forms Of current pur-
chases. Now, for all these purposes
the cheap silver dollar would not be-
nearly so useful as the present dollar.
The farmer who got twice as much Tor
his wheat and corn and cotton would
pay twice as much for his sugar, coffee.
calico, harness, reaper, paint and wag-
on. So that we would be no better OF
than he Is now.
But If the farmer made nothing and
the laborer lost who would get the
difference? The SPECTATOR would get
a great deal Of 1t; such changes as the
cheap-money men threaten open up
great opportunities for speculation.
The legitimate business man would
get some Of it; with prices going up
much faster than wages the margin
for profit would be increased But the
disturbance Of business would be SO
great that an element Of chance, or
gambling, would be introduced into all
business, and success would he largely
a matter of luck or skill In spccula-
ton. With prices advancing much
faster than wages, the number of GUS
toners at the stores would fall or.
Men whose wages were unchanged
could not pay double prices for things:
some things they would get of In
ferior quality, and other things they
woulu go without. and the merchants
woulds be complaining that trade was
falling off, and they would begin to re-
duce the number of clerks What with
lettering people who had money from
lencing, and raising prices beyond the
means of the masses Of the popula-
ton to pay, the change to the' silver
standard would check trade and throw
men out of employment as nothing in
our history has ever done vet.-The
Iron Age.